Kerry on Lamont/Lieberman

ABC News: Kerry Calls Lieberman the New Cheney

I find it interesting that Kerry is out front on this and I applaud him for doing so. At the time that Kerry first got hit by the Swiftboaters I did not agree with the oft stated liberal opinion that he should have come out against them. His performance with respect to them was fine. Had he come out against the Swiftboating, there would have been a week of John Kerry v. John O'Neil for favorite Vietnam Vet, while George Bush ran fro president unopposed. Kerry did the right thing by staying focused on George Bush (he ultimately did other things wrong, but not, in my opinion this.) What was needed at the time was for other Democrats to come out against John O'Neil and the Swiftboaters. So I applaud Kerry for taking the lead in attacking Joe Lieberman, so that Ned Lamont can run for the Senate race against his Republican opponent.

I also think that Kerry is taking the right tack and treating Lieberman as being an illegitimate distraction from the real race. The man claims to be an 'Independent Democrat' which is a complete fiction, while running on a vanity party named after himself, and appealing only to Republicans. This is an absurdity and an insult to the Democratic process. In my opinion, Lamont would be best off keeping focused on Schlessinger (but cleverly framing his message to cover Lieberman as well, see below.) and other Democrats, like John Kerry and the blogs, should be taking out Lieberman.

I say that Lamon't message should cover Lieberman. What I mean is that Lamont should present himself as one who will hold George Bush accountable unlike his opponent Schlessinger and the rest of those in Congress who have allowed this administration to run wild without check or oversight. The only person mentioned is Schlessinger, but clearly the message applies to Lieberman as well. Similar things can be done with other parts of Ned's message.

Add Sen. Rockefeller to the List

I posted the other day that Sen. John Kerry had come out saying that he got it wrong supporting the Iraq war, now Sen. John Rockefeller has joined him. And, of course, Richard Gephardt had done so earlier. The remaining Democrats that voted to grant Bush the authority for the war need to reexamine their positions and more of them need to join this group that admit it was wrong. That is the first part of the narrative that the Democrats need to put forth. I agree with Chris Bowers over at MyDD that it is early yet for the Democrats to be putting forth specific proposals for Iraq. That will come in due time. I still advocate that the Democrats should consider arguing that Iraq has been like the bloody angle at Spotsylvania, or the Anzio beachhead in WWII, an attack that has failed and where we need to redirect our forces back to Afghanistan. But those proposals can come next year.

Kerry Calls for Pullout

Another voice for pull out, see Eternal Hope at daily Kos.