Weicker: Enough of Lieberman

Fomer Senator and Governor Lowell Weicker wrote a stinging op-ed in today's Hartford Courant tearing apart President Bush's favorite Democrat while endorsing challenger Ned Lamont. It's a must-read.

The majority of Democrats say they support Sen. Joe Lieberman in spite of his backing the war, since Iraq, after all, is only one of many issues facing voters.

Hello! To characterize the most monumental screw-up of our times as "only one of many issues" is like admiring the theater marquees on Broadway with King Kong on the loose.

Iraq is a war based on falsehood for which thousands of young Americans have been killed and wounded. It is a policy mistake that has drained the life's blood of financial resources from all our endeavors here at home. It is the issue that shapes all other issues.

Ned Lamont has taken a clear stand on exiting this insanity. Sen. Joe Lieberman has made staying the course the cornerstone of his term. In his TV advertisements, Sen. Lieberman belatedly pleads for a civil dialogue on the war issue. How do you dialogue on a mistake based on a lie? A candid and wise man would have admitted his error and moved on in a new direction. Not so the incumbent senator.

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I want to see brave men and women stand up with Ned Lamont in the days ahead and say: Enough! We don't want to be cast in the image of President George W. Bush, of whom Sen. Lieberman is so enamored. America is better than the portrait painted by this Republican administration.

I speak as an independent who has seen the two-party system corrupt itself to the point of irrelevance during a dangerous time in our history. Ned Lamont can start the reform process by providing opposition to a Republican Party too long in power. What is needed is Ned Lamont's voice for health care for all, funding for our cities, and public education from kindergarten through college that works for our children.