Ron Paul Warns Supporters About Lieberman
Ron Paul is putting on a rally in St. Paul (huh) on Tuesday, and sent out an email to supporters about it this morning. He has a lot of things he wants to warn the American people about–including Joe Lieberman (emphasis mine):
The situation our country faces is as dangerous as ever. A certain Democratic senator, recently passed over for the Republican vice-presidential nod, is likely to be our next secretary of state. Both major parties remain committed to militarism and reckless spending - and inflationism to fund it all.
[…]
The Rally for the Republic is the first step in alerting our countrymen to these dangers, and holding out the message of freedom as the only remedy.
Ron Paul is apparently not sold on the idea of Lieberman representing America abroad. Can’t blame him.
The Volpe Effect
Speaking of Lieberman, there’s this great article in Boston Magazine about the primary John Kerry is facing from Ed O’Reilly, and how difficult it is to go around feigning interest in, say, a construction project in Lawrence after coming this close to being president of the United States. There’s a story referenced in the article which I think is illustrative:
John Volpe was a former Republican governor of Massachusetts and failed presidential candidate who went on to become secretary of transportation under Richard Nixon and ambassador to the Vatican under Gerald Ford. When the Ford administration ended, Volpe came back to Massachusetts. […] A man came up to Volpe and asked him when he was going to run for governor again. “I’ll never forget this,” says Goldman. “Volpe said, ‘You know, when I was governor, I used to spend a lot of time thinking about Uxbridge. And then when I was secretary of transportation, I had to worry about all 50 states, not just a town in Massachusetts. Then I became ambassador to the Vatican, and I had to wonder about how what we did affected the whole world.“‘I don’t think I can get that excited about going back to worrying about Uxbridge.’”
Replace “Uxbridge” with “East Granby” and you’ve suddenly got the outlook of Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd. The magazine is calling it the “Volpe effect,” and it’s interesting to think about in relation to our senators as well as those of Massachusetts. Both of our senators have been up there on the national and international stage, worrying about foreign policy and presidential politics. What happens in East Granby can’t be all that thrilling, after all they’ve been through. The article does mention that Kerry is very much hoping for a position in the Obama administration. Well, Lieberman wants something in the McCain administration (warnings from Ron Paul aside), and Dodd will probably get something in the Obama administration. So no matter who wins, we’ll be down a senator. Maybe the next one will still be able to get excited about East Granby.
As an aside about Kerry’s upcoming primary, I’ve been seeing a surprising number of O’Reilly signs up in Longmeadow and Springfield. I haven’t seen any Kerry signs.