Wow. Lieberman is Desperate.

I post very sparingly about the Lamont race in CT, but I think the fact that Lieberman is apparently sending thugs into the field to carry his message and then blaming the violence on bloggers, is important enough to warrant repetition.  Matt Stoller reports:

There were only four booths and six stools in the whole place, and they were basically all occupied.  When Ned went in, all of the supporters ripped off their 'civilian clothes' and revealed their Lieberman T-Shirts. 

A large man, around 50 years old or so, then started screaming at Ned, "Are you an Al Sharpton Democrat, or a Bill Clinton Democrat?" Ned was trying to answer, and the gentleman kept yelling.  The Lamont press secretary tried to intervene, and meanwhile, the people behind the counter who owned the restaurant were horrified and embarrassed. Then Ned Lamont went up to the few people in regular clothes and introduced himself, even as the Lieberman supporters kept screaming. He also tried to introduce himself to the Lieberman staffers, but to no avail.  The screaming continued, and it was so abrasive that he left, and the whole crowd followed him outside.

These kids poured out, and a half a dozen reporters were mostly outside.  The large man kept yelling, and was joined by one particularly obnoxious Lieberman supporter who started yelling about national security and how Lamont would endanger the country.  The messaging seemed rehearsed.  The Lieberman supporters started getting aggressive, pushing some of the Lamont staffers.  When confronted, the Lieberman staffers said that they are just doing what the bloggers did.

In the whole affair, one photographer caught an elbow and got a bloody nose.  It seems that the Lieberman campaign is explicitly setting up their supporters at Lamont events in tense and aggressive situations, all in the presence of reporters.  When asked, the Lieberman campaign is expressing outrage at the unsavory and unruly behavior of the Lamont supporters. 

What a colossal embarassment Lieberman has become.  I thought his rush to capitulate after 2000 was going to be his lowest point, but he's worked very hard in the succeeding six years to prove me wrong again and again.

Comments

[blogenfreude]

And just think - when Lieberman's defeated, he'll still be around running as an Independent. He has no shame.

[Thomas Nephew]

That is... pathetic. Just pathetic.