Lieberman’s ‘Higher Calling’

To the Editor:

I commend First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and the Democratic Town Committee for politely, but firmly, asking US Senator Joseph Lieberman to participate in the Newtown Labor Day parade as what he is: the candidate who decisively lost the Connecticut Democratic primary in a historically high turnout of voters. This is not merely a matter of protocol. Connecticut taxpayers paid for a statewide primary election. Sen Lieberman’s opponent, businessman Ned Lamont, pledged to endorse the winner. In one of the most graceless displays of any recent political campaign, Sen Lieberman not only refused to back the winner, but following his defeat, decreed that he will not allow the primary voters’ choice “to stand.”

Worse yet, Sen Lieberman, who engaged in exactly the same form of opportunistic gamesmanship by simultaneously running for Vice President and his senate seat in 2000, claims his decision to ignore the election results is a matter of principle and a “higher calling.”

Mr Rosenthal and Newtown’s Democrats have done the right thing: telling Sen Lieberman that in demanding an election “do over,” the only “calling” he is following is the preservation of his own career.

David Atkins

3 Valley Field Road South, Sandy Hook                  August 29, 2006