In the Arena

Al From Gets Religion

  • Share
  • Read Later

A press release from the Democratic Leadership Council today:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In reaction Senator Joe Lieberman’s (ID-Conn.) endorsement of Senator John McCain’s campaign for president today, Al From, founder and CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) released the following statement:
“I am very saddened by Senator Lieberman’s choice, and profoundly disagree with it. We need to elect a Democratic president in 2008.”

For what it’s worth, I don’t think the Lieberman endorsement is going to help McCain with unaffiliated voters in New Hampshire. The Republican-leaning independents were probably heading toward McCain or Giuliani anyway. Unlike 2000, the Democratic-leaners will not cross over to vote McCain. They’ll be more interested in influencing the tight Democratic race. And I’d bet that the relatively tiny group of truly independent voters will trend toward the Democratic race, since it’s much more interesting.

This endorsement was more a matter of sentiment than of strategy: Lieberman and McCain simply adore each other, in an embattled way. They share a myopic, and wrongheaded, view of Iraq, a view that has intensified as the Anbar Awakening succeeded and Baghdad’s ethnic cleansing reduced the violence there. Both talk of “victory” in Iraq, which is foolish. Neither understands the importance of the intra-Shi’ite conflict in the south in determining the future of the country. Both want to bomb-bomb-bomb bomb-bomb Iran. I don’t think many American voters agree with them.