All Eyes On Connecticut

Well and Georgia, too. But McKinney's going down, so now big surprises in store.

All look to the CT Democrat Primary race. Lieberman remains defiant:

Screw you, moonbats! Democrat or Independent, I'm holding this seat!

Graphic shamelessly filched from Wuzzadem!

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How "Blue" Is CT?

There's a quick analysis of CT's election history over at the "Sixers" blog at NRO that asks the question.

Notwithstanding data that indicates that it's not that strong a "Blue State", trust me when I say that it is very Blue - in the sense that Liberals feel quite at home here and are more than comfortable piping up about their politics. But that's the group that are more or less politically active. There are plenty of Conservatives in CT. We're just more likely to be low-key about it. There's little point in getting into arguments with friends, family and co-workers when the other side is so hostile to what you have to say and will never - ever - change their minds.

That being said, I do agree with the assessment that the majority of CT voters gravitate to the candidate that is perceived to be the most "middle-of-the-road". I say "perceived" because the candidates actual voting record matters less than how they seem. If a candidate comes across as being even-tempered and independent (not beholden to either extreme), that candidate tends to do well here. It wasn't so long ago that CT had an independent Governor, Lowell Wiecker (formerly a Liberal Republican).

All this indicates that an independent Joe Lieberman might very well be just as, if not more, successful than the Joe Lieberman with the party affiliation.

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Liberal McCarthyism - Feel The Hate

You don't have to do an extensive Google search to find Conservative bloggers writing about the outrageous Left-wing hate and bile that has poisoned the current political climate. But it's refreshing when it's acknowledged and even criticized by an unapologetic Liberal. Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton, weighes in with his dismay over the state of the Lefty blogosphere and its detrimental effect on the Democrat party.

One Sunday morning on C-Span I debated Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel on the Lieberman versus Lamont race. Afterwards I received a series of emails--many of them in ALL CAPS (which often suggests the hyper-frenetic state of these extremist haters)--that were of the same stripe as the blog posts, and filled with the same level of personal hate.

But the issue is not just emotional outbursts by these usually anonymous bloggers. A friend of mine just returned from Connecticut, where he had spoken on several occasions on behalf of Joe Lieberman. He happens to be a liberal antiwar Democrat, just as I am. He is also a lawyer. He told me that within a day of a Lamont event--where he asked the candidate some critical questions--some of his clients were blitzed with emails attacking him and threatening boycotts of their products if they did not drop him as their attorney. He has actually decided not to return to Connecticut for the primary today; he is fearful for his physical safety.

I do not blame Joe Lieberman's political difficulties on the liberal blogosphere. Most Connecticut Democrats voting for Mr. Lamont are genuinely outraged at President Bush for his Iraq War policies. They are entitled to express that outrage by voting for him and against Sen. Lieberman on that basis alone, although Sen. Lieberman's record as a progressive Democrat and his opposition to President Bush not only on most domestic issues but also on the conduct of the war cannot be disputed--despite egregiously distortive ads paid for by Mr. Lamont with $4 million of his own money.

Moreover, the support he gets from these haters should not be attributed to Mr. Lamont--nor should he be blamed for their extremism, bigotry and intolerance. But he ought to denounce them. He hasn't as yet.

It never ceases to amaze me how so many of these people aren't able to understand how insane they sound to the rest of the country. Their "passion" has become a mania - one that desperately cries out for some psychological consultation.

Lamont has been silent about his blogosphere buddies leading up to primary day. And he will probably not be hurt today in the vote count because of it. But when we head into the general election, with Lieberman as an independent, he's going to have to answer for their conduct. He can't dodge it for three solid months. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

UPDATE:
I wanted to mention that I'm offended by Davis' puerile use of a tired, old - and unfounded - stereotype of Conservatives as intolerant and hateful to make his point. Each side has it's embarrassing wingnuts, but intolerance has become fashionably mainstream for Liberals these days.

