A reminder to Lieberman supporters:

[Arugula Latte]

These are the DU rules pertaining to third party candidacies (such as "Joe for Lieberman" -- er, um, "Connecticut for Lieberman" Party):

"You are not permitted to use this message board to work for the defeat of the Democratic Party nominee for any political office. If you wish to work for the defeat of any Democratic candidate in any General Election, then you are welcome to use someone else's bandwidth on some other website."

"Democratic Underground may not be used for political, partisan, or advocacy activity by supporters of any political party or candidate other than the Democratic Party or Democratic candidates. Supporters of certain other political parties may use Democratic Underground for limited partisan activities in political races where there is no Democratic Party candidate."

Lamont is the DEMOCRATIC Nominee. Lieberman is not.

Learn it. Live it.

[MadMaddie]

1. Indeed....

[Atman]

2. Devil's advocate here...

He fully intends to switch back to Democratic Party should he win.

He has been a Democrat -- and an influencial one -- for virtually ever.

He is going to have influence on the race whether we like it or not. IOW, I don't think banning talk of Joe Lieberman makes much sense. He's good fodder for jokes, he fires up the posters, and technically, he IS still the Democratic Senator from Connecticut until Ned kicks his ass out the door in November.

[Arugula Latte]

3. I wasn't saying we can't talk about the guy.

I was saying that it's against DU rules to advocate for his third party candidacy. :hi:

[skipos]

4. Yes but he is a 3rd party candidate trying to defeat a Democrat.

[havocmom]

9. And showing total disregard for the democratic process to boot

:thumbsdown: to those who will not recognize the voice of the people!

[marylanddem]

7. How do you know he "intends to switch back" ?

[Atman]

12. It was mentioned several times Wednesday.

We probably would have heard more about it today, except, well...you know.

Why wouldn't he? He has 18 years of seniority built up in the Senate, and several powerful committees would be his when the Democrats take back Congress...IF he is a Democrat. Otherwise, he gets pushed back to the bottom of the list as a "new guy" with a party that has no constituents and no backing. That isn't why Joe is going through all this. The better question, I think, is why wouldn't he switch back?

[w4rma]

13. Sore Loserman is not trustworthy. He only says what he has to say

to have any chance of being reelected to a Democratic state.

His actions have been to smear the entire political party, use and advertise the talking points of Karl Rove and dishonor all Democratic voters by attacking us directly.

He's already proven that he'll turn on us at the first opportunity.

[MrBenchley]

26. Meanwhile, it might behoove the Lamont whoopsters

to remember that they need the 48% of Connecticut Democrats who supported Lieberman if the Unknown Millionaire is to squeak by in November.

[Sparkly]

5. True. There's democracy, and there's party unity.

If both are working, prominent Democrats SHOULD be backing Lamont. (Which is why it's so funny that the MSM is feigning shock over that.)

Lieberman is still a Democrat right now, yet running against a Democrat as an Independent -- which is very odd. I can understand Skinner's call for some tact in what's said about Lieberman, AND his call for recognition that Lieberman is choosing to be an opponent of the Democratic nominee.

(Another nomination for your post. And I think the SAME goes for other Independents and Green party candidates, btw.)

[bigwillq]

6. Right On!

:bounce:

[cboy4]

8. DU must become more of a bipartisan community if we are to ever

get things done in Washington - - ( In Lieberman's voice ) :eyes:

[spooky3]

10. Here's your 5th k&r, Oregonian!

:hi:

[Crunchy Frog]

11. I'm still waiting to see if these rules

are actually going to be enforced.

I'm seeing some really aggressive and nasty attacks here on Lamont and his supporters. I've alerted on them and am waiting to see what happens.

[FormerDem06]

17. attacks on Lamont....

do not even compare to the vile, nasty awful things that were said about Lieberman in the leadup to the primary when he was STILL the DEMOCRATIC Incumbent.

interesting that you see it that way though, and I'd hope now, people would stop attacking Lamont as well.

[Crunchy Frog]

22. Vile and nasty attacks on candidates during primaries

are par for the course here, as you will learn should you stick around for the presidential primaries. Harsh criticism of incumbent elected officials is also par for the course. What is not generally allowed is attacks on a Democratic nominee after the primaries are over. We are expected to get behind the candidate, at least on this board. If Lieberman were up for re-election as the Democratic candidate, and Lowell Weicker was running against him as an independent, you would not be permitted to post in support of Weicker against Lieberman. You would still be permitted to criticize him and his positions, but not to use this site to advocate for his defeat or to advocate for any person running against him, however good and progressive he might be.

What I've been seeing with respect to Lamont is at best pointless flaming and disruption, and at worst, actually advocating for his defeat, and in favor of his non-Democratic opponent. If someone disagrees with Lamont's positions it's fine for them to post about that. If they want Lamont's opponent to win, they should not be advocating that position on this site, just like it was not permitted to advocate for Nader during the '04 election.

Just to warn you, you haven't seen vile and nasty until you've seen presidential primaries here.:)

[Zorra]

14. Just say "no" to Traitor Joe.

[Crunchy Frog]

15. As nearly as I can tell, these rules are not

currently being enforced. Sad.

[IronLionZion]

16. I support Ned, but Joe is still a Democrat in the Senate

that's why they haven't stripped his committee assignments. So when dealing with his actions in the Senate, Joe is still a Democratic Senator from CT, so we can still support his legislation or whatever it is that he does in the next few months if we want.

But Joe is running third party for the election, so we can't support him in that sense as he is running against a Dem. But what if the sore loserman wins? Then what? He can't still be a DINO if he's not a Dem!

Keep in mind that it's perfectly OK to support Bernie Sanders during his indie run for Senate because there is no Dem in that race and he caucuses with the Dems.

[cmkramer]

18. We have two Democrats running

As long as one of them wins, it's all good.

[MercutioATC]

20. We have ONE Democrat running. Lamont.

Joe is the candidate for "Connecticut for Lieberman", not the Democratic Party.

[Crunchy Frog]

23. We have ONE Democratic nominee for US Senate

running in the state of CT. I'm as anxious to see Joe defeated as I am any Republican. The damage that he is currently doing to our party is incalculable, as he uses talking points provided by Karl Rove and Dick Cheney against widely held positions in our party. His attacks against our party are given a kind of credibility by the fact that he still calls himself a "Democrat". The Republicans are using him as a weapon against us, and he doesn't care as long as it serves his own interests.

I'm getting disgusted just writing about him.

[Totally Committed]

25. Joe walked away from this Party a long time ago...

His decision to run as an Independent just made it official.

There is only ONE Democrat running in this race, and that's Lamont. Joe should be dead to us.

TC

[Tinksrival]

19. Absolutely!

Lieberman has declared war on our party and Karl is licking his chops.
It's in your face people!

Lieberman:

"If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England. It will strengthen them and they will strike again."

[NastyRiffraff]

21. Anyone see where Joe's switcheroo is going?

So, Joe runs against a Democrat in the Nov. election, as a party of one (Lieberman for CT or whatever he's calling it today). Obviously,he's not running as a Democrat, and I don't care how much he spouts "Independent Democrat" he ain't one.

Let's say he wins. Are we to accept that he dances into the Senate chamber, changing his party affiliation again back to Democrat?

Bottom line: the electoral (primary) process is being gamed by this man who's no longer even a DINO. You can run in the general election as an independent, if that's what you are. But when you game the system by running in a primary, THEN running as an independent/one-man party in the general, you are a cipher, a nothing, a zero.

There's only one way around this quagmire, since Joe will change back to the Dem label (not that it means anything to him, except for committee assignments):

A NED LAMONT VICTORY IN NOVEMBER

Come on, Connecticut...you can do it again! After Tuesday, you can do anything!

[Crunchy Frog]

24. Many states apparently have "sore loser" laws

that prevent this sort of thing from happening. It's a pity that they don't have one in CT. Lieberman may end up doing incalculable damage to our party in his desperate attempt to hold onto his seat.