Circle The Bloggers
And the National media scrutiny just began for Ned Lamont's campaign and the appallingly bad judgment used by Jane Hamsher. The Washington Post is reporting about the graphic of Joe Lieberman in blackface, and Lamont is reported as, "brushing past" reporters with questions about it.
Lamont is in deep trouble, just like that. And the trouble will keep escalating all day today.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Aug. 2 — The bitter Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut erupted in fresh controversy Wednesday over a doctored photo of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) in blackface that was posted by a blogger who has been an influential promoter of challenger Ned Lamont.
Lieberman angrily demanded that Lamont denounce the action and sever all ties with Jane Hamsher, the founder of the Web log Firedoglake, who posted the photo on another blog, HuffingtonPost.com. She travels with the campaign along with other bloggers. She is not on the campaign staff but has actively promoted Lamont's candidacy and helped raise money for him through her blog.
The photo, showing former president Bill Clinton in dark glasses and Lieberman in blackface, appeared early Wednesday, accompanied by a dispatch attacking Lieberman, his supporters and some news organizations. There was no mention of the photo in the dispatch, and the photo later was removed. But the two campaigns heatedly traded charges as the day progressed.
The controversy came on a day when Lamont campaigned with two of the most prominent African American politicians in the country, Jesse L. Jackson and Al Sharpton. The intersection of events focused attention on two critical aspects of the Senate primary fight: the influence of the bloggers on Lamont's antiwar candidacy and the importance of the black vote in determining the outcome on Tuesday.
Lieberman responded indignantly after the photo posting was revealed. "This is one of the most disgusting and hurtful images that has been used in American history, it's deeply offensive to people of all colors, and it has absolutely no place in the political arena today," he said in a statement issued by his campaign.
Lieberman called on Lamont to ban Hamsher from traveling with the campaign, refuse to take any money raised by Hamsher and remove any links to her postings on his Web site.
Lamont brushed past reporters Wednesday night in Bridgeport, saying: "I don't know anything about the blogs. I'm not responsible for those. I have no comment on them."
Welcome to hardball. IF Lamont had reacted yesterday by banning Hamsher and ordering the return of any monies she raised for the campaign, he might have weathered this. It's too late, and Arianna Huffington's quote seals Lamont's fate:
Arianna Huffington, the founder of HuffingtonPost.com, said that no one from the Web site has asked for the photo to be removed. "We did not ask her, nor would we have asked her," she said. "It was a satirical point she made in the picture, and there was nothing in the text that was racist, and there is nothing about Jane that is racist."
Which shows just how little understanding of the emotion involved in that image. Guess what? It is not - ever - seen as satirical. It has been used too many times as a weapon when people have made the mistake of doing it.
Prediction: Lamont will make an announcement that he is severing ties sometime today. Too late, though.
Other Links to this Post
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justbarkingmad.com » Blog Archive » Ned LaMont: another creepy Liar — August 3, 2006 @ 10:30 am
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Flopping Aces » Blog Archive » The Blackface Picture — August 3, 2006 @ 11:47 am
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The Right Nation — August 3, 2006 @ 3:07 pm
By Black Jack, August 3, 2006 @ 12:15 pm
Jane Hamsher is Mel Gibson in drag.