Joe Lieberman

Matt Stoller has a hard-hitting, last minute appeal to the anti-Lieberman senses in all of us.

Some highlights:

"Why are the polls so stable for Joe, showing him basically in the high forties and Ned in the high thirties? Why did this country elect and reelect Richard Nixon? They are pretty much the same character, both incredibly smart and incredibly narcissistic politicians who manipulate the press and make you feel good about the way they are lying to you. Rick Green at the Hartford Courant and historian Rick Perlstein both point out that Joe is using what is in effect a really, really good hustle. The war isn't a small issue in Connecticut. It's a major issue, but in a sense, the reason Joe is able to sustain his lead is because he's successfully neutralized his extremist position on the war. The Democratic Party refused to get involved, the Republican Party is backing Joe, and the press is accepting the pat narrative that Lieberman is a moderate. That means punching through the con is incredibly hard; if Bill Clinton and Harry Reid won't say that Joe is hustling people on the war, then why should anyone else?"

...

"In addition, the Lamont campaign volunteers are driving GOTV for Democrats all over Connecticut, and there's a general sense that the field operation for Lamont is much better than that for Lieberman. As to the polls, there's frustration that Ned went silent after the primary, and that was a mistake. A big mistake. And the party has been terrible, just awful. They haven't provided the necessary outside artillery to point out that Joe wants us to continue the war in Iraq and is basically dishonest about his entire record. At the end of the day, though, I'm not going to be silent while this country meanders towards another war, and I'm not in politics so Democrats can get better parking spots on Capitol Hill."