Paul Newman RIP

My company, Motion Inc, shot this commercial with Paul Newman for the Ned Lamont campaign. I was unlucky enough to be on another shoot the day the call came in that Newman was available to speak on Lamont's behalf. My business partner Glenn Orkin shot the spot, and his impression of Newman was that he was very normal, unpresupposing, and concerned that the words he was going to read, words he had a part in writing, made sense to the audience. They made sense then, and more now. Too bad enough people didn't listen to Newman. A fine actor and a great humanitarian, gone.

The Courant's Creepy Joe™ commemorative issue

If you had just returned from a trip to the unconnected wilderness, you might think that Senator Creepy Joe™ Lieberman had departed this life from the treatment he got in the Hartford Courant this morning.

A front page eulogy from his former Democratic colleagues.

An editorial board rebuke.

An editorial cartoon by Englehart.

And dueling op-eds from Ned Lamont, and from Lieberman's former chief-of-staff, Bill Andresen, and current lobbyist for Dutko Worldwide (something the Courant fails to mention in its author credits).

BTW, the Washington Post also notes that Lieberman's days of majority influence may be coming to a close.

The Courant's front page piece reveals a resignation, by Washington insiders, that Lieberman's lycanthropy is complete.

The editorial piece is a late realization that Lieberman is not the man of honor the editorial board painted him as in their endorsement of him in the last Senate election, but a sore loser with an ax to grind.

Lamont's essay, is, as expected, an "I-told-you-so,' but his revelation that the Senator who once called Obama's presence a "blessing," seems to have abandoned that thought for no good reason but revenge on a Democratic party which doesn't care for the way Lieberman pisses on their pant leg.

Andresen, who, as a lobbyist, can't afford to criticize the "decent man" he used to work for, appears surprised that anyone could be angry with his former boss. He blames Lieberman's disaffection on (surprise!) "left-wing bloggers and a liberal, novice opponent," who just happened to point out that Sanctimonious Joe was a bundle of illogical contradictions.

Andresen dismisses internet journalism by saying "the anger and vitriol that too often characterize the politics of the online community have had much to do with the decline in civil political rhetoric. Because elected officials feel compelled to cater to one side, and its online echo chamber, they all too often say only what their online world wants to hear."

And I thought the alleged "decline in civil political rhetoric" began with the rise of conservatism, Newt Gingrich's divisive "contract with America" and the polarization of citizens by right-wing talk radio (Rush Limbaug). How naieve of me.

Andresen also says that the internet has been an ineffective political force, "Not only is this brand of politics shrill, it's also ineffective. As is almost always the case, the bloggers' candidate lost the general election in 2006, and Lieberman was re-elected by a substantial majority."

I don't know how Andresen can make such a sweeping statement, and I'd love to see his research to support his conclusion, but Bill, I've got one word for you, "macaca."



Sorry Bill that politicians don't like being called on their lies, indiscretions and predjudices by bloggers, but since journalists have abdicated that role, someone's got to do it.

Chris Shays - party crasher

Seems like Chris Shays picked up something for those Lieberman goons who continued to show up at Lamont campaign stops. ConnecticutBob features video of Shays crashing a Jim Himes presser.

Seems like Shays may have a memory as faulty as the ironically-named, Congress Street bridge.

We wonder if Shays will spend the next two months stalking Himes' campaign events.

And so do we

Ned Lamont listens skeptically to political advice offered by the author of this blog.

Lamont endorses Obama.

While the Clintons "met" with Lamont during his run for office, they never could be bothered to cross the state line and actually campaign for him (that would mean Hillary would have to support the other party, the non-incumbent party).

So, from a philosophical, or political standpoint, I'm not surprised that he's supporting Obama.

As you can see from the photo, I worked on some of the Lamont commercials during the campaign. As a producer from a Connecticut film company, I called every campaign to see if they were hiring Connecticut companies to produces spots. Indeed, many were hiring local freelancers at day rates, but every candidate from Jodi Rell, to Chris Murphy was hiring ad agencies, consultants, and film producers from out of state. The Lamont campaign (after a great deal of haranguing, I will admit) hired us to help.

The photo above was taken from a green screen shoot for the renowned, "Lieberman slams his car into a wall" spot. Later that day, we filmed the spot which included an endorsement from Chris Dodd.

A shaming indictment of Connecticut voters and Connecticut news media

That Creepy Joe Lieberman would say or do anything in order to be returned to office during the last election was obvious to those of us who worked hard to put Ned Lamont into office.

So he lied about bringing troops home, and he lied about being a hawk, and the media never questioned his lies, and those who voted with him either supported the war themselves, or believed Lieberman's lies.

Now that he's an "independent" Repulicrat, Lieberman doesn't have to lie anymore. He just keeps chanting, "War, war, war and more war." It's become obvious that he cares less about representing Connecticut than he does about supporting Bush, the Iraq War and Israel.

And people have begun to realize what a hypocrite he was while campaigning.

Well, the election won't be held today. He's got several more years to sow his seeds of fear and hate. But there will be another election. Let's hope the voters remember his duplicity.