Lieberman Bows Out

Sen. Joe Lieberman is now speaking in Arlington, VA, announcing that he is dropping out of the 2004 Presidential race.

Chris Dodd introduced Lieberman, and his speech didn’t make this sound like a concession at all, despite the fact that Lieberman is toast.

Well, now it’s official, Lieberman is out of the race. Again, it’s quite a shame. Lieberman was the only candidate who had the centrist position on the war, and was the only candidate who could have drawn away significant amounts of Republican support from Bush. With Lieberman stepping away, the last of the Scoop Jackson/JFK Democrats has left the Democratic stage.

Lieberman’s speech is actually quite good, and shows why I liked Lieberman so well – he’s not clueless on defense, and he understands the threat of terrorism. His loss shows how radicalized the Democrats have become.

(Out of curiosity, who is the woman standing left to him behind the podium? Wowza!…)

UPDATE: The Captain’s Quarters also has another fond farewell to Lieberman.

12 thoughts on “Lieberman Bows Out

  1. Lieberman lost because he had the highest negatives than any candidate in the race. Much too much has been made about how his Pro-War On Irag, Pro-War on Terrorism platform was out of step with a “radicalized” Democratic Party.

    Lieberman is a loser because he’s a dull, unappealing candidate that few voters warm to. As it was alluded to in today’s N,Y. Times, being a Jew, an Orthodox one at that- cost him considerable votes, both with Gentiles AND Jews. Most Americans realize that post 9/11, America has enough troubles with the Islamic World without having a Jewish President to tilt America even more Israel’s way.

    It didn’t help also that Lieberman’s piety is generally regarded as a sham. Many of his own colleagues in the Senate regard him as a modern Tartuffe. A shill for the pharmaceutical companies, a shill for Israel, an aider and abetter of Enron, Lieberman is perhaps the sleaziest “Presidential” empty suit Americans have ever seen. Their rejection of him was quite sound. Now that Lieberman is gone, and Dean hanging on by a thread, George Bush is in trouble. It’s conceivable that any one of the three Democratic contenders (Kerry, Clark, or Edwards) could beat him in November. A Kerry-Clark, or Kerry-Edwards ticket probably stands the best chance. At this point, the possibility of another one-term Bush looks increasingly likely.

  2. “Most Americans realize that post 9/11, America has enough troubles with the Islamic World without having a Jewish President to tilt America even more Israel’s way.
    “”

    Oh yes. We mustn’t anger the terrorists by having them think we aren’t being fair and balanced between the Islamofascists and the Jews.

    Unreal.

  3. “Unreal”

    Oh, good common sense is psychotic.

    There are 1.2 billion Muslims in this world, It’s imperative for the U.S. to have coperative relations with islamic nations in order to actually do something constructive about terrorism.

    Perhaps Joe Lieberman’s grandmother would be pleased if he were in the Oval Office, but the vast majority of Americans, and I would daresay the majority of Jewish-Americans wouldn’t touch a Lieberman Presidency with a 1,000 mile pole.

    Get real. That’s why he’s gone.

  4. Of course, it was OK to have a female Secretary of State, despite the many millions of Muslims who considered that inappropriate.

    Of course, she wasn’t President. I’m sure I’m going to hear everyone talk about Muslim sensibilities when a woman runs for the nomination.

    Or is “Muslim anger” only appropriate when considering the qualifications of Jews?

  5. Susan,

    Good common sense starts with recognizing that making race an issue in a Presidential election *is* psychotic. Americans should be in the business of electing the person they think is best to run the country, not pandering to the racist tendencies of foreign nations/peoples. This argument is one of the worst that I’ve heard in arguing for/against a candidate.

    Oh, and I think it’s a bit presumptuous to assume that the “vast majority” of Americans don’t want to see Lieberman in the Oval Office. It would’ve been interesting to see how many Republicans would’ve crossed over to vote for him.

  6. Eeek, all this and nobody told me what I really wanted to know. Who was that beautiful woman :-)? Anyway I do think it’s a real pity that Lieberman’s campaign went nowhere. With W totally won over to the concept of being a big spending, social issues Nanny State conservative, I really would like a serious democratic alternative. The war is still issue #1 as far as I am concerned, and I will not be able to vote for anyone likely to take us back to our old pollicies of chasing after terrorists with the courts. That really means Lieberman is the only candidate I could have voted for over W.

    Sadly it looks like W will be the only one left willing to fight this war on terror. Much though I dislike him on most other issues, I will not have much of a choice.

  7. Freezer,

    As a person who has only voted for a Democrat a few times, Lieberman was the only one running that I would consider. Now that he’s out, I’ll have no other choice but to vote for W. People like Susan want pure leftists in control of the Democrat Party, and it appears as though they are the clear majority of primary voters. I know Joe wasn’t flashy, but that’s not what I look for. I know he’s a Jew, but that doesn’t make a difference to me. I couldn’t care less what the Muslim world thinks about our candidates for President; it’s what American citizens think that counts. Democrats seem (to me) to worry too much about what “the international community” thinks. As a matter of fact, many of the people whose opinions these Democrats worry about live in places where they have no freedom to choose who governs. Why should we be concerned with their thoughts about who we select to run *our* government?

  8. Eeek, all this and nobody told me what I really wanted to know. Who was that beautiful woman :-)?

    It’s Rebecca Lieberman, his youngest daughter…

    And as for Susan, why don’t we just go all the way in placating the Islamists? All they really want is for us to all become good Muslims and live under shari’a? Why not stone gays to death, stop educating women, and abandon democracy? It would certainly help our relations with Iran.

    Of all the Democrats, only Lieberman really understood that was the demands the terrorists wanted us to comply with, and that compromise would be impossible with such demands. Unfortunately the others still labor under the patently false illusion that one can negotiate with hardcore religious fanatics.

  9. Susan could not be more clueless. Joe’s loss had nothing to do with his being Jewish — and would she disqualify him for that? Does she realize that would make her a racist? His loss had to do with the attitude and direction of the party this cycle – angry and nonconciliatory. Most Americans are unangry and conciliatory, as well as centrist, so Joe would clearly have made the strongest candidate against Bush (as Bush himself, and countless numbers of his aides have said in private and, occassionally, in public). But the Democrats apparently don’t want to win this year — and this Democrat who has never cast a GOP vote, is a perfect example of why they won’t.

    Oh, and the woman behind Joe – actually his 15-year-old daughter, Hani. She’s incredibly bright sweet, and, it happens, deeply religious (moreso than her parents).

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