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I really don't understand Joe Lieberman's new ad, or his campaign strategy to highlight what he considers Ned Lamont's "inexperience." One of the most powerful and enduring myths of American politics is the honest, uncorruptable newcomer vs. the political hack, the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington tale. Ned Lamont's rather squeaky clean good-guy persona becomes even easier to tie to the Jimmy Stewart image as a direct result of Lieberman's efforts, and nobody screams "tired old hack" right now louder than Joe Lieberman. He's got nothing in the tank, no new solutions, no big ideas to run on -- just a record of supporting an abysmal failure of a war and a history of selling out everything he ever purported to believe in so he could go steady with the GOP.
As Tim Tagaris points out, Joe isn't even consistent in this particular sentiment. From his book, In Praise of Public Life:
“Of course I’m not saying that our political system should not sometimes be shaken up through the election of a new kind of leader, like Jesse Ventura in our time, or that it should not be open to the fresh perspective of someone from an entirely different profession, a person who has been successful, say, in business…”
No-Show Joe is guilty of virtually everything he ever accused Lowell Weicker of and more. He's accepted large speaking fees, failed to show up for just as many votes as Weicker in half the time, and worse yet -- confused bipartisanship with rolling over for personal gain. If he can put his finger on the American Myth of the Entitlement of the Cranky Old Git he might have a better shot at success.
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fITZ!
Fitz Jane Ned Keith Marcy
This is just one more instance of Joe’s campaigning incompetence. He’s reinforcing Ned’s message, just as he did in the primary, over and over again. His campaign has been an astounding example of how not to run a race as an incumbent.
Hey! How did you sneak in here Hugh! I coulda been a contender!
Jane, I just Netflixed this movie last week. It was great. I had never seen it before. Joeplunge is soon to be history!!
Jimmy Stewart!
Rock the boat, Jane!
Call me naive, call me stupid. And please, call me idealistic and principled. I’ve been called a lot worse. But I cling to the idea that women and men will do the right thing. If left to their own devices. I do NOT buy into the concept of “original sin”. And I never will. Best of all… call me progressive.
I think that the current arc of the campaign has too much Joementum to change.
This arc leads inexorably, inevetably, irrevocably to it’s pre-ordained conclusion: Joe-blivion.
No mortal can stop it now.
oh and of course Redd TRex Howie Donita Taylor Swopa watertiger mommybrain egreg Eli ofg NORSKE Saint Mary lhp all you fab newbies/delurkers and everybody else I’m forgetting!
I’m beginning to think Lieberman may be more representative of people who are interested in military contracts than his constituency.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031679/quotes
girls, too!
Fact is, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing, he’s been secure in his position of power for too long. Now he’s going scattershot hoping something will stick enough to get him into the margin of Diebold error.
My daughter is a first grader in Virginia and they are teaching her what patriotism means. I asked her if she thought patriotism meant telling the President he is doing a great job or did it mean telling him that you didn’t think he was doing a good job. She looked at me confused. I said the wonderful thing about our country is that it is just as patriotic to tell him when he isn’t doing a good job.
jesus marie, how could I forget the angie!
you majorly on fire, girl.
Hi Jane. I noticed this post doesn’t have a title. How about “There’s a new kid in town (Joe don’t wanna hear it)”
;)
Jane S. @ 14
Awhile back I decided to finally go back to school and get the degree that I skipped out on after high school… at the moment I’m taking an early US history course.
It’s an amazing juxtaposition to be reading the words of the deist philosophers who founded our nation while hearing the words of those who currently run it coming from the tv. They couldn’t be further apart.
Can you imagine? Back in the 1760s the body politic was *very* concerned about the opening of playhouses of all things, but that they might distract the citizenry from their civic duties and moral foundation!
The idea of free speech won that battle, but there’s an element of truth in that concern as well…
How about instaed of Jimmy Stewart, name the thread Joey Swaggert.
Look at Lieberman’s quote again.
This time, focus on the positive reference to Jesse Ventura.
Lieberman’s book must have come out around the time that Ventura’s public image was peaking.
