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It was running through my mind this morning. I was at the convention as a delegate. I've been supporting Ned Lamont as a quixotic, desperate gesture, the best result of which, I hoped, would be a primary. Going in, I thought the roll call would be a tense nailbiter as Lamont got one or two votes. Instead, after about 10 minutes, it became clear that Lamont was caputing 20%-30% of town delegates fairly consistently.
We no longer have a protest candidate. We have a bona fide candidate ready to take Lieberman OUT.
The next couple of weeks are going to be interesting, no doubt. And I still have a damn full time job. Damn you, full time job!
And it was great meeting all y'all bloggers, too. Aldon, and spazboy, DforDem (or something -- dude, so sorry I keep forgetting your handle), Matt Stoller, etc. Hope to see you again in New Haven this afternoon.
So: off to clean the car, shower, do some yard work, then off to New Haven to meet Markos. These are good times.
Woo hoo!! Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. - L. Cohen
Don't confuse my pessimism with hopelessness. ;) Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. - L. Cohen
As I was helping put out Lamont literature before the fun started I remarked to a fellow volunteer that my most vivid memory of a convention was the '68 Democratic convention. I recalled feeling incredibly proud of our then Senator Abe Ribicoff who stood up to Mayor Daley on national television and told the world what his police were doing to protesters outside the convention hall. Daley stood on the convention floor and on national t.v. shouted expletives that you couldn't hear but didn't have to be a lip reader to understand - "F... You, you F...ing Kike" (Ribicoff was Jewish). Later that night, this event was mentioned in one of the nominating speeches (can't remember which one, after yesterday's marathon they're all a blur to me now). I'm not holding my breathe waiting for that to happen.
Wouldn't it be nice if our current Jewish senator had the balls to stand up and tell the truth to the nation rather than beig W's lapdog and cheerleader?
I realized that even though we often think of democracy as just people putting their votes in a ballot box in an orderly fashion, that's only one part of it. Demonstrations, protests, caucuses, petitions, rabble-rousing, procedures and deal-making are all also part of how it works, and always have been. Remember that the Greek word actually means "mob rule." Imagine what it must have been like in the agora back in the day, or the uneasy balance of power between plebeians and their tribunes and the patrician class back in the days of the Roman Republic. It's good though. It gives us a chance to channel our aggressive primate instincts without having to resort to slicing each other open with actual knives. Because that is what it comes to when the will of the people is denied, history shows.
And speaking of aggressive primates, I was curious whether Mayor Malloy had some kind of security concern yesterday afternoon. When he was out twisting arms after the initial roll call vote I noticed he had two or three, shall we say, large and athletic gentlemen right on his heels everywhere he went. They were not there when he sat down with me an hour earlier. Just curious if you could shed some light.
I don't recall them being at the mayor's house when we went for a delegate party a couple months ago, though I suppose they could be in college.
Either way, nothing really wrong with it, assuming he either received a credible threat or there was a scuffle between some of his workers and DeStefano people. Unfortunate, but these things happen.
And you probably noticed that the other side played off it by bringing around a chorus of women chanting, "Don't be a bully!" Hey, it's all part of the game.
To bring this back to my point about how democracy can get messy when we do it in the flesh, a solid physical presence can be an asset in nonviolent confrontation. At the risk of sounding like a knuckle-dragger, this is one of the benefits we get from our party's relationship with Labor. And one more reason we need to recommit ourselves to making that a strong loyalty running both ways.
Kevin Rennie is a lawyer and a former Republican state lawmaker. His column appears every Sunday. Here are highlights from Rennie's commentary:
Lieberman's In Trouble From the start of the Democratic state convention Friday night, there was something different from past gatherings of the faithful. /snip It fell flat but raised an essential question: Can Joe Lieberman win over Democrats by acknowledging the public's hostility to the war in Iraq but not altering his support for it? Friday night's balloting bodes ill for the humble but haughty strategy. /snip The Lieberman people seemed dispirited all night. His demonstrators waved and rubbed together curious-looking wiener-shaped balloons advising "Stick With Joe" as they made their way through the aisles in a short, obligatory demonstration to the tune of "Still the One." /snip Discomfort turned to pain for the Lieberman campaign when the first town in the 1st Congressional District began the roll call: Barkhamsted cast its two votes for Lamont. The challenger received votes in town after town, sometimes one at a time, sometimes considerably more. When once Lieberman-friendly Windsor cast 13 of its 17 votes for Lamont, a roar of surprise filled the hall. Lamont would sail past the crucial 15 percent threshold before reaching his 4th Congressional District stronghold. Lieberman ought to be grateful it was not a secret ballot. If it had been, some of the 100 missing delegates might have found the backbone to vote. /snip
Lieberman's In Trouble
From the start of the Democratic state convention Friday night, there was something different from past gatherings of the faithful.
It fell flat but raised an essential question: Can Joe Lieberman win over Democrats by acknowledging the public's hostility to the war in Iraq but not altering his support for it? Friday night's balloting bodes ill for the humble but haughty strategy.
The Lieberman people seemed dispirited all night. His demonstrators waved and rubbed together curious-looking wiener-shaped balloons advising "Stick With Joe" as they made their way through the aisles in a short, obligatory demonstration to the tune of "Still the One."
This opininion is in the same spirit as the TV news coverage. It's pretty shocking that even the MSM sees the writing on the wall for Old Joe. He should be scared.
Bush played that song in Ohio in 04. Curiously enough John Hall heard it
John Hall is running for Congress in New York. He is from Dover which borders Kent, Ct.
Check out who is playing at his fundraiser.
**closing mouth, eyes looking side to side**
You bet you do as that is all the CMSM presents. Lamont is the anti-war candidate. That Lamont represents the left-wing anti-war fringe.
The LAST thing we need to promote is the anti-war meme.
Please read the threads about changing the frames which discuss this in detail. The question is not what you are, we already determined that, we are now negotiating price.electrealdemocrats.com Online since 3/07 -- TimetogoJoe.com Online s
I had my Town Committee chairman come back to me in a message, (when I questioned his article saying he was recommending to his delegates to vote Lieberman), and say "all you Lamont supporters are one-issue voters and there is a lot more issues out there than that"! A lot of people think that, so we have to start pushing the rest of the issues, like Joe signing the Energy bill, his wanting School vouchers, etc. He has voted with the Republicans 20%! that is 20% too much, at a time when the Republicans marched shoulder to shoulder on every single issue, and then we had Dems like Lieberman voting with them, so they could say "See, even some Democrats believe we are right".
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Connecticut's War Dead
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