Wasn't the climate towards social programs in general at Nixon's time was so different from ours that Nixon flirted with guaranteed minimum yearly income?  If that's the case, can anyone name a contemporary mainstream politician in the US who -isn't- to his right on social programs?  Altho I wasn't even born till reagan so what do I know.  I am not saying Nixon wasn't an evil, evil fuck by the way. But Lamont is for universal healthcare, and after meeting with ct manufacturing unions, dropped his support for free trade pacts.  In a time of deepest reaction, I think his staff's work in ct is nothing to sneeze at by far. Altho it is sad how, between him and Corzine, the only lefty-leanings we sent to the senate since Wellstone died have been jillionaires. Jim <div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> It is not a matter of being more radical than thou. What is sad about Lamont is that we have to enthuse over someone whose social program is essentially to the right of Richard Nixon. This has nothing to do with Lamont but rather with the times and our own lack of power. So sure, use Lamont as a protest vote or as a way to argue against the war (but hardly against U.S. imperialism or even against jingoism... ) but don't think that electing Lamont is anything but electing another bastard. Jerry </blockquote></div>