Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: LEFT Activists Angry at California Senator Barbara Boxer for Supporting Lieberman

Mercury News: Liberals angry at Boxer for supporting Lieberman

Liberal activists, including some California Democrats, are furious with Sen. Barbara Boxer — a leading critic of the Iraq war — for her active support of Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who staunchly defends the war in Iraq.

Lieberman is fighting for his political life in Connecticut, facing an anti-war opponent, cable magnate Ned Lamont, in an Aug. 8 Senate primary. Lieberman, his party’s nominee for vice president in 2000, has already announced he will run as an independent in the fall if he loses the primary.

That decision has divided his Senate colleagues and Democrats nationwide. And the Lieberman race has ignited a fiery debate among Democrats, now raging on political blogs, about loyalty, political principles and whether the three-term senator has betrayed his party and should be tossed out.

Boxer, a California Democrat, said she decided to support Lieberman, and campaign for him in Connecticut, even though “we have no common ground surrounding the issue of the Iraq war.”

Lieberman has been one of her “staunchest allies” on the environment and reproductive rights, two issues very important to her, Boxer said in a statement. “I will be campaigning with him to let the voters know about his record on those issues.”

And why shouldn’t Barbara Boxer support an incumbent Senator who has voted the Democrat Party mainstream. Let’s look at the American Conservative Union lifetime ratings (the lower the rating more LEFT):

Joe Liberman – 17

Dianne Feinstein – 11

Harry Reid – 20

Evan Bayh – 21

Barbara Boxer – 3

Bill Nelson – 41

The Democrat Party is all over the place on rating votes. So, does this mean that there will be lefty primary challenges to Harry Reid and Evan Bayh when they come up for election? Or is this lack of loyalty a litmus test on a single issue – the War in Iraq?

Or is it that lefty activists and consultants who are paid by a wealthy challenger (Ned Lamont) wish to make a party candidate change and make some cash while they are at it? Is Lamont’s campaign about netroot activism over a single issue or something else?

Probably something else masquerading as the power of the “netroots.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also a California Democrat, is backing Lieberman, but has no plans to campaign for him. Boxer’s decision stunned some California Democrats. Arianna Huffington, on her popular blog, titled one post “What the hell is Barbara Boxer thinking?”

Within days, Huffington Post and Daily Kos, another liberal blog, were filled with angry responses from Californians. “She better cancel that [Connecticut] trip if she wants any more donations from me and other California activists,” wrote one.

“She’s a damn foolish, selfish sellout,” another wrote.

One leader of the Progressive Democrats of America, Mervis Reissig of Sonoma County, said: “I’m in a state of shock. What Sen. Boxer is doing is a total invalidation of one of our main values. Right now the war is a more important issue than choice.”

The GOP can only hope that Lieberman loses in the August primary. He will run in November as an independent, while Hillary, Kerry, Obama, Feingold, et al will support Ned Lamont. And Chuckie Shumer, Chairman of the Democrat Senate fundraising committee will have to commit millions to fund Lamont’s campaign while Lieberman spends down his PAC war chest supplemented by conservative and Jewish activists.

Will this be a waste of resources for the Dems?

You betcha….

Moreover, the netroot consultants will be making BANK.

And the GOP will be pleased.

Stay tuned as the campaign gets nasty…….