So besides highlighting Lieberman’s hypocrisy, this quote also demonstrates two other unsavory characteristics that we have seen time and again from Lieberman:
1. Lieberman’s desire to praise high-profile politicians and public figures from outside of his own party to garner publicity (and respect from the cocktail weenie circuit) for himself and
2. Lieberman’s spectacularly poor judgment about which persons are actually worthy of praise.
See, e.g., George Bush, Farrakhan, McCain, Nancy Johnson, Dick Cheney, Jesse Ventura, and the list goes on…
How about “This town needs an enema!”?
#17–It is hard to instill in my child the ideals of the constitution, of free speech and see them subverted every day by our great leaders.
Twisted - nice Ghostbusters reference.
And Go Blue!
Oh wait, that was a Batman reference, my bad.
On the topic of the ad:
“I’m Joe Lieberman and I approve this message”
But I don’t approve of allowing youtube users to comment on my videos.
WUSS!
The ad must be the result of internal polling because one of the few things still going for Liarman are the memories of what he used to be and the misperception that his seniority somehow works to Connecticut’s advantage.
I’m sure the Lamont campaign has some ads lined up to address this canard - and to reinforce the importance of getting someone who has integrity and fresh perspective in Congress to take Joe’s place. Someone who has not been bought and sold by lobbyists and BushCo.
I was shocked to read recently - here or some other blog - that CT is 49th out of 50 in terms of federal funding. I don’t think many people in CT are aware of this statistic, or the fact that he has missed so many votes in the past six years, running away from key Dem policies and issues to attend fundraisers or run for President. (And BTW - he can’t use running for President as an excuse because people in CT are still pissed off about what he did in 2000.)
Lieberman is a phony who only shows up in Hamden, Newtown or Danbury when his *ss is on the line.
I hope the Lamont campaign kicks the “experience” meme to the curb ASAP
thanks, Sharkbabe ;)! btw, I loved your outfit suggestion the other night on the Howie’s congratulatory post for Ann and LindaR! Remind me to ask you if’n I ever get invited to a progressive and patriotic “do”!! You are so special.
OK– just two more quotes from one of my most favorite movies of all time… ahem…
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/M.....Washington
(for us fearless ladies, remember the movie was from 1939 and Lieberlier is still way behind.)
The ad makes perfect sense, but only if taken completely out of today’s political context. It is a measure of how far from grace he has fallen.
Lieberman’s major theme has been his willingness to cooperate with the other party on a bipartisan basis. Normally, that can be a plus. In other times, when there was a strong principled center focused on the public interest (David Broder’s membrance of his world), bipartisanship was practiced by statemen/women on both sides of the aisle. But the Republican takeover in 1994 completely changed that, when they refused to work cooperatively with the Democrats and set about imposing their extreme radical agenda.
Since then we’ve have 12 years of extreme right wing radicalism. It’s been anything but bipartisan, because the right wing Republican leadership moved so far away from the bipartisan center on so many issue. With President Bush’s election, that extreme radicalism got even worse, with a strong neocon foreign policy (pre-emptive war) and a strong fundamentalist strain (faith-based programs) deliberately designed to break down the principle of church/state separation. With DeLay and Frist, pushing the Congress even further right, and without any ethics in doing so, it became impossible for any responsible Democrat to function in a bipartisan manner, because the centrist principles that made bipartisanship permissible were completely ignored by the radical Republicans and their extreme leaders, including the President.
Like many other Dems, Lieberman never seemed to grasp what had happened to the principles underlying bipartisanship, and he’s now one of the few DINOs left who still don’t realize that to be bipartisan in this regime is to abandon virtually every principle that Democrats have historically held dear.
So bipartisanship in this regime is not a virtue; it is unpardondable, because it means you go to wars you shouldn’t fight, endorse judicial appointments of extremists and tolerate an adminsitration that has openly tried to dismantle most of the New Deal, including Social Security and using the power of government to limit the power of corporations, instead of shielding them from their own excesses. The whole social compact is under challence, as well as the rule of law and hundreds of years of defining due process and personal freedome. How can one compromise with that?
In that context, what is Joe Lieberman’s “experience” worth? What does it mean?
If you want someone who routinely abandons principles of good government and fairness and the social compact government had with American citizens since 1932, and instead enables an unprincipled, reckless and lawless regime, Joe has plenty of “experience.” But why would anyone in their right minds vote for that?
Throw this bum out.
There’s a beautiful song that’s haunting the back of my mind right now, “Hold on, change is coming….”
Haven’t been able to stop by for long today, so mea culpa if this has already been covered.
