A senior administration official came to the press cabin during the flight to Green Bay to reflect on background about the CT primary and other political matters. The official noted that Lamont’s victory reflected the opinions of a tiny fraction of the electorate – about 7 percent. “I have to be careful about not extrapolating too much, but the fact of the matter is that as the election got closer, the race got closer,” the official said. “It went from 13 to 6 to 4 in the last 10 days of the campaign. And I think that’s in part because at the end of the day people look at the consequences of failure and the consequences of victory, the consequences of withdrawal and the consequences of finishing the fight, and they draw very important lessonsĀ about what it means to our country.
“So, if you have Lamont Democrats who say, ‘Bring ’em home, turn away, and it will be all over,’ the American people say, ‘You’re kidding yourself. We’re in war and the only way you walk away from a war is as a victor, defeating the enemy.'”
Asked whether it was appropriate to talk about war in the context of a political campaign, the official replied: “You lost me.” The official added: “The issue’s going to be discussed in the fall. … Are you saying if the Democrats talk about the war, we shouldn’t? … We’ll talk about the war and we will talk about the consequences of the policies advocated by the Democrats.”
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
Sounds like erudite wisdom from Mr. Snow himself. You go, Tony!
Regards,
Peter H.
I’ve been deeply involved in races that were “come-from-behind” races like the Lieberman-Lamont race and I have always smiled at the political observers when they offer “the race was trending in our direction, if we’d only had another 12 hours or 1-2-3-4-5 days, we’d have won” line.
Tony Snow knows better. Lieberman lost because he didn’t roll up his sleeves and trade dirt4dirt with Lamont. His staff, unwisely, thought a sitting US Senator was above that kind of campaigning.
Joe isn’t. He’s usually a winner and does what it takes to win having learned from his early career losses. The 2006 Primary campaign staff is history –fired all. He won’t make those mistakes again.
Joe will do what it takes to win in November and when it happens, the MoreOnOrg people will leave Lamont at the curbside and talk as if Lieberman went on to lose the General –ignoring reality like they do with the terrorist threat to our Nation and the Free World. It won’t amtter to the MoveOnOrg people because they’ve already won –they’ve sent their message. They’ve mobilized the anti-war movement and it is here to stay. They’ve freed Americans from the WOT. Bush will soon be impeached. Reality has no place at their table.
What did MoveOn.org win? A town selectman noninated to be a US Senator? If that is winning, then this nation is really messed up.
#3 – Benj, that IS winning to the Left. Go figure.
Regards,
Peter H.