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Carnival Of The RINOs Is Up

This week hosted by the DANEgerous one.

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If Lamont Wins, Expect More Than Lieberman To Go "Independent"

This time tomorrow, Democrats will be casting their votes in the CT primary to choose which candidates will have a (D) after their names on the November ballot.

As of now, it's not looking good for CT's junior Senator to stay a Democrat. Recent polls show anywhere from a 10-point lead to a 6-point lead, with Lieberman starting to narrow the gap.

The problem with primary polls is that it's so difficult to pin down likely voters or predict turnout. How many people in CT even know tomorrow is a primary day? Hard to guess.

But considering the trend, my guess is that a little more than half of the registered Democrats in CT who turn out will be pulling the lever for Lamont. So where does this leave the other (slightly less than half) who still support Joe Lieberman?

Very likely, they will still have a chance to vote for him in November because - barring some unforeseen circumstances - it's looking like Lieberman will appear on the ballot under the party "Connecticut For Lieberman". Joe will go independent. Some Democrats complain that if he can't run as a Democrat that he shouldn't run. Well, others would argue that if they don't live in CT, many of Lamont's supporters around the country shouldn't be spending so much time and money on a race that doesn't directly affect their representation.

All's fair in love and politics.

At this point, I will only make one prediction. If Lamont prevails, it could well be the catalyst for a significant number of registered Democrats to finally decide that they've had enough.

Accoring to CNN's exit polling, in 2004 the party affiliation in CT was:
Democrat (37%)
Republican (31%)
Independent (32%)

Two years from now, expect that number for "Independent" to be higher, chiefly at the expense of the "Democrat" number. CT is a pretty "Blue" State and a vast majority would probably poll as being "against" our presence in Iraq. But only a portion of those voters feel so strongly on that issue - and are so consumed with Bush-hatred - that they would turn out an otherwise Liberal-voting incumbent Senator who has demonstrated the level of integrity that Joe Lieberman has over the last 18 years.

If after tomorrow, Senator Lieberman is kicked out of his party than I expect there will be a number of party members who will join the ranks of the ex-donkeys.

Don't be surprised to be reading new blogs a year or two from now identifying this primary election as their "moment of clarity" when they decided that they no longer felt comfortable belonging to a party that says "agree with us or get out".

UPDATE:
AJ Strata weighes in:

The Democrats, it seems, are preparing to go down into the history books as the party that could not cope with changing times. It will end through a series of angry outbursts and dreams of impeaching President Bush as the answer to all of the worldÂ’s problems - including Islamo Fascism. The far leftÂ’s tunnel vision has warped their sense of reality to the point that even listening in on the plans of those who want to kill as many Americans in order to stop their efforts as possible is considered illegal. When you are that far gone all you do is build walls between yourself and reality.

UPDATE DEUX:
Jed Babbin at The American Spectator:

The effect of a Lieberman purge should reverberate throughout America. A political party that cannot tolerate dissent, that cannot accept as legitimate any position that doesn't hew to the leftmost fringe, cannot last unless its opponents fail to take advantage of its fundamental weakness. If the kiss on the cheek Lieberman got from the president proves to be the coup fatal, it could be one that produces a veto-proof Republican Senate.

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"Friends At FireDogLake"

Hey, Ned. I thought you didn't know anything about those blogs?

Head on over to RightThoughts and see the video of Mr. Lamont chatting it up with Jane "Rape Gurny Joe" Hamsher.

Is it me or could Greg Kinnear play Lamont in the movie?

BTW, the wife and I signed Joe Lieberman's petition this weekend. I asked the volunteer how it was going with the signatures. He said they were right on schedule. They even expected to finish up a day early.

Should be an interesting couple of days.

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Familiarity Breeds Contempt

GA Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is planning on showing an ad 1,175 times in the five days leading up to the Democrat primary.

Um, won't this make those constituents who are already sick to death of her even more motivated to vote her out?

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Blogs? What Blogs?

