WHO'S THE MAINSTREAM AND WHO'S THE FRINGE? DON'T LOOK TO FOX NEWS, JOE LIEBERMAN AND ANN COULTER FOR THE ANSWER

One of the reasons Lieberman's faltering campaign counted so heavily on bringing Bill Clinton into Connecticut to campaign for him was because he knew he had to win a significant majority of votes among the state's African Americans. With Lieberman's spotty record on civil rights and his high and mighty attitude towards people of color and their culture, this wasn't a job he could accomplish without significant help. Even with significant help, as it turned out, he didn't accomplish it. He managed to get 45% of the voters from the African Americans who participated. 55% found the appeals from Ned Lamont more to their liking-- especially once Maxine Waters virtually took up residence in Connecticut and started telling voters there the truth about Holy Joe. And she was eventually joined by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (who, regardless, of the Fox spin that has turned them into arch villains to many white folks, are respected and even beloved leaders among African-Americans, especially on the East Coast).

Yesterday Lieberman and his supporters on the Far Right struck back. Deranged neo-nazi harridan, Ann Coulter, broke out the white sheet and pillowcase for another pro-Lieberman screed, this one viciously racist.

"Congresswoman Maxine Waters had parachuted into Connecticut earlier in the week to campaign against [Sen. Joseph I.] Lieberman because he once expressed reservations about affirmative action, without which she would not have a job that didn't involve wearing a paper hat."

And Holy Joe and his Republican/Fox allies were, as always, right with her. "I don't want my party [sic; he must have meant "former party] to be taken over by the Ned Lamont' or Maxine Waters who will not give assurance to the people of America that we are prepared to do what needs to be done to protect our people in a dangerous world."

With Bush's approval ratings back down at a dismal 33% and the AP-Ipsos poll suggesting "the midterms are clearly turning into a national referendum on Bush," Lieberman's stunning defeat is just a harbinger of what November holds for Bush and Company.

No one has been able to get through to the slimy Gerstein thing about whether or not Karl Rove wrote Lieberman's lines or just gave him the general thrust. Lieberman and the Gerstein thing squawked like stuck pigs, screaming "racism" when a blogger put up a cartoon that depicted Holy Joe in minstrel blackface. But when their girl Coulter comes out with a blatantly racist diatribe against Maxine Waters... silence. If you sense hypocrisy, you sense the essence of Joe Lieberman's long, disgraceful career at the public trough.

And today, while his Republican allies and their media shills tried to paint Democrats as pro-Taliban, more and more mainstream Democrats, Democrats in sync with the ideas the vast majority of Americans yearn for-- and on which they firmly disagree with Bush, Cheney. Lieberman and the rest of the rubber stampers-- have come out to support Ned Lamont. An actual moderate Democrat (unlike a fake moderate ex-Democrat), John Edwards announced yesterday that he would be campaigning with Ned in Connecticut. Our awesome Blue America candidate for Iowa's first congressional district, Bruce Braley, celebrated Lamont's victory yesterday in the Des Moines Register, explaining how he and Lamont see eye to eye of ending the Iraq occupation. (Braley's reactionary opponent, like Lieberman and Bush, is a "stay the course" airhead.)

Today Russ Feingold did a live blog session with his supporters and, in response to a question, put Lieberman's defeat in perspective: "I think the results in Connecticut were among the most significant election results in recent years. Ned Lamont's victory represents the American people's enormous frustration with our policy in Iraq. I support Ned, have contributed significantly to his campaign, and have offered to help out in any way he wants."

Another solid, moderate Democrat, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, an old friend of Lieberman's, declared he would be respecting the will of Connecticut Democrats. "I look forward to supporting Ned as he fights to help Democrats take back the Senate, and I call on Joe Lieberman to respect the will of the voters and step aside."

Driving down to some remote part of L.A. I had never heard of today to pick up the "Have You Had Enough" cds, I had the pleasure of listening to a lot more of Al Franken's radio show than I normally do. And he had Joe Conason on. I was hoping I would be able to remember all the great stuff he was saying. But when I got home I found his column on Truthdig: "War Critics Are Mainstream, Not Fringe."

Conason makes mincemeat out of dunderheaded reactionaries in the Regime and their pathetic shills in the mass media. "Old terms like 'appeasement' and 'Stalinist' have been brandished to insinuate that anyone who dares to dissent from the failed policies adopted by Joe Lieberman and the Bush administration is at best a fool and at worst a traitor. Such overwrought commentary, often phrased in terms of deep concern for the future of the party of FDR, JFK and Harry S. Truman, usually emanates from commentators whose political objective is continued Republican domination of all branches of government. Democrats should reject this propaganda barrage-which reveals an extraordinary capacity for self-deception on the right."


With as many as 60% of Americans favoring a speedy end to the catastrophic occupation of Iraq, it is Bush, Cheney, Lieberman and the rest of the Ann Coulter crowd who are out of step with mainstream America. Ned Lamont is at the forefront.



SUNDAY TALK SHOW UPDATE: HOWARD DEAN ON MEET THE PRESS-- JOE'S GOTTA GO

Unlike Chuck Schumer of the DSCC, Howard Dean was scrupulously neutral during the Connecticut Democratic primary. And today on Meet the Press Howard spoke for the whole Democratic Party (not just the Democratic wing of it) when he said Lieberman should give up his independent run for the U.S. Senate and accept the will of the Connecticut Democratic voters who know him best and who have rejected him in favor of Ned Lamont. Dean doesn't need any inside information to be able to explain that on Iraq, the single most important issue for our nation right now "Most Americans agree with Ned Lamont and not George Bush and Joe Lieberman."