The David Broder screed in today’s WaPoo? Read it for his take on the rising independence party.
As for me, I’ll take more assurance from David Sirota’s take on Broder.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0921-27.htm
And isn’t this a true beauty of the blogs–that Broder can pontificate from on high but now we “rabble” can deconstruct and debate and reality check in rapid response.
*xyz @ 23
See, the blogosphere IS self correcting!
Still enjoying the beat-down of the Domers, but time to focus on the Badgers.
bdu @
24
Yeah, I saw that it says “Adding comments have been disabled for this video.”
Profiles in courage, eh?
I wonder if it would be against the law for someone with a youtube account could copy it, upload it, and allow comments.
I thought one unintentional message sent by the ad was that “experience” was the *only* thing Joe had to recommend him.
“He may totally suck ass, but at least he knows how to be a senator!”
Joe really blows
scarecrow @ 27– exactly! ditto! spot on!
I think it’s unbecoming of Lieberman to support the people who blew the Trade Centers to smithereens in broad daylight and then exploited it to start a war in Iraq.
Jane, you’ve got mail!
Jane S. @ 21
Perhaps so. But my baby (my daughter), who is now a woman, confirms all that we did to help her understand the meaning of the Constitution has paid off. She knows the difference between right and wrong. She’s a progressive San Diego Democrat. And for this and so many other more important reasons we cannot count, we’re mighty proud of her.
Jane, your kung fu is amazing. I’m sure you are one blogger he knows (and curses) by name! Viva La Firedoglake!
To Scarecrow @ 27. Well said!
Here’s my shorter Joe2006 commercial…
“I’ve worked with Republicans to get us where we are today”
Brownandserve @ 38
Wow. That is a perfect counter-commercial. Brilliant.
angie @ 33
Absolutely!
Take out the last line and it’s Ned’s to use in the next debate, verbatim, and a great script for any commercial Ned want’s to make.
As Grover Norquist said, “bipartisanship is just another word for date rape” or something of the sort.
=========
Had Enough?
=========
channeling me to me -
until we kick their asses over stealing the very electoral process - and I mean it literally, physically hurt them, brandish their beloved guns right at them, put the fear of god and humanity and Jefferson in them, this is all for naught. We got Ned, they got diebold. Ned becoming a senator means nothing until we get serious about diebold.
We have had five years of an unelected junta destroying America and as much of the world as it can.
Could never have happened without deliberately, systematically fucking up voting.
They need do nothing more than continue to fuck up voting, and count on continued national silence. Who can blame them? It just works and works.
Voting security is THE ONLY ISSUE. You can kick the passion and intelligence of everybody here to the curb. It means fucking nothing until we re-secure the vote. I.e., re-secure the nation to the people.
I’m back from Warner Webb. Good heavens I’m glad to be a Virginia Democrat.
egregious @ 42
more please?
As Grover Norquist said, “bipartisanship is just another word for date rape” or something of the sort.
And GWB is the date rape drug…
Finally able to see the ad… Joe is sucking up to the fraidy cats jest like the rethugs do. Business as usual and oooh, change is scary and difficult and we just might not get our pork– ever, but if we keep him in long enough…
S.O.S., different election. Throw him out, CT. Go Ned.
It is a boring ad with tiresome voices unlike Ned and his “and we do too!” real voters.
OT: October surprise. I would love to see next week some time a blog with wagers on 1) what the October Surprise will be, and 2) when it will occur. I’m not much into gambling, but we could do a gentlepersons bet, with the winner(s) giving money to Act Blue. I have seen references to everything from finding Osama to making war with Iran to bringing the gas prices down to pre-1980 rates. I am sure there are other more creative ideas elsewhere. A moderator could pick the closest winners. I say next week selfishly because I am going to a week-end long wedding in Maine and will be away from the “internets.”
angie @ 33
double ditto
Richmond @ 46
I think that’s a great idea.
Sharkbabe @ 41
The Democrats’ reluctance to make an issue of this is the Number One thing that makes me question their seriousness about reclaiming the government.
OT - But I’m distressed. I saw the earlier article about Libby’s little win. Well, they’re not characterizing it quite that way now.
What an odd and unsettling headline.
Some clarity is totally desired. What does this mean? Is Fitz sunk?
egregious @ 42
Please tell us what happened!
scarecrow @
27
Well said, scarecrow. Very well said.
scarecrow @ 39
PERFECT. TOM SWAN ARE YOU LISTENING?