CT Senate Candidate Ned Lamont says "I don't know anything about the blogs". Well, then apparently he doesn't know much else like...

- The name of the Jon Cryer-looking dude sitting next to him on his couch in his first internet ad. That was Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Ned. You know, King of the Nutroots?

- His campaign has it's own blog: Ned Lamont Official Campaign Blog

- firedoglake (Jane Hamsher's site) is listed in the blogroll of said campaign blog

Michelle Malkin has all the details.

I gotta go make myself some popcorn. This is just too good.

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Tolkien Blog Flogging Time

Long time readers of this blog know I maintain another site called "Tolkien Geek", where I went through and blogged "The Lord Of The Rings" chapter by chapter. The process was a long and arduous one, but one I found worthwhile.

I'm currently in the process of re-reading the books and revising and extending many of my posts. So for those of you are are interested in reading the updates or checking it out for the first time, be sure to go have a look.

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Lamont Campaign Tries To Dodge Fallout From Racist Post

Regarding the disgraceful graphic posted by nutroots blogger (and Hollywood producer) Jane Hamsher on the Huff Post yesterday, the campaign manager of Ned Lamont has pulled a Jackie Gleason-esque "humana-humana-humana" with a stern "request" that Hamsher pull the photo, which she did.

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.

Oh, and I suppose that Ned Lamont hasn't even heard of Hamsher, right? Bullshit. According to this Hartford Courant piece, Lamont and Hamsher have been pretty chummy lately. The producer of such cinematic "gems" as "Natural Born Killers" even went to far as to help Lamont on one of his latest campaign commericals. No, both Lamont and his staff are quite familiar with Hamsher and have been only too happy to accept her cyber-support.

But, hey, she's "not on the campaign pay-roll", right? She's just a hired thug who doesn't get paid but has a huge stake in the candidate's success. Where is Ned Lamont? No statement? No public condemnation, repudiation or even a lousy "I don't approve of that sort of thing"? He's most likely hunkered down with his strategy people trying to figure out how to distance himself from Hamsher while at the same time deriving the benefit of her frothing-at-the-mouth support.

Hamsher offered a sorta-kinda apology that sounds more like an anti-Lieberman rant - trying to direct blame over to those mean old "rightwing Republicans". Yeah, it's their fault.

When you play with fire, Ned, you're going to get burned. Right now, the multi-zillionaire businessman-turned candidate is finding out the hard way who is using whom. Captain Ed echoes what I've been thinking during this whole "get Lieberman" campaign:

It really is difficult to understand what a mainstream Democratic politician has done to inspire such hatred and vitriol. In fact, it's becoming more and more obvious that Lieberman hasn't done anything to inspire it, but just that the haters on the Left have set their sights on Lieberman this cycle. They will do and say anything to destroy him, and this is about as low as it could get. Lieberman doesn't deserve this kind of treatment after his years of honorable public service. He's not my favorite by any means, but that doesn't mean he should have to suffer this kind of despicable treatment at the hands of his own party.

And The Moose says that since Lamont is a creation of the nutroots, it is by his association with them that he should be judged.

This incident should be instructive to the national Democratic Party. Enough of the pandering and the capitulating to the nutroots. The embrace of the left blogosphere will come back to haunt the party.

Count on it.

Am I "piling on"? You bet your ass I am. If something this disgusting had been posted by a high-profile blogging supporter of a Republican candidate, then this would be THE number one story for the next month. So as a proud card-carrying member of the "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy" it's my duty to go after 'em with both barrels!

UPDATE:
Eric Lindholm calls this another "Wellstone Moment". That is, "when the Left casts off all sense of propriety and decorum to revel in their own self-regard".

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Lefty Blogger Uses "Blackface" Photoshop On Huff Post

The frequently unhinged blogger, Jane Hamsher of "nutroots central" firedoglake.com, has outdone herself with a tasteless p-shop mock-up of Joe Lieberman in blackface.

