Believing What You Read

Campaign season is one time of year where you really have to be even more cautious than usual in believing things you read in the media. It is the time of year when sneak attacks get reported as straight news of course. Which is why I'm kind of surprised that Joe Gandelman jumped on this particular item.

The White House funneled millions of dollars through major Republican Party contributors to Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s primary campaign in a failed effort to ensure the support of the former Democrat for the Bush administration.

A senior GOP source said the money was part of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove's strategy to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate in November. The source said Mr. Rove, together with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, directed leading pro-Bush contributors to donate millions of dollars to Mr. Lieberman's campaign for re-election in Connecticut in an attempt that he would be a "Republican-leaning" senator.

"Joe [Lieberman] took the money but said he would not play ball," the source said. "That doesn't mean that this was a wasted investment."

Joe's take on it:

It'll be noticed by some bloggers and by some in the media, but it probably won't get a ton of attention (we could be wrong about this). Lieberman's critics will seize on it, and run with it just as Lieberman's defenders will do the Political Macarena to justify it or go on the attack against those who use it to deflect what its significance.

(Blogs including this one have Tip Jars but we seldom know anything about who decides to donate: it's just a name and an amount coming to you via Paypal or Amazon. It's not the same with politicians and their contributions.)

What this all means means is that it's not just a mere assumption anymore: the White House wants Lieberman in there because he is considered on their team.

So GOPers can vote for Lieberman, figuring they're voting for a candidate that supports the administration. Anti-war and anti-Bush Democrats can in good conscience vote against Lieberman, now knowing that he has taken money from the White House which didn't give this to Lieberman's Tip Jar but specifically because they believe he will help them control the Senate.

I'm not buying the assertion from Insight for a couple of reasons. First, it is coming, supposedly, from a single anonymous "senior GOP" source. Second, Lieberman had a huge war chest going in to the primary already. Third, Lieberman is enough of a pro to know that this kind of thing would utterly sink him if proved to be true. Now, as a hit piece, it is very believable. What better way to smear a candidate? I've already seen it being touted rather fiercely by some of the left-leaning sites. I'm thinking this is a false allegation intended to hurt Lieberman. I am also guessing that this tidbit was shopped around to various other media outlets and only Insight ran with it. I'm not at all sure why Joe seems to have bought the entire package, here.

UPDATE: The Real Ugly American doesn't see this, either. Captain Ed points out the problem with the public campaign funding records that would show this activity if it had actually happened. He also notes that the Lamont campaign is keeping its campaign donors a pretty closely held secret. Hmmmm.

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