This campaign has apparently hit a new low today with something offensive, and that is putting it mildly. The popular Huffington Post blog, which has strongly supported Lamont's candidacy, posted a picture today depicting President Clinton and Joe Lieberman in an Amos n Andy-type doctored picture obviously taken from the Waterbury rally last Monday. In the picture, Lieberman is drawn in blackface and Clinton is wearing dark sunglasses.
Lamont's campaign manager Tom Swan condemned this, calling it very offensive and said he requested that it be removed. He also said that while blogger Jane Hamsher is a supporter, she is not on the campaign pay-roll. (Davis)
I saw the picture (the Lieberman campaign is circulating it in a press release). It's in pretty poor taste, to say the least. I have no idea what on earth she was thinking. The Lamont campaign essentially recoiled in horror, the Lieberman campaign pounced, and Hamsher eventually took it down with an apology.
I like Jane Hamsher's work on FireDogLake. But pulling stuff like this is not acceptable. It hurts the candidate she supports far more than it helps, and it reinforces the stereotype of blogs as the haven of fringe lunatics.
I am glad she was big enough to take it down and apologize. But we all need to be better than this.
Source
Davis, Mark. "Endorsements for Lamont; Picture puts 'blackface' on Lieberman." WTNH 2 August, 2006.
12 comments:
As a Lamont supporter, I agree that it was completely out of line, and I'm glad she apologized. That being said, I think its telling that while this story was worth being reported on, the local media has done ZERO coverage on the Lieberman race-baiting flier which was actually PAID FOR by the Lieberman campaign.
About time Lamont and his Rowdy Supporters get caught screwing up There is Justice in this world Maybe Left Said Ned is human after all.lets see tom Swan weasel out of this one.
NedMania in Trouble......Film at 11.
One thing to note, there is basically no downside to Lamont disowning this. There's no "blogger loyalty blood pact" -- this is someone outside the campaign who screwed up, and they were right to condemn it.
hey matt, if this was someone outside the campaighn, why did she take it down when the Lamont campaign asked her to??????
It's possible -- for anyone but Brubenstein -- to offer a spirited defense of Ms. Hamsher. Her blackfaced Lieberman was, after all, a harmless if sophomoric parody. Does anyone really believe that Ms. Hamsher would go out of her way to insult African Americans? Were he consistant, Brubenstein would report the Ms. Hamsher to the FBI. But surely there is room in politics for harmless parody.
i don't believe the sissy marys on their fainting couches suddenly so concerned for african american sensibilities... please. this is the bunch who support mit 'tar baby' romney. you would think people on the right have more to be concerned with than a democratic primary.
jane doesn't work for ned lamont, she isn't a campaign staffer, she's not on his payroll. on the other hand, the lieberman campaign, as the first commenter pointed out, was the one that brought race-baiting into the fray to begin with, and they actually have the nerve to own up to it. oh, and then pretend it wasn't intended for only african americans, that it went to other neighborhoods, too. total b.s. if you read the text of the thing.
i suggest we all just move on.
GC: Do you really think that is an apology or, at least, a heartfelt, sincere one? C'mon. She clearly is sorry - sorry that she got caught, in a way. Read her apology again. She attacks Liberman and others. To me, that is not a truly sincere apology.
The picture was just dumb, and I don't think we particularly need to dwell on it.
Not because I'd like to see the debate disappear, but because frankly Lamont hasn't tried to force Lieberman to defend every nutjob line from his far-more-influential media endorsers.
Ned's campaign could tie Lieberman to Hannity, Coulter, Imus, etc like an anchor, but despite some calls for it from blog readers, he hasn't. How many bloggers have said that their displeasure comes from Lieberman's media appearances -- the simplest comeback to Lieberman's "90% Democrat" line? Lamont is keeping it on really solid issues, which is honorable if difficult at times like this.
A ridiculous story. She's not even part of the Lamont campaign, and yet Davis attributes it to the campaign. When is any political campaign repsonsible for a yahoo move by a supporter. Absurd. Davis is a complete hack.
When a campaign is driven - some may say created in the first instance - and relied upon like the blogs are then the campaign has to deal with what it needs to deal with. You are the company that you keep - and in politics that is period - end of story.
Luckily for Lamont, most, if not all, of the blogs have been refrained from going over the line too far. But its not fair to say that Lamont shouldn't be tagged for Hamsher's idiocy, when he is relying on the work of this blog, ConnecticutBlog, DumpJoe.Com, MyLeftNutmeg, and others to carry his water. And like it or not, we all who post here have been carrying his water.
If Lamont wins it will be because he made himself credible. He would not have gotten a chance to do it at all without the blogs. Thus he takes the good with the bad and the smart with the absolutely moronic!
anonymous she took it down because it was the right thing to do.
Its that simple.
There are alot of blogs that people have created on this race for the senate are they all paid staffers no.
Just people with a passion for supporting a candidate.
Your beating a dead horse,and again its just a diversionary argument to step away from the issues like Universal Healtcare,Social Security,Peace issues,Energy Education,and the Environment.
If you want to talk about Lies most of the Leiberman mail I have been getting is full of them.
Now that that diversion is over lets get back to the issues.
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