The Complete Ned Lamont Interview

Here's the entire in-depth interview with Ned from last Friday. Spazeboy and I ask questions about the campaign, about the current administration, and about the future. The interview runs about 33 minutes, and concludes with a unique "free association" session.

Ned interview online Monday

I promise.

The interview came out great, but it runs about 35 minutes. And with me being the artiste I am, there was no way I couldn't inflict my own inimitable style upon the finished video. So it took a while to complete.

But now it's just about done. I'll upload it when it's ready.

Thanks for being patient.

The impending death of Ann Coulter

And by "death", I mean the inevitable, overwhelming chorus of condemnation that has already started and will soon completely neutralize her once and for all as a public figure.

I just want to make it perfectly clear that I'm not advocating, or even mildly hoping for her to actually "die" in the literal sense of the word (as in, "holding your breath forever").

I'd much rather see her live and suffer.

(cartoon by Drew Sheneman)
In the wake of the John Edwards' blogger "debacle", we seem to be entering a new age of accountability. Especially in this highly-charged partisan atmosphere that people like George Bush and Joe Lieberman have helped create. Payback is a bitch, gentlemen.

John Edwards, Howard Dean, Mitt Romney (who introduced Coulter at the event she made her statement), John McCain, and even fellow Conservative uber-skank pundit Michele Malkin have all condemned Coulter's ill-conceived remarks.

I don't know about you, but I'm REALLY going to enjoy watching that coke-whorish, pre-op tranny-looking, screechy (and you'll never guess who labeled Coulter with THAT moniker!), hate-filled, racist gal go down in flames of ignominy.

For Ann Coulter, that will surely be a fate worse than death.

Details on the reprecussions are at The Raw Story.

Why does Harry Reid hate the Democratic Party?

What in God's name did we do to piss him off so badly?

We MUST have done SOMETHING bad...and he should at least give us a chance to apologize before he does something nutty.

Like, having former Democrat, former Connecticut-For-Lieberman-candidate, self-proclaimed Independent senator Joe fricken Lieberman give the weekly Democratic radio address, to discuss the scandal at Walter Reed.

This is the very same Joe Lieberman who appeared on Imus the other day and clearly didn't know squat about the situation. Suddenly, he's the very best guy the Democrats could find to make this speech.

What, is everybody suddenly taking crazy pills?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is obviously suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, which is the psychological condition that occurs when a hostage begins to identify with his captor.

Joe Lieberman apparently has been holding Harry Reid (and by definition, the Senate Democrats) hostage ever since he weaseled his way back into the Senate, and Reid is clearly exhibiting all the signs of a Stockholm victim. Reid has obviously been so severely damaged psychologically that he actually believes that Lieberman's threat to leave the party over Iraq will be a disaster for the Democrats.

We need to do something before it's too late.

I think we should stage an intervention for Senator Reid, get him in a room surrounded by loyal Democrats, and have them list all the reasons why he should STOP cow-towing to Senator Lieberman.

And we won't let him out until he comes back to his senses.

Otherwise, we're all going to start thinking that the Senate really IS just a great big incumbant-protection racket, and that the only way we'll be able to get better government will be to primary out ALL the senators who fail to listen to their constituents.

Then maybe we'll finally get elected officials who truly represent us.

Ned Lamont's "Oscar moment"

Connecticut Bob and Spazeboy ask Ned the question that seems to be on everyone's mind...

You'll never guess what happens!

Ned Lamont teaser
Uploaded by CTBob

Coming soon: the Ned Lamont Interview!

Today I joined Spazeboy to meet with Ned Lamont in his Greenwich office for his first in-depth interview since the November election.

Ned talks frankly about the campaign; what he's doing these days; and what's in the future.

...and there's a few surprises as well.

Teaser video will be posted later (probably tonight, Friday), and the entire interview will go up sometime this weekend.

The desperation of the Right

It seems that conservative pundits are hanging their hopes on a desperate ploy to discredit the Progressive Blogosphere, by accusing blogs such as The Huffington Post and others of allowing repulsive anonymous comments about situations like the attempted bombing of Dick Cheney while he was on vacation in Afghanistan.

There are several issues at play here, which of course the wingnuts choose to ignore. Such as, these comments are mostly anonymous, so some percentage of the authors may actually be right wing wackos simply trying to "pee in the pool". It's happened before...a wingnut makes an outrageous anonymous statement, then said wingnut publicly denounces the blog for allowing such awful comments. And these comments aren't pre-moderated; they are immediately posted when the person hits the "post" button.

For the record, The HuffPo removes those comments that advocate violence as quickly as possible. But the one thing they won't do is stop the free exchange of ideas or censor valid comments. Unlike the conservative blogs, which either disallow commenting or requires registration to comment, Huffington allows anonymous comments.

I've run into the same problem with this blog. I allow anonymous comments here, and I don't pre-screen them. I'm one of the few Connecticut blogs that allows this. Sometimes I feel compelled to remove a particularly nasty or obnoxious comment, but I do this only in very rare cases. I've left quite a few comments up that contain personal attacks on myself, although I do tend to reply in kind.

Or worse. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

But right wing commentators are quick to pick up on the occasional violent comments and use them as examples of why the lefty blogosphere is "out of control" and should be curtailed. They LOVE to post the exact same comments that they condemn, making hypocrites of themselves.

...Does this prove "the fury, bile and idiocy of the sub-moronic left right"? Of course not. But it does prove how wrong Rush was. And how phony was his outrage.

Same with Hannity. He led off his show Tuesday night with this non-story, his knickers in a twist over the very idea that some people had anonymously expressed regret that Cheney had escaped unharmed. He'd clearly never heard such things said before!

Trouble is, this was the same Sean Hannity who just the night before had been joyously joined by his good friend, the infamously toxic Ann Coulter. The same woman who said "We need somebody to put rat poison in Justice Steven's crème brulee," questioned whether it was more appropriate "to impeach or assassinate" Bill Clinton, suggested New York