Kulturpunkt: Bad tidings?

This is a culture blog, and I don't like putting political things on it. However, this was just too good to resist.

In a defeat that even a political novice could have seen from a distance, Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary. Of course, the 2006 Democratic vice-presidential nominee doesn't plan on accepting the will of Connecticut Democrats. That's no surprise. Washington insiders have no interest in their constituents. Only in getting big donations and keeping their jobs. Here's The Nation's take.

I, for one, never underestimate the Democrat's seemingly God-sent ability to blow a sure thing. They did it in 2004, by nominating the least-charming, most-Bush-like candidate they could find. The fact that he was slightly more plutocratic in family and demeanor than Bush didn't help, either. John Kerry went windsurfing and skiing, while Bush indulged his lucrative passion for brush-farming. Which candidate seemed more in touch with Middle America?

And, despite growing national dissatisfaction with a war without either a clear end or a clear rationale, they might blow this final referendum on the Bush administration. Lamont's victory proves that anti-war sentiment works in the party, and - I imagine - the nation. If the Democrats capitalize on this, they'll make Karl Rove's Christmas an unhappy one. If not, well, don't say I didn't warn them.

Update, 9 August: The name of Lieberman's new party says it all. "Connecticut for Lieberman"? Perhaps I misunderstand the point of our Republic and its representative democracy, but shouldn't it be "Lieberman for Connecticut"? On that alone, I wish Mr. Lamont all the best! Someone who remembers the House of Morgan has to be good for America. I leave with these thoughts from Richard Wagner:

Rheingold! Rheingold!
Reines Gold!
O leuchtete noch
in der Tiefe dein laut'rer Tand!
Traulich und treu
ist's nur in der Tiefe:
falsch und feig
ist, was dort oben sich freut!

A lament for our Republic, perhaps? No. Assuredly not. But it's nice to pretend sometimes.