In one of the conversations I had Tuesday evening with a fellow NCDC member, I said that I expected that Joe Lieberman would win the CT Senate race with the help of fellow Democrats. The next morning, I was reading the Huffington Post and ran across this article. Mark Pryor, one of the Vice Chairs of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is supporting Lieberman. For the last couple of days, I’ve thought about how to report this.
The Democratic Party bills itself as the big tent party. All are welcome. We don’t have to all agree. That’s a good thing and is part of the reason I call myself a Democrat. But at some point, we have to develop party discipline. Because without party discipline, the Democratic Party will continue to eat its young.
Ned Lamont is the duly elected party nominee. The way I see it, any elected Democrat has two choices: either support him, or sit this one out. To openly support the nominee’s opponent should be grounds for dismissal from the party, pure and simple.
Elected officials are supposed to be leaders of the party. As leaders, they are supposed to set examples for the rank and file party members. While I would hope that the rank and file party members would also adhere to party discipline, I know that this is neither feasible nor, in some cases, desirable. But the leadership should be held to a different standard. Pryor, at the minimum, should be removed from the DSCC immediately.
There is a reason why so many people are not interested in politics. They see the elected officials as two sides of the same coin, their own self-interests more important that those of the people. To me, Pryor’s support of Lieberman (not to mention Lieberman’s run as an independent) is indicative of the good old boys looking out for each other and not listening to the people.
There is enough stacked against Lamont that he doesn’t need to have people within his own party – especially one serving on a committee whose goal is to elect more Democrats! – working against him. Pryor and his ilk are not Democrats. They are self-serving individuals masked as such. We need to unmask them and get them out of our ranks.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Ron Wyden needs a new picture… Badly.
I tend to diagree with you, Vivian. I think Joe Lieberman is a great individual and more importantly a great senator. He disagrees with the Democrats with one issue- Iraq (well school voucher, but unimportant). Senator Ben Nelson is also standing with Joe. I think that it’s bad for the Democrats to encourage independence from the party, that encorages ideological purity and polarizes the party. As a centrist and a former Democrat, it’s this that actually discourages voters…. I’m gald that Joe Lieberman is standing up and dissenting, it’s time we get away from go-along politics and besides it’s good to get a maverick once and a while.
You said you disagree with me but then go on to say “I think that it’s bad for the Democrats to encourage independence from the party.” I’m confused because that’s what I said. You seem to confuse my saying the elected Democrats should be supporting Lamont with the idea that Lieberman is a good guy. Whether he’s a good guy or not, he’s not the party nominee. As an individual voter, you have every right to support him. But an elected Democrat should not have such a right, especially one who is serving on the DSCC, whose stated mission is to elect Democrats.
Lieberman’s choice to run as an independent is a separate issue. I don’t like it for a whole lot of reasons, but if CT allows him to do that (VA does not, by the way), then so be it.
Sorry, I was typing fast and mistakenly wrote that unclear statement. I think it’s not good to encourage ideological purity. The Dems have several candidates that are far from the left this year including Bob Casey Jr. (pro-gun and pro-life) and Ben Nelson (who is the most conservative Democrat in the US Senate). I think elected officials shouldn’t be bound to supporting a candidate on partisanship. Sen Warner saved us from Ollie North when he REFUSED TO SUPPORT THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE… he chose instead to support Marshall Coleman who spoiled the elction and handed it over to Chuck Robb. Sen Warner is popular in VA bc of his independence and people tend to like politicians who are above partisanship. Sen Warner said his choice was a matter of concious. He also was forced into primary in his subsequent election and won decisively and went on to beat Mark Warner in the general election. In the primary Warner declared victory and turned the primary into a referendum on whether a politician can deviate from the party and vote on a matter of personal rightousness. I think it’s great Joe is running. it gives people an extra choice. I also feel politicians should serve the best interest of people first and not their party.
I also see where you are coming from, Vivian. You has such the same expierince in your race. A few elected Democrats chose not to support you….. I hardly think endorsements win elections anyway. But I see why you stand on your position as it has personally affected you.
On not encouraging ideological purity, I will agree. (Besides, I’m not sure that exists in either party.)
On your example of John Warner – I have to agree that what he did was best for the country, and certainly has increased his stature amongst ALL Virginians, not just Republicans. He continues to show that he is not a puppet of the party by the way he votes. But I do believe that was an extraordinary set of circumstances. And for a while, John Warner paid a political price for doing so.
And I think he properly should have. What I am saying about Pryor is that he should pay a price as well, and he should be booted off the DSCC.
What about Ben Nelson? Ben Nelson in my opinion is one of the best senators that we have.. Senator Nelson is in a tough, tough race in Nebraska. Nebraska is one of the most conservative states in the country with Republicans having over 60% in voter registration.. If the DSCC does not fully fund his campaign he will not win. He is a Democrat supporting Lieberman as a independent. If they lose Nebraska they have no chance of winning back the senate. Nelson lost his 1996 senate election to Republican Hagel in a landslide (despite him being the most popular givernor in the country at that time). If he supports Lamont he will be a DSCC poster boy for the liberals and it will bode bad for his chances in Nebraska! By the way, Pryor is up in 2 years in 2008 for reelection.