Thursday, August 03, 2006

Dear Lieberman Campaign

Don't you have anything better to do than attack, as you put it, " 'Blackface' Jane Hamsher", who is a blogger only political geeks like us have ever actually heard of? Like, for example, digging your way out of a 13-point hole? Or talking about the issues? Maybe frequenting another diner? Just saying.

Yours,
Genghis Conn

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, you should expect a press release shortly questioning whether or not the Union Bug on the Lamont mailers are authentic.

Anonymous said...

Ned ought to have Ms Hamsher produce another commercial for him.

Anonymous said...

Expect another low dirty diversionary trick to come out of the Lieberman campaign between now and Tues.

Anything to save Joe from talking about Iraq, fiscal responsibility, his vote on the Bush-Cheney disastrous energy bill, his all out open trade policy, his weak defense of emergency contraceptives, his Bush administration and Republican loving ways. It goes on and on.

Oh, but Mark Davis is going to get suckered in by Lieberman and his smear-mongering campaign.

Anonymous said...

tj:

Your answer is right here: Lamont was endorsed by the SEUI today. He already had one of the local Unions on his side before today's additional endorsement.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/08/the_tristate_un.html

Anonymous said...

I admire you Turfgirl, tough crowd here.

Anonymous said...

It is alright when the Lamont campaign attacks Joe and follows him around with that stupid float Hey Keith why dont you get a job or go volunteer on a campaign instead of being a publicity seeker.

I think it is about time Left Said Ned got his payback and it couldnt happen at a better time.

Anonymous said...

Turf:

Is that all you got? Blogs? Whatever happened to Lieberman's 18 year record in the senate? My, you sound so desperate.

I see the same in Camp Lieberman. Not surprised. Ha!

Anonymous said...

Avoiding Iraq at all costs, Lieberman's absence from the Senate Armed Services hearing today to continue a West Hartford tour?

Anonymous said...

turf, has Ned or Swan stated that they do not know who Hamsher is? No, they haven't. Swan said that once they learnt of the image they were disgusted and asked her to take it down, so obviously they know who she is. Now, is she a staffer or a volunteer for the campaign, no. She is a supporter that advocates on her blog for Ned. Since what she writes is not controlled or approved by the Lamont campaign how could they possibly be responsible for it? Any more than Lieberman is responsible for the writings of his supporter Ann Coulter? The only involvment of the campaign in all this is that once they learned of the image they were horrified and told her to take it down, they then condemd it in the media. What else is there to it?

Anonymous said...

Hamsher is a volunteer, not a staffer. There are many other volunteers who have helped in all of the ways in which Hamsher has helped. Big whoop. The campaign is not responsible for the behavior of their volunteers when they are on their own time, including Hamsher. They publicly disowned her behavior. Nuff said.

Keep slinging mud, turfgrrl, it's only you that's getting dirty.

Anonymous said...

How do we know for sure that Hamsher (or Swan or Melita, etc. for that matter) isn't on the payroll, when the Lamont campaign hasn't properly reported their payroll?

Anonymous said...

Why Dont the Lamont Campaign do the honorable thing and do the following and put to rest this entire matter

His tax returns for the last 5 years if he would do this it would shut everybody up and we could find something else to discuss.

Who gives a rat's butt about union bugs except the unions and a few stuffed shirt politicos.

It really blows it is coming down to who has union bugs on their literature and who doesnt have it on their literature.

Anonymous said...

Look, this has nothing to do with Jane Hamsher, and everything to do with Lamont's response. He was not upfront and completely honest. He ducked the question as if he has something to hide. Clearly, with a lead in the polls, his handlers do not want him to get off message or sidetracked by this type of issue. That's ok, because it just exposes Lamont as just another politician who is trying to buy a US Senate seat.

Turfgrrl, I just don't know why you are wasting your time on this. The Lamont supporters are not at all supporters of his, they are haters of Lieberman and the positions he has taken. They would support anyone who is NOT Joe and who says that he/ she will oppose Bush and the war. I mean, be real, Tom Swan and his crowd supporting a millionaire from Greenwich who socializes at exclusive, all-white country clubs. He is just their puppet to get at Joe and, therefore, they will ignore anything he does. Afterall, the ends justify the means, right?

Anonymous said...

Turfgrrl asks, "Then Hamsher driving 'key staff' to the Colbert show is an in kind contribution that will appear as a donation in Lamont's filings, right?"

Actually, it is very common for volunteers to provide services, such as driving the candidate or staffers to events. To the best of my knowledge, this does not count as an in-kind donation. Nor, does volunteers doing phonebanking for a candidate, or putting up lawn signs on their front lawns.

If Turfgrrl can provide documentation otherwise, I would be very interested in seeing it.

Anonymous said...

turfgrrl's argument that a candidate should be able to control everything a supporter says is an illustration of why I am not a member of the Republican party.

It may be that Republicans can do that, but Democrats encourage supporters to think and act on their own behalf.

Some supporters will say or do stupid things at times, but then again, perhaps turfgrrl is just acting stupidly on her own behalf and not being controlled by the Lieberman campaign.

Anonymous said...

Bruce -

Don't you mean following Joementum back to Washington? Primary winner or not - he's still going to win the general. How doesn't he?

Anonymous said...

Though I am a Lamont supporter and I am confident that he will win on Tuesday, I am deeply saddened by this primary.
In the end, a very small handful of supporters on both sides of both primaries will have so fractured the Democratic party and progressive politics that it will take years for us to rebuild.
The hate, name-calling, anonymous sniping via keyboard and publicity stunts, litmus tests, broad-brush stroke labeling, accusation-throwing, rumor-mongering, and folks' drunkenness with perceived power is sickening.

