Christopher Dodd, the Angry Lieberman Supporter
A couple of days ago, I wrote about Christopher Dodd’s emerging presidential campaign for the 2008 election. Dodd is a Democratic member of the United States Senator, representing the state of Connecticut.
It seems that Senator Dodd’s campaign may be dead in the water, largely because of Dodd’s support for right wing Democrat Joseph Lieberman. As a column in The Nation notes, Senator Dodd has recently “angered the Democratic base by repeatedly defending Joe Lieberman.”
It was Christopher Dodd who nominated Joseph Lieberman to return to the United States Senate at this month’s convention of Connecticut Democrats, in spite of the fact that grassroots Democratic voters are in open revolt against Senator Lieberman’s right wing re-election campaign, supporting progressive Ned Lamont’s challenge instead. Senator Dodd struggled to find anything good to say about Lieberman’s record in the Senate, which consists almost entirely of support for the failed extremist policies of George W. Bush. Dodd admitted that most Democrats disagree with Joseph Lieberman’s values, but said that Lieberman was worth voting for anyway, because Lieberman tried to protect a submarine base in Connecticut from budget cuts. Does Dodd really believe that money for a submarine base is enough to counterbalance Lieberman’s role as Bush’s pet Democrat?
That Senator Dodd chose this moment to float the idea of a presidential campaign only demonstrates his tin ear for political timing. President Dodd? I doubt it.
Well, there’s that, and the whole grooming thing. If he wants to be the next president, Chris Dodd’s just going to have to find a new hairdresser.
It makes sense that of any senators Lieberman, would get support from his counterpart from CT. If they want to get things done for CT in DC the whole Connecticut delegation has to work together well, and Lieberman and Dodd have a good working relaitonship, so there is no reason for Dodd to support anything that would upset that. A senator’s primary job is to represent thier constituents, and if he thinks he can be a more effective senator for his consituents by working with Lieberman instead of Lamont, then he’s doing his job well by supporting him. Whether or not I, (or Dodd for that matter) agree with Lieberman’s stance on Iraq is a different issue.
Jess,
Your argument would make sense, but for the simple fact that Joseph Lieberman’s politics do NOT represent progressive Connecticut well. So, by collaborating with Joseph Lieberman, Christopher Dodd is not representing his constituents well either.
The ends to which they are working are not the right ends, so no matter how efficient their little operation is, it’s disfunctional.
It is a shame, Mr. Wood, that we have to listen to you tell us who does and does not represent progressive Connecticut. In fact, neither you nor anyone else can tell us that Sen. Lieberman does not represent progressive Connecticut. I wonder why this has been such a close race. Perhaps this is the precide reason we have primary elections–in order to tell us who does and does not represent Connecticut well.
Dan,
Progressive is not the same thing as Democrat. There are some Democrats who are progressives. Ned Lamont is a progressive Democrat. Joseph Lieberman is not. The primary exists to tell who will represent the Democrats in Connecticut. Even if Lieberman wins the primary, that won’t mean that he represents Connecticut progressives well.