"Some events are so important, interpretation begins before they happen."

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: A Preview For November
What Lieberman's Battle Tells Us
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, August 8, 2006; Page A21

Some events are so important that the battle to interpret their meaning begins even before they happen. So it is with today's Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut.

Most of the commentary is premised on the idea that antiwar businessman Ned Lamont will defeat Lieberman, one of Congress's strongest supporters of the Iraq war. This speculation may be premature for reasons we'll get to. But the two lines of argument hardening into place tell us a great deal about what we'll be debating in this fall's campaign.

Republican supporters of Bush and the war are claiming that a Lamont victory would signal a dovish takeover of the Democratic Party by activists organized by anti-Bush bloggers -- and would show that there is no room left in Democratic ranks for moderates....

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The battle of interpretations has raged within the Lieberman campaign itself. For months, Lieberman tried to push the war aside, insisting that the election should not be decided by a "single issue."...But on Sunday night -- pressed by campaign advisers to speak directly to Democratic anger at the president -- Lieberman finally threw in his lot with the anti-Bush camp. He offered a "closing argument" that ticked off eight issues on which he had battled the administration. He defended dissenters opposed to the war whom he had once seemed to criticize and insisted that he "clearly disagreed with and criticized the president" on many aspects of Bush's Iraq policy....

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....opposition to the war in Iraq and to Bush has spread well beyond the left....If Lieberman loses, it will be primarily because of defections in the disaffected center....And if Lieberman miraculously survives, it will be because he finally realized that the last thing an incumbent wants to be this year is George Bush's best friend and enabler.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080700946.html