LGF has the link and the picture that I don't care to replicate.

Honest to God, do you think you'll hear one peep of outrage from Al Sharpton or Jessee Jackson - who will be campaigning for Lieberman's opponent, Ned Lamont, this week?

Or perhaps Mr. Lamont would take time out of his schedule to condemn the image?

Yeah, right.

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President Gets Clean Bill Of Health

At 60 years old, President Bush is healthier than a lot of men half his age. No blood-pressure medication, no cholesterol medication, 16.8% body fat and all cardio-pulmonary systems firing on all cylanders.

"Take THAT Hippy! Fit as a fiddle and you got me for two and a half MORE YEARS!"

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Imbecilus Ex Machina (Idiots Out Of The Machine)

That's about how you could describe the waning strength of the old-time Democrat political "machine" these days. The WaPo reports on all the internal difficulties the party of Reid, Pelosi, Dean and Murtha are having in trying to ensure that they get out the vote this fall.

There's finger-pointing and sniping all around as none of the organizations - the DNC, the DCCC and the DSCC - can find unity in their approach to campaigning:

Democrats consider the 2006 elections their best chance in a decade to recapture the House, with widespread unease over Iraq and with Republicans lagging in polls. Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), who would become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee if Democrats picked up the 15 seats needed to regain the majority, said in an interview yesterday that he will quit Congress if the party does not capitalize on an unparalleled opportunity.

Democrats' organizing has been slowed by a philosophical dispute between Dean, who argues that the party needs to rebuild its long-term infrastructure nationwide while trying to win back the House and Senate, and congressional Democrats, who want to use party resources for an all-out push this fall.

Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is less concerned about the Dean approach than House leaders are. "We are obviously concerned," a senior Senate Democratic strategist said, but Schumer moved ahead two months ago with a plan to fortify get-out-the-vote operations in 15 states, including targeting disgruntled Republicans. Democrats sympathetic to Dean said Emanuel and Pelosi are trying to blame the DNC chief in case they do not win back the House.

Rangel will quit if Democrats don't take the House? Where've I heard that one before? I suppose he'll threaten to move to Canada next. Of course, just the possibility of Charlie Rangel chairing the Ways and Means Committee is incentive enough for even the most dissolutioned Republican coming out on November 7th.

"Frankly, I like our chances in States like Wyoming and Mississippi."

But there's good reason for Democrats to be concerned because the GOP "machine" - after years of ineffectiveness - has improved itself every election cycle since 2000.

Republicans are far more united in their approach, building on what both sides said worked well in 2002 and 2004. They are routing all turnout efforts through the Republican National Committee, which had $45 million in the bank -- four times as much as the DNC -- as of June 30.

The RNC runs a strategy known in political circles as the 72-hour program. It focuses on using phone calls, polling data and personal visits to identify would-be GOP voters and their top issues early in the cycle. The information is then fed into a database, allowing party leaders to flood them with pro-Republican messages through e-mail, regular mail and local volunteers. On Election Day, they receive a phone call or a visit to remind them to vote.

A GOP strategist involved in the effort said the RNC did a post-election review of every person it contacted, looking at how many times they were reached, which issues were discussed and whether they voted. This information was supplied to about 30 targeted states earlier this year, and RNC officials track the states to see whether they are reaching goals for adding new names and contacting old ones.

Both parties credit this program with putting President Bush over the top in Ohio in 2004 by exceeding GOP turnout projections in key areas.

Sorry, moonbats. Ohio wasn't "stolen". You can blame all those real-live honest-to-goodness Republicans that came out on election day - and the party's organizational strength that got them to the polls.

For all their talk about this November being such a huge opportunity, the current state of the Democrat party isn't helping its chances to take advantage of it. John Hinderaker at Powerline puts it this way: "It's hard to believe that such a momentous election could turn on organizational incompetence on the part of the Democrats, but, hey--we can always hope."

