Now that we're seeing the real Lieberman, what does that say about Gore

What does that say about Gore picking someone who bashes the party's base? What does it say about Gore's judgment, and the quality of the campaign he ran and would run, if he were the nominee next year?

Might or might not have been his idea, consider how hot & heavy the DLC/DNC are for Lieberman.

I think that trying to build a coalition with From and the DLC was one major unspoken ingredient in Gore's decision to choose Lieberman as VP in 2000. Lieberman also was able to project that he had tradtional morals and that was important in 2000 in the wake of Clinton's scandal, and Lieberman spoke out against Clinton's misbehavior, which gave the impression that not all Democrats apporved of Clinton's immorality.

I do think that Gore overestimated Lieberman's abilities and that is being shown now, but it's not all Gore's fault. Lieberman's problem is typical of how Connecticut Democrats operate. In Connecticut, the Democratic Party acts like a feudal estate. Senority, not merit, is the major ingredient to promotion in the party and political office. Years ago, the CT Dem party instituted a policy that if an up-and-coming Dem political hopeful wanted to run against an incumbant Dem, that the newbie had to get like 15% of the elected Dems to sign a petition to run against another Democrat. This policy discouraged competition within the Democratic Party in CT and also aborted much needed dissent and disscussion on the Party's policies and how to market them to the public. The result of this policy is that the Democratic Party in Connecticut is dying. Many registered Democrats, especially in my neck of the woods, have gone Independent.

The courts tossed out that policy last year, but I think that it will take a few election cycles and some effort on Democratic Party leaders to encourage new blood to run for office. One of the reasons why I returned to the Democratic Party after being in exodus for 11 years and got involved in my local DTC was to help rejuvenate the Party, and I came to this conclusion long before I joined Howard Dean's campaign. I don't plan on running for office, but I want to help push the Party to be more "customer friendly." I had to remind my DTC members that the purpose of politics should be to serve the people, not just get into and stay in power. If you lose that focus, then you lose support and power.

Howard Dean has gotten me excited because he's the first national level Democrat who also figured out the Party's problem, and I feel that my efforts at the local and state level will not be in vain.

That's about it. Al Gore knows that there were mistakes in 2000. He has said it publicly.

Why did Al Gore state, during his Barbara Walters interview on 20/20 in November 2002, that he still believed picking Lieberman as his running mate was one of the best decisions he ever made?

Kerry, Edwards, or Graham for the VP slot....

:grr:

Edwards and especially Graham in 2000 would have won their states.

over Kerry, in fact, because it was perceived that Lieberman added a moral respectibilty to the ticket after the Clinton dirt.

Gore evolved and moved away from political machinations to speak the truth, Lieberman models his world view with Israel focused influence.

race. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.