Thursday, December 11, 2003
Richard Cohen called Gore's betrayal of Lieberman for what it was in his piece, A Class Act, Betrayed (washingtonpost.com) He does note that Gore was under no obligation to endorse Lieberman, since the two have moved apart politically,
But Gore owed Lieberman the courtesy of a call. The endorsement would still have carried punch if it had -- God forbid -- leaked prematurely. It would still have represented a repudiation of Lieberman -- not to mention many of the moderate positions Gore once stood for. For the sake of surprise, Gore -- and by association Dean -- showed how squalid politics can be.
Gore could have displayed a lot more class in making this move - the most prominent early endorsement of this cycle. If Dean loses, he is going to have serious egg on his face and an embittered Democratic nominee to deal with.
What also bothers me about this is Gore's statement that Democrats don't have "the luxury of fighting among ourselves." On the contrary, they won't get anywhere if they don't engage in substantive debate. Cheap shots during the primary season will assuredly hurt all involved, but the party needs an opportunity to have real debate. Moreover, the process itself demands voter participation - a primary that is decided before the first ballots benefits no one, except perhaps for Al Gore or Howard Dean. It's really a shame that Gore, who fought so hard for votes to be counted in a select few Florida counties, is so intent on making primary votes irrelevant. If he's running in 2008, his odds of getting my vote in the primary just dropped.
But Gore owed Lieberman the courtesy of a call. The endorsement would still have carried punch if it had -- God forbid -- leaked prematurely. It would still have represented a repudiation of Lieberman -- not to mention many of the moderate positions Gore once stood for. For the sake of surprise, Gore -- and by association Dean -- showed how squalid politics can be.
Gore could have displayed a lot more class in making this move - the most prominent early endorsement of this cycle. If Dean loses, he is going to have serious egg on his face and an embittered Democratic nominee to deal with.
What also bothers me about this is Gore's statement that Democrats don't have "the luxury of fighting among ourselves." On the contrary, they won't get anywhere if they don't engage in substantive debate. Cheap shots during the primary season will assuredly hurt all involved, but the party needs an opportunity to have real debate. Moreover, the process itself demands voter participation - a primary that is decided before the first ballots benefits no one, except perhaps for Al Gore or Howard Dean. It's really a shame that Gore, who fought so hard for votes to be counted in a select few Florida counties, is so intent on making primary votes irrelevant. If he's running in 2008, his odds of getting my vote in the primary just dropped.
