Kennedy and Republicans left flailing...

Republicans around the country are petrified today, and for good reason. However, since they find themselves in a position that they haven't been in some time, they aren't doing a good job handling things. In fact, they just seem to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off, completely paralyzed by their own fear. There is a meltdown occurring before our very eyes.

I am talking about the Ned Lamont victory over Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, and specifically, about Mark Kennedy's sudden embracement of Lieberman(!) Yes, Republican Mark Kennedy suddenly has the urge to comment on another party's primary in another state, to support the loser. Does that mean he supports Cynthia McKinney? Or defeated Joe Schwarz in Michigan, who is an actual Republican? Will Kennedy weigh in on the primary battle that fellow Republican Lincoln Chafee is involved with in Rhode Island? Maybe some enterprising Minnesota media figures can ask Kennedy about his sudden interest in the Connecticut primary to the exclusion of all others.

Not wanting to be left out, state Republican Chair Ron Carey talks about "far-left" Ned Lamont and "defeatocrats". Joe Lieberman, suddenly embraced by Republicans all over the country like Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Mark Kennedy, has become the "moderate Democrat" that Republicans have always fought hard to support. Right? Right?

It's laughable. Why? Because the Republicans desperately need to paint the Lamont victory as something bizarre, something extraordinary, something unbelievable. That's why they are now furiously trying to paint Lamont as "far-left" and Lieberman as "moderate". Because the alternative, that Lamont won because voters are fed up with Bush and the politicians that enable him, means that Republicans are in dire straits this November. Any realization on the part of voters that they actually can punish Bush and his extremist pals in Congress by voting them out means that they will do just that, and put many Republicans on the unemployment line.

In the past, trying to paint Democrats as "far-left" has worked, more so because Democrats refused to fight back. But this time it is doomed to failure. Ned Lamont isn't "far-left", and I doubt there is a single Republican out there that can tell you one issue that puts Lamont far to the left of people like Paul Wellstone. Lamont, a wealthy millionaire making his first run for statewide office, was supported by many people for two things: he is against the war in Iraq, like 60 percent of Americans, and he opposes President Bush, like more than 60 percent of Americans. Painting somebody as "far-left" because they hold positions that the majority of voters agree with is not going to work. I think Republicans know this; that's why they are becoming even more ridiculous by pulling out things like "defeatocrats" and other childish nonsense.

Lieberman is not a moderate Democrat. Lately, he has been a member of the ruling party in Congress, the Bush Party. Kennedy is also a proud member of the Bush Party. The Bush Party controls Congress, controls the Presidency, and is trying hard to take over the judiciary as well. Funny thing is, though, that Americans are getting fed up with this one-party control and the lies, corruption, sleaze, and death that has come with. For the first time in a while, they are seeing that they can make a difference, and that's very bad news for the Bush Party.

Since both Kennedy and Lieberman are members of the Bush Party, I guess it is only natural for Kennedy to try and support Lieberman. But it is only a reflex, because it makes no political sense at all. Lieberman lost because he became a member of the Bush Party. Kennedy is currently behind Amy Klobuchar by double digits because he too is a member of the Bush Party. So embracing Lieberman isn't going to get him anything; in fact, it will just serve to remind voters even more that they are all party of the same group that has gotten us stuck in a pointless war in Iraq that is killing several Americans a day, along with dozens of Iraqis. And while we are there, our troops sitting ducks in a blossoming civil war, we are paying less attention to the real terrorists. I'm pretty sure none of the people arrested today in the U.K. are Iraqi.

Lieberman is a drowning man, the deeds of the Bush Party tied firmly around his neck. He is going down, and Kennedy's first instinct is not to let go, but to grab on to this person, and get sucked down to. This makes sense?

No, it does not. It doesn't make sense because Republicans can no longer think clearly. They are screwed, and they know it. Their only hope is to convince 60 percent of Americans that they themselves are extremists who hate freedom. That's the Republican campaign strategy in a nutshell. People are sick of the Bush Party, but republicans are going to tell everybody that doesn't like the Bush Party that they are terrorist-lovers.

Good luck with that.