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Scarlett's "Girls" Are Number One

Scarlett Johansson, the girl with the golden globes, has made the top of the list for Bestest Chest.

The rising young actress, who recently announced that she has named her lovely jomblies, has become a fast favorite here at the Ex-Donkey Blog. I would actually be willing to sit through "The Island" again just to see all those scenes of her bursting out of her costumes.

h/t: AgentBedHead

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Oh, I Almost Forgot To Mention...

How freakin' sweet it was to have the NY Mets lay a hurtin' on the Braves this past weekend to the tune of a series sweep at Turner Field - pushing those chumps back FIFTEEN games out of first. (queue Chris "Mad Dog" Russo voice: "Oh...Baby!)

The Bravos almost had a chance in the bottom of the ninth Sunday with newly-acquired Manny "eyeball" Aybar on first with one out and Marcus Giles wiffing strike three as Paul Lo Duca throws Aybar out stealing second. SMACK!!

The best take on that last play comes from the guys at Amazin' Avenue:

"The coup-de-grace, the strike 'em out throw 'em out to end the game on Sunday, couldn't have left Booby Cox any more humiliated than if he had been personally de-pantsed on the pitcher's mound by Mr. Met himself, forced to bend over, and been given an exaggerated, rodeo-style, hat-waving dry hump while a re-enactment of Sherman's March took place in center field."

MWA-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW!!

It's a new era boys. Kudos to Omar Minaya for putting together such a fantastic team. Is it October yet?

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MTV Turns 25 Today

I almost hesitate to put this post under the category of "music", but those of us who are...ahem...old enough to remember can look back fondly on that fateful day in 1981 when the world of media completely changed.

Frankly, for me, MTV died before it even hit its 10th birthday. About the time I got out of college, I recall turning it on and noticing a distinct change in MTV. Soon it was filled with MTV news, reality shows and rap (thank you sooooo much, Viacom). The "M" in "MTV" that originally stood for "music" now can be substituted with "mind-numbing" or "moronic". And they've done their very best to wear their politic leanings on their sleeves with whole "Rock The Vote/Vote Or Die" crap. No thanks.

Click.

Pretty much everybody knows that the very first video the network aired was "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles. Impress you friends today with the knowledge of what the second video shown was: Pat Benetar's "You Better Run".

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Kerry Attracts More Flies Than Supporters In Iowa

MA Sen. John "I was almost President before I wasn't" Kerry headed to Iowa to shore up early support for his expected 2008 Presidential bid.

Unfortunately for Kerry he was only able to round up enough senior citizens for a rousing game of Mahjong.

And the reason most of them look a little pissed off is that they didn't get the buffet lunch they were promised.

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Comments Temporarily Disabled

For some time now, I've been getting quite a bit of comment spam. It started out small - a handful here, maybe a dozen or so there - and it was just something that I dealt with as a minor inconvenience.

But lately, the spambots have become intolerable. For those of you not familiar with comment spam (you're lucky), this is when advertisers send spambots out to post hyperlinks onto websites, usually through commenting systems and sometimes through trackbacks. The object is to generate a higher google rank by increasing the number of links back to their site.

The big ones these days are for online gaming and mail-order boner pills. I refuse to let this site be used by these freaking parasites. This past weekend I got nearly four hundred of them and I had to go and delete them all (a frustratingly tedious process).

Movable Type seems to be particularly vulnerable to comment spam, though trackbacks have not really been a problem. The administrator of the MuNu community server is close to a fix but in the meantime I have made the decision to turn off the comments function until I have at least an ETA for that to become reality.

To those who have left comments in the past - particularly the frequent flyers - I apologize but I have too little time on my hands to deal with this crap.

I'll post updates as to the status of the fix, but in the meantime I ask you to bear with me. I encourage you to share your thoughts via e-mail (replace **AT** with @) in the alternative. Thanks.

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RINOs Raging!

This week's RINO carnival hosted by evolution:the next step.

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