I have worked in Democratic politics for most all of my life as a volunteer and as a professional all over the country and have been mostly called a progressive, but prefer to be called a pragmatic progressive.

After this primary is over, then the general, and all of the people who got caught up in the sexiness of a challenge campaign in Connecticut have left our state or disappeared back into their every day lives, ther will undoubtedly be a lot of pieces to pick up and a lot of fences to mend if we want our state to remain blue. This divided house cannot stand.

The question is: will you be there to help pick up the pieces? to mend the fences? Or will you simply feel content in having been a piece in this one little blink of history?

I do this for my children and grandchildren and not for Ned, to beat someone else, to make a statement, to hurt others or anything else that is very much this year and not necessarily the next.

If you truly believe...help. Be there on August 9th and November 8th...and at next May's elections and next August and next November...and next...and next.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 3:36 said: "turfgrrl's argument that a candidate should be able to control everything a supporter says is an illustration of why I am not a member of the Republican party."

Congratulations Anon 3:36, you just got elected into the Hall of Fame for "Most Idiotic Statement".
I'm sure your parents will be proud.

Here's a tip: stay annonymous!

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:57: Great, great post. Dead on.

Anonymous said...

bluecoat at 4:06.

There again with the broad brush.

Please...just stop.

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see the general election. Gotta hand it to the nedheads--they have done a good job thus far. It will be more difficult reaching across party lines in the general, and even having conversations with Republicans...but conventional wisdom certainly did not see Joe losing, so perhaps Ned can reach down to his true Republican self, and make us all proud.

Anonymous said...

bluecoat said: "as far as plan B for rape victims, RC Hospitals put themselves out as serving the entire community in terms of an emergency like a rape -they should offer a full range of services - the ambulance driver doesn't run down list of questions about religious preferences with victims nor does the dispatcher...."

Bluecoat, while I appreciate the fact that you have yet again done your research before responding (a rare and laudible trait), your answer is not entirely correct (you are spot on re: OCHA).

There is a rape protocal that the EMTs and police officers in the ambulance will go through with the victim. If the victim is in condition to answer, then they will also list the options as to which hospital the victim would want to go. That discussion will include informing the victim that the RC hospitals have a different policy toward plan B, etc. It is their choice. I say this as clarification, not to in any way minimze the extraordinary trauma the victim is undergoing.

Just to further the argument you make - and this is a difficult one in my opinion - you say that thay should offer a full range of services. Question: shouldn't a woman be allowed to get an abortion too? I know plan B is not the same thing, however, a woman has a constitutional and statutory right to one and shouldn't the hospital provide it as part of its full range of services? The RC hospitals do not have to because the legislature gave them a religious exemption, as they routinely do in these matters. The legislature would not do it on plan B because it became a political issue.

Anonymous said...

As a Republican, I have nothing to say, other than fascinated by this thread....

Not sure the Dems are imploding (and wish we were better organized to take advantage of the division), but it will take awhile to come together after these primaries...

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Jane didn't even make the picture, for christ's sake. She wrote an article, and a blog artist named darkblack made the accompanying image.

Lieberman's crew is getting pretty psyched out if those are the press releases they're running with.

And turfgrrl, you're spinning pretty furiously these days... why not just make the case for Joe? The efforts to increase Lamont's negatives are clearly netting the Lieberman campaign -- the fact that it's as close as it is, with Lamont having a nearly 5-1 fav/unfav ratio (better than Rell even), means that people are clearly inclined to keep the incumbent. The attacks are weak, and make Joe look weak, like he doesn't have a think to say for himself.

Anonymous said...

anon 2:30 - The Kiss float doesn't march at the campaign's orders. Hamsher doesn't write or say what the campaign wants her to (clearly).

trueblue 2:34 - Exactly. It's called class - the Lamont campaign is gunning for Joe's performance as a Senator, nothing more. As it should be.

Anonymous said...

turfgrrl 2:48 - Now you're moaning about Nader and the Greens?

Lamont's campaign is filled with the most partisan Democrats anywhere. If Nader showed up in the campaign offices, people would probably beat his ass.

cgg 3:15 - the greens are idiots, and generally not all that liberal apart from environmental policy.

anon 4:03 (on anon 3:36) - that is a mind-bending example of stupidity there.

turf 4:13 - The government can require what they like in exchange for providing funds. I don't know anyone who's said that the hospital shouldn't be able to do as they please, just that if they are unwilling to meet requirements for treating certain kinds of patients, then they should lose government funding.

anon 5:16 - I think Ned will pivot to speaking of management themes (there've been some signs of this lately.) The policy themes he promotes will determine his committee assignments.

anon 531 - Many rape victims go on their own or with a friend to the hospital to do the rape kit - entirely apart from the legislation and Joe's comments on it, it does help to have the "difference" between a regular and Catholic hospital aired in public debate to help people make a choice before being confronted with it by their doctor.

556 - I think people will rally pretty fast if Ned wins (especially the congressional challengers), and the Nedheads will shut up and get out of the way if Joe wins. Lieberman as an independent would cause some stress in the state party, but not among this fall's active campaigns.

phew!

Anonymous said...

what's their next step? Staging fake outrage ala the republicans infamous Brooks Brothers Riot...doesn't work too well when you give a reporter a bloody nose in the process...

www.mydd.com

Man, the wheels are coming off this bus fast, each day I think they can't screw anything else up, but they always manage to surprise & entertain!!

Anonymous said...

anon(9:32) When Genghis asked "Don't you have anything better to do than attack", I simply thought maybe Joe would resort to questioning the authenticity of a Union Bug. That has proven to be a really effective tactic in campaigns in Connecticut.

I didn't expect him to use his supporters to physically attack Lamont's campaign.

I don't even want to ask what next.