Richmond @
46
Or, you could just convince these guys to add a line:
http://www.intrade.com/jsp/int.....ctSearch/#
*xyz @
53
That really is very good.
meta @ 54
Thanks Meta - That is some serious fun. I wonder how often the site’s “polling” is correct. It’s an interesting site to follow!
Richmond—that’s an intriguing idea. We haven’t had a contest for quite a while.
Reading the Guy Noir comments that started last night and continued into earlier threads today, made me think that might be another contest idea.
Hey Jane—contest…Contest…Contest!
Lieberman is saying that Lamont’s inexperience leaves him unqualified? So… look… what has Joe Lieberman’s experience done for him, the people of Connecticut, this country, and and for that matter, the world. I’ve heard it said that ‘wisdom’ is being in possession of knowledge, and the correct use of that knowledge. Where does that leave Joe. Perhaps we should ask the dead who have given up their lives in the Middle East since Lieberman was first elected to public office.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 58
Experience is only a positive when applied constructively. There is no evidence that Joe has done so.
RBG @
57
Oh we may just have to have one…
Eli @ 59
And that is why George, Dick and Ken love Joe so.
I tell ya mateys, until we awaken EVERY ONE of our neighbors to tar, feather, keelhaul, and toss into Boston Harbor this electoral system, we’re finished.
1. There is no October surprise.
2. But as long as the Republicans play “open your mouth and shut your eyes” and the Democrats go along, anything can happen.
Jane Hamsher @ 52
Thank you, but I think you (and Christy) said all of this, months ago, which is what got us all interested in Lamont in the first place. The rest, as they say . . .
*xyz @ 53
1. Don’t we have his email? Tell him directly. Rerun of last night, Howie couldn’t reach somebody. Do a bypass–hey I work in cardiac surgery, we are all over bypasses. If one way to contact them doesn’t work, try 4 more. ADHD, we just don’t know when to quit. Literally.
2. A toast to scarecrow, who nails it as usu.
3. I’m workin’ on it folks, first gotta get out of these gorgeous but tight evening clothes. Ok ok navy skirt suit 2″ above the knee with gold buttons that I sewed on myself replacing ordinary ones, gold shoes and, duh, matching purse, sapphire jewelry. Pretty good for a briar girl. Political stuff to follow.
You went to Sweet Briar, Ms. Egregious?
Inventor @
9
Mere mortals may not be able to… However, do they vote on Diebold machines in Connecticut?? I trust them about as much as I do the pResident to do the right thing.
angie @ 66
No I mean I am a hillbilly! Like born in a briar patch.
y’are? woulda thunk it?
egregious @ 68
Shouldn’t that be “hillbillie”?
Thanks for the kudos. It just sorta came to me after reading scarecrow @ 27.
must leave computer and do late night run and soak in neighborhood/earth
Joe also seems to forget that he’s the junior Senator who once came to the Senate with no experience when he defeated the incumbent Weicker.
Marion in Savannah @ 67
There will be new Diebold optical scanners used in certain communities. However the Secy of State (a Dem) just announced that there will be random audits performed following the election - on the advice of University of Connecticut’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering
CT Bob has done a great job of covering this issue…
http://ctbob.blogspot.com/
SharonW @ 73
And look how well *that* turned out.
Maybe Joe has a point.
Brownandserve @ 71
I have a lot more long-winded posts that desperately need similar translation. Please check the previous 400 threads and report back. Thanks.
scarecrow @ 76
“Ned good. Liar bad.”
SharonW @ 73
I dunno, he may even remember that. Since “experience, seniority and familiarity” is the absolute minimum an incumbent has to run on, someone in his campaign must know that they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Scarecrow @ 27 writes:
To my mind, that’s the money paragraph of a beautifully cogent post that Jimmy Stewart would proud to speak from a podium, were he still with us. More power to thee, scarecrow…
Eli @ 75
That was the first thought that came to my mind too. But I don’t know what Joe was like back then. After talking with folks in CT, though, it seems that HoJo hasn’t changed much, if at all, over the years. Knowing what I do of Ned at this point, I would never compare the two.
I hope that we are all witnessing the beginning of a long and distinguished political career of a well grounded and considerate DEMOCRATIC progressive senator-to-be from CT.
May it be the beginning of a wave of decent, thoughtful, honest winners backed by citizen activists who care about the values that this country was founded on.
Maybe Joe is just worried that if he is out of power no one will like him anymore. So, he just doesn’t do rejection well. He needs a stuffed animal or something.
just saw this report on how our ‘friends’ view us
http://today.reuters.com/news/.....-topNews-3
Musharraf now says Pakistan’s cooperation in the war on Terra came as a result of (not a partisan gunslinger) Richard Armitage’s threat of bombing Pakistan “back to the Stone Age”
erm
Musharraf is in country for some meetings with his grends Condi and George
RevDeb @ 80
I was very much being facetious. The problem with Joe is not that he started out inexperienced. The problem with Joe is that he’s, well, at the risk of getting too technical… an asshole.
Eli @ 75
Oh man, ya killed me. :(
The thing is, Joe is fighting Weicker’s old fight now. Ned’s coming at him with the same things that Joe went after Weicker with. Let’s hope the result is the same. History does have a tendency to repeat itself.
AZ Matt @ 81
Well, *that* ship has already sailed…
Mack @ 82
Armitage said (per CNN) that never happened.
SharonW:
It’s a long road that has no turning….
Sharkbabe — I’m convinced that vote suppression in Demo-sympathetic areas is an integral part of the Republican strategy, and they keep trying to expand that effort, as in yesterday’s House vote to require new IDs as a condition for registration — all under the name of preventing voter fraud by illegal immigrants. And there is just enough of this stuff going on to put close races at risk — and it looks like we may have lots of close races. So I believe it’s a serious problem even if one does not yet credit the Diebold conspiracy theories.
Id like to see more coverage of organized Dem party efforts to counter these tactics, but it’s hard to find stories.
Hi kids. I’m making my signs for the Dick Cheney protest in Rochester NY tomorrow. I need 4 ideas and I need ‘em now. Please help me! Thanks in advance for your anticipated cooperation.
Richmond @
46
Although there isn’t any money on the matter… Ask, and ye shall receive, courtesy of tristero over at Digby
Eli @ 85
True, but it must be a real slow boat.
Eli @ 77
Damn. Wish I’d written that.
OT but yeow:
Religious coalition challenges federal abortion ban
The ad pushes the Joe Lieberman experience. Not to be confused with the Jimi Hendrix album, stay away from the purple acid.
Huge reality check. Running on your record in a CD age is ignernt.
op99 @ 89
To Quote on of Dick’s favorite thinkers:
“Fascism, which was not afraid to call itself reactionary… does not hesitate to call itself illiberal and anti-liberal.”
_Benito Mussolini
Ya, it might be much for a sign…
I was very much being facetious. The problem with Joe is not that he started out inexperienced. The problem with Joe is that he’s, well, at the risk of getting too technical… an asshole.
Ah yes! Nicely nailed.
The thing is that Joe was an excellent Attorney General here and he started out just fine as a Senator.
In fact, he must have started out at peak like an aged fine whine (pun intended) and then he quickly turned to vinegar. He did not get better, just older.
Signs for Cheney:
They call him Dick on purpose.
scarecrow @ 88
Jane and I talked about this when she passed through Pittsburgh - it’s basically a two-pronged strategy:
1) Keep “undesirables” out of the system, by voter purges, voter intimidation, voter discouragement (i.e., long lines, insufficient machines, “technical difficulties), poll taxes.
2) Tweak electronic votes already in the system.
I think their preference is to use Prong 1 as much as possible, because it’s easier to spin as “just hardball politics” rather than outright fraud and criminality.
Prong 2 is a risky last resort for when Prong 1 looks like it isn’t enough. But if they ever get busted, the Republicans could be in some serious deep shit if they can’t pass it off as A Few Bad Apples (Maybe this is why the machines are so easy to hack? So tampering doesn’t prove the existence of a sophisticated, organized Republican effort?). It also leaves a much more suspicious slime trail of bizarro voting results and out-of-whack exit polls.
Oilfieldguy @ 97
Dick Tip:
Long on Halliburton
Short on Armor
Please bring my child home.
Signs for Cheney:
When Dick was elected you knew we’d be screwed.
AZ Matt @
81
I think I’ll give Joe a Shar Pei so that he has some comfort when Ned wins!
http://i18.photobucket.com/alb.....harpei.gif