Cokie Roberts: Lamont would be "disaster" for Dems

Via Media Matters, Cokie Roberts distinguished herself on the "This Week" roundtable by declaring that the Democratic Party will be doomed if Connecticut chooses Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Time now for the roundtable. I am joined, as always, by George Will. Welcome back to Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts. And let's - let's start out talking about this Lamont-Lieberman race. Cokie, let me ask you, Joe Lieberman is not the only Democrat, far from it, to support the war. Let me ask you the question I asked him. How did this happen?

ROBERTS: I think Connecticut is a more liberal state. You saw it there. It's -- it's very blue, and -- and you've got the -- the guy with a lot of money who is able to come in and take advantage of it. But it's -- it's, I think, a disaster for the Democratic Party, and it's going to be very interesting to see what happens as a result of it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Disaster for the Democratic Party? Why?

ROBERTS: Yes. I do, because, I think that first of all, that pushing the party to the left, which is what's likely to happen, is pushing the party to the position from which it traditionally loses. And --

STEPHANOPOULOS: In presidential elections.

ROBERTS: In presidential elections, but also it will send a signal to everybody in the Senate: "Watch out. The only smart thing to do here is play to your base." And then that -- what that means is that your legislation becomes a mess, which it already is, but even more of a mess, and you get --

Sam Donaldson noted helpfully that opposing the occupation of Iraq is not playing to the "base," but is in fact playing to the country, a majority of which questions the wisdom of continuing what truly is a disaster.

The other false assumption in Cokie's remarks is the suggestion that tacking left is, in and of itself, the wrong strategy for the Dems. Assuming for the sake of argument that opposing the occupation is a leftist position, how could it be any worse for the Democrats than what they have been doing for the past 12 years? Moving to the right has resulted in steady congressional losses year after year, with the exception of 1998, when anger over impeachment helped the Dems to take some seats back.

Republican-lite ain't cutting it. Americans want a genuine opposition party to check the authoritarian tendencies of Bush and the Republicans. Ned Lamont is tapping into this current. This is why he is on the verge of unseating an eighteen-year incumbent United States senator. Disaster, Cokie? Only for the enablers of the Bush regime.