TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) officially retired from the Senate today.

Well, that sure took long enough!

I'm so freakin' happy to see Chris Murphy step up to take over the seat. Now I feel that we'll have an elected official who will honestly serve the citizens of our state, and who will make decisions about national policy that doesn't reflect the will of powerful lobbyists and foreign governments.

Were things just a little different back in 2006, today we'd be celebrating the start of Ned Lamont's second term as our senior senator. Lamont accomplished something that was thought impossible back then; beating a long time incumbent in his own party's primary and driving him from the Democratic party.

Of course, history conspired with state Republicans to keep Lieberman on for a fourth term. The GOP turned out in droves to vote for a man they saw as a true ally and friend of their causes. How else do you explain that Republican candidate Al Schlesinger only received 10% of the popular vote, when just six years earlier a future convicted child molester got about a third of the popular vote?

I actually voted for Giordano in 2000, only because I was so fucking pissed at Lieberman for selfishly running for VP and Senate simultaneously. Which, if Gore had won and all things remained equal, would have given the Republicans control of the 50-50 Senate because Gov. Roland had the authority to appoint a Republican to Lieberman's vacant seat. Lieberman was hedging his bet, and that's part of the reason he flipped so quickly on the contested 2000 election. He was holding onto national office while positioning for a 2004 bid himself.

My errant vote at the time was because I didn't know that you could choose to simply not vote for one or more offices when you pull the levers (remember those?). So in protest, though I voted for Gore-Lieberman for President and VP, I also dumbly cast a Republican vote for a guy who currently is serving hard prison time for child rape.

I'm not especially proud of that fact.

Lieberman's legacy will include supporting some important legislation, especially earlier in his career. But something happened to him that caused him to become one of the biggest war hawks in the Senate.

Not to mention that he was also a chicken hawk, due to his excessive use of draft deferments to avoid serving in Vietnam. Lieberman didn't want to get his boots muddy in the jungles of Southeast Asia, but boy he certainly had no problem sending tens of thousands of American soldiers to fight and die in a war that was largely caused by Bush/Cheney's lies, which Lieberman enthusiastically supported.

In the 2004 presidential primaries, who doesn't remember Lieberman's classic loser speech, where he triumphantly claimed that he strode to a big finish "in a three-way tie for third place!" He then dove headfirst down the polls and soon dropped out.

Then, of course, came the famous "kiss" at Bush's 2005 State of the Union address. That kiss came to represent everything he stands for. He followed that up with a kiss to Rep. Chris Shays during the 2008 McCain appearance at Sacred Heart University. Lieberman was the most active supporter of John McCain in the senate, and I'm sure it devastated him when McCain chose that cretin from Alaska to be his running mate instead of faithful ol' Joe. Boy, it made me happy when I heard that announcement!

So now we come to the end of the political line for Joe Lieberman. I'm only slightly curious about where he'll land after this. I assume he'll do some kind of lobbying. But I can't really invest any effort into researching it, because I honestly don't care what he does, as long as he no longer stains the senate with his presence.

Yes, we'll no longer have Joe Lieberman to kick around any more.

I'd say I'm gonna miss the guy, but I don't want to lie. I'm glad he's gone.

Thinking back on 2006, I really want to thank all the bloggers and people I've worked with. The nature of blogging has changed considerably since then, with the advent of social networking, which was unheard of in the day. I was very lucky to hang out with a bunch of smart, funny, and immensely talented people. It was an amazing and hugely rewarding time for me.

And here's a final "thank you" to Ned Lamont, who courageously opened a national conversation that needed to be addressed. And with it, he helped change the face of the political landscape that continues to this day.