which means he'll probably win in November. This only goes along with the current trend that Americans seem more comfortable with a leader who's bat-shit crazy.

Lieberman may well be progressive on many issues dear to Dems. But on the most important foreign policy / national security / moral issue of the day -- Iraq -- he is not only wrong, but willfully stupid. Further, he had become the eager "go-to Dem" for Republicans to provide bi-partisan cover for egregious GOP policies, appointments, etc. Lieberman's decision to run as an independent proves what a hack he really is. Lamont will rightfully take the gloves off and show the disparity between Lieberman's progressive talk and right-wing votes (something that wasn't really done in the primary except for Iraq war policy differences), and force Lieberman to answer this question: When has Lieberman's "bi-partisanship" ever accomplished any mediating effect or reciprocity on Bush or the Republicans? Answer: Never. Lieberman's "bi-partisanship" has been a smokescreen for his support of big business interests and radical Neocon foreign policy misadventures.

Who the fuck is Lanny Davis? And who cares what he thinks? Lieberman only lost by four points instead of 13, so he's a comeback kid?

I can't understand why the firefighters union supported the guy who can't even get money for CT for homeland security when he's a ranking member of the committee that's supposed to be on top of this. We lost a ton of HS money this year.

So he thinks he has the experience to run the country? Yeah, this country is in really great shape, isn't it?

Now we'll have to endure three more months of this asswipe's paternalistic whining about how he knows what's better for Connecticut than those of us who voted for Ned Lamont. He's showing his contempt for the Democrats of Connecticut, just as he has for the last six years.

Isn't it interesting that his new party is Connecticut for Lieberman. Not Lieberman for Connecticut. What an arrogant fuck.

Lieberman, we FIRED you. Now just go away and stop wasting our time and money.

lee from Norwalk, CT

I just saw Lieberman on the news, claiming that he refused to allow "his party" to be hijacked "by extremists." So he's going to run as an Independent? And that will help his party, how? To claim that voters who are tired of his Bush bootlicking (even Republicans are distancing themselves from Bush!) and his continual warmongering are "extremists" just shows how out of touch he is.

I'm really going to love watching this douchebag go down in flames.

Well if he sought the republican nomination he would have no chance. He kisses guys we hear in Britain.

These arrogant lunatics are supposed to be out elected representatives - but the only thing on Joe Liberman's mind is Joe.

The only thing Liberman is pursuing by running as an Independent is his own power and welfare-like salary.

Talk about an "entitlement mindset"!!

I can say with all honesty that I have never liked this guy. I voted for Gore, but lieberfuck was a real drawback for me.

This seems to be a case of a man who has just grown more and more socially and politically conservative as he's aged. Factor that in with a moral direction so fucked up that he would rather censor movies and tv rather than keep kids from dying in Iraq, and I would say it's safe to say that the guy is out of touch. Let's hope that this is truly bad joe's last stand...

but I worry about the democratic party, I really do. It seems that the people are getting the need for radical change, but I don't hear anything in support of this voice coming from the democrats.

At the same time though, it's a beautiful day, birds are singing, and lieberman is going down in flames that he himself set.

I was wondering if we might leave conventional wisdom land and actually talk about the guy who won the election. I was surprized at both the articles for towing the CW line about Lieberman. I thought Salon was far from the bubble of Washington. I guess I must be one of the angry blog readers or something.

Any modicum of respect I ever had for Lieberman is destroyed by his decision to run as an independent. The guy's ego has no bounds. When he ran for V.P. he refused to step off the ballot for Senate in Connecticut. If votes had been counted correctly in Florida, he would have been VP and the Republican governor in CT would have appointed a Republican to the Senate, costing the Dems a chance to control the Senate. He was unwilling to fully throw his future in with his party, he had to hedge his bets.

If you don't want to be a Democrat, Joe, you should have told us sooner.

Where on earth does Joe Lieberman live? In a narcissistic enclave of government's entitlements? What is blinding him, and others like him such as Hilary Rodham Clinton? Does being an elected Congress person cast a caul over your brain? I don't get it. Where is the moral compass these days? Is everything subject to expediency? Is truth a management phenomenon? Does nothing really matter, except to promote an individual's private agenda? To get re-elected no matter what you have to do, say, or vote for?

Perhaps Joe has had too many lessons at the feet of George W. Bush: learning to "frame" things in language designed to obfuscate reality, in this case, "framing" his defeat as a consequence of "bipartisanship" in Congress! What?? I don't think we'll buy that. It was really sad to hear him last night go on and on framing "bipartisanship" even between his politics and Lamont's as a cause of his defeat. Hello, Joe; I believe your defeat is because you have become blind to what the eyes of us ordinary nobodies out here are sharply, and painfully focused upon: the Iraq war and dead citizens from our country and Iraq's; the phony bills passed masked as promises to give mid-class Americans a break in health drug costs, but were actually designed to funnel money directly, speedily --before this administration's term is over!-- into the pockets of million dollar pharmeceutical companies; plus the proposal to tie repeal of the estate tax to minimum wage increases.

There's a huge gap between US politicians and ordinary Americans. We are out here, watching for these nearly seven years at what Bush has done, we see the need for a moral compass that strengthens the moral spine of Democrats and Republicans to protest when they see the unethical moves from the administration. (Kudos to John Warner for his efforts in this direction) We want equality for all Americans, and we see the Bush people dismantling the Constitution in order to raid the coffers and line the pockets of the wealthy class in America.

Yes,we're the 1950s folks tagged as being "apathetic;" but we worked for the anti-poverty programs, we marched for civil rights causes, to stop wars; no matter what our color. Yes, we are out here and we can vote. We will not select a presidential candidate without a moral compass to stand up for what's right, and object vehemently to what's unethical. Those in office who voted for the war should stand down right now; your chances are not good to win a nomination in either party.

Okay, I confess I am aging; a fuddy-duddy; I vote regularly; I am liberal (but not radically so), but heck, I am not so far out of the socio-political loops that I am not aware of what's been going wrong in the USA since the Bush administration came in and took us to war on lies and mendacity.