Bush apologist, Republicrat Lieberman has stabbed his party in the bak one time too many...

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Moveon Considers Backing Primary Against Lieberman

The Hartford Courant reports today on how Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) continues to self-servingly pursue an image of Bush administration apologist on the Iraq War. For years, Lieberman has stabbed his party in the back on high-profile issues - but now, finally, Lieberman may have overreached, and might feel some consequences.

The Courtant specifically notes that Moveon.org now openly says it will consider supporting a primary challenge to Lieberman:

"[Moveon's Tom] Matzzie, whose organization claims more than 50,000 Connecticut members, said Wednesday that if his members ask, his group would back a Democratic challenger to Lieberman. Matzzie was in New Haven last month, and found 'the No. 1 question people asked me was, `What are we going to do about Joe Lieberman?''"

This is terrific news, as it shows the political infrastructure outside the Democratic Party apparatus is getting comfortable using both carrots AND sticks to pressure elected officials to take stands on issues. This is the way the right has been so successful - by rewarding their champions, and punishing those who undermine their movement.

No doubt, elected Democrats will scream and whine about Moveon's aggressive posture, as they have previously screamed and whined anytime anyone points out the party's flaccid behavior on other issues. But then, political movements don't exist to make politicians happy - they exist to actually achieve substantive policy changes. That's what Moveon is all about - and both Democrats and Republicans should be on notice that their positions have political consequences.

Sources:
Hartford Courant story
Democrats scream and whine when citizens demand accountability

Authors Bio:

David Sirota is a full-time political journalist, best-selling author and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist living in Denver, Colorado. He blogs for Working Assets and the Denver Post's PoliticsWest website. He is a Senior Editor at In These Times magazine, which in 2006 received the Utne Independent Press Award for political coverage. His 2006 book, Hostile Takeover, was a New York Times bestseller, and is now out in paperback. He has been a guest on, among others, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and NPR. His writing, which draws on his extensive experience as a progressive political strategist, has appeared in, among others, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Baltimore Sun, the Nation magazine, the Washington Monthly and the American Prospect. Sirota was a twice-a-week guest on the Al Franken Show. He currently serves in a volunteer capacity as the co-chairperson of the Progressive States Network - a 501c3 nonpartisan organization.

In the years before becoming a full-time writer, Sirota worked as the press secretary for Vermont Independent Congressman Bernard Sanders, the chief spokesman for Democrats on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, the Director of Strategic Communications for the Center for American Progress, a campaign consultant for Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and a media strategist for Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont. He also previously contributed writing to the website of the California Democratic Party. For more on Sirota, see these profiles of him in Newsweek or the Rocky Mountain News. Feel free to email him at lists [at] davidsirota.com Note: this online publication represents Sirota's personal views, and not the official views of the organizations he works with.