Apparently Dick Blumenthal thinks chickenshittery will save us all. Blumenthal is in line to be the Democratic Senate nominee in Connecticut, in a bid to replace the retiring Senator Chris Dodd. Despite being Connecticut’s Attorney General, Blumenthal has repeatedly made a big deal out of the fact that he thinks all terrorists should be tried in military tribunals and that the federal court system, which has convicted hundreds of terrorists already, is not the place to mete out justice.

Blumenthal is positioning himself to be the next Joe Lieberman. He is campaigning on his “independence” from the President and the Democratic Party. And he doesn’t think he’ll even want President Obama to campaign with him. Right – because cowering from your party and the people who believe the same things as you is a real sign of strength that will appeal to voters.

Perhaps most sickening is that Blumie thinks the lesson of Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts is that people think “Washington is broken” and as a result, he needs to run against it. If Blumenthal believes that, I have a Democratic Senate majority for him to join in 2010. Naturally, a college junior has better sense than a Democratic Senate  candidate, ““The lessons of Massachusetts are that people are looking for real leadership,” [Brian] Bills contended.” Bingo.

Democrats are in trouble, not because Obama is unpopular (he is popular) and not because Republicans are popular (they are as unpopular as ever). No, Democrats are in trouble because they internalize Republican talking points about them while college studnets are able to distinguish between GOP spin and existing political dynamics. Blumenthal’s stated campaign plan involves running away from his history as a Democrat, running away from the majority party, and running straight towards the Republican position on most issues we’ve seen him talk about so far. Republican Lite doesn’t sell. And the only benefit of Dick Blumenthal not getting this simple fact of American politics is that we won’t be stuck with Dick Blumenthal as a senator from Connecticut.