Useful Idiots

It's been a rough couple of weeks. Too much to do around the house, teaching three nights a week, and working the crappy day job. I made the mistake of watching the taking heads last night lament over the Lieberman getting the boot in the CT primary. You know the voters are on the right track when both the conservative and the liberal pundits are bemoaning the election results.

The communists in the old Soviet Union used to call American communists "useful idiots" - deriding them as naive idealists but at the same time, happy to make use of them for propaganda purposes. Today, Joe's biggest mistake was in allowing himself to become a "useful idiot" for the republicans. His sycophantic behavior on shows like Hannity and Colmes coupled with his willingness to attack his fellow democrats was his undoing. Many conservatives in the blogosphere have been making much about his liberal voting record, but in politics, perception is reality, and the preception of Lieberman was that he was Bush's lapdog.

On the other hand, Joe has also developed a severe case of incumbantitis. The symptons include disconnect from one's constituents and feeling of entitlement that manifests as annoyance at the very idea of having to actually campaign among the great unwashed in order to keep one's position.

So, the republicans are lamenting the loss of their favorite useful idiot, while establishment democrats are unhappy because if an 18-year vetaran of the Senate and former VP nominee can lose in a primary, anyone can. The talking heads will debate for the next week whether this is good news for the dems or the GOP, ignoring that it's actually just bad news for the incumbant class in general. People are fed up with politics as usual and want a new breed of leader. No more politicians. No more useful idiots.

We need some actual statesmen (and women) for a change.