Connecticut May Be a 2008 Preview

[cal04]

Polarization Over War, Bush, Parties Confronts Voters
American politics this year has been running on two divergent tracks. The first is intensified partisan combat in advance of a critical midterm election. The second is growing disaffection among many voters with a national capital seen as stalemated by polarization and distrust between the two political parties.

That makes the coming campaign between antiwar Democrat Ned Lamont and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who lost last week's primary and is now running in the general election as an independent, an intriguing laboratory for what might emerge in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Will Lieberman's campaign prove to be a forerunner for a message of civility and bipartisanship that emerges nationally in 2008, or simply be remembered as an obsolete refrain from a politician living in an idealized past and that serves only to deepen partisan divisions?

The Lieberman-Lamont primary became the latest stage for the politics of anger that has dominated since President Bush took office after the disputed election of 2000. Lieberman hopes to make the general election a template for civility in politics and a return to some measure of bipartisan cooperation in Washington.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/12/AR2006081200774.html

[kentuck]

1. I think it absolutely is...

but the primary was the preview - not the general election. Joe is the symbolic Reppublican and he just got his head handed to him on a platter...

[janx]

2. There is a difference between "partisan combat" and

standing for principle. People can be civil in politics and still stand firm. This article seems to ignore that by creating a false dichotomy.

[kansasblue]

3. Democratic convention will be cool....but..

the Republican convention will be torn by riots and demonstrations as the pro-war and anti-war groups within the party battle for control.

(my prediction)

[creeksneakers2]

4. Lieberman is the divisive one

He said terrible things about the net lefties. I don't know where the author got the idea that Lieberman is the model of civility.