Ave, Skippy!

An excellent writeup about US Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman by the indomitable Skippy, the blogosphere's favorite Canadian rightie.

I mentioned before that I'd vote for Rudi Giuliani should he become the Republican nominee for president in 2008. I also have a soft spot for Lieberman, a guy on the other side of the aisle. Skippy's post goes into the evidence for Lieberman's smarts, and discusses the likelihood that Lieberman, currently serving in the US Senate, will next run for senator as an independent. The senator's got a large fan base among Republicans and moderates. Skippy's commentary about the continued leftward swing of the Democratic Party, a swing that will alienate more Dems like Lieberman, is also right on target, I think.

Skippy's analysis ends with a punch:

In attempting to primary Lieberman out of existence, the Democrats are essentially destroying any hope they might have of winning back the [Senate]. While I don't think they can win the six seats necessary to regain control, some very smart people do. If Lieberman runs and wins as an independent, that pushes the bar up to seven seats, as Joe would likely caucus with the Republicans and be given a committee chairmanship for his trouble. In the unlikely event that the Democrats do better than I expect them to (which is maybe four seats) and win six, then Joe becomes the kingmaker and can write his own ticket.

[...]

This is the last, best chance voters have to send President Bush the message that he should straighten up and start acting like a Republican. If I were a Democratic supporter, I'd be thrilled over everything that's happened in the last two years. Were I a Democratic strategist, I'd have my clients run on the platform of "responsibility." A responsible war policy, a responsible fiscal policy, [corporate] and congressional responsibility. These could be winning messages, but the Democrats continue to step on winning messages with their ham-handed stupidity. Rather than winning back Congress, they insist on keeping their insane circular firing squad healthy.

The Democrats [are ignoring] Lyndon Johnson's famous dictum that it's better to have someone like Lieberman inside your tent pissing out than it is to have them outside pissing in. Of course, it should be pointed out that the Democratic Party did to President Johnson exactly what they are doing to Senator Lieberman. The problem is that they haven't nominated anyone as smart or accomplished as LBJ since.

And that, my friends, is how the Republicans will form a permanent majority without even having to pretend that they're Republicans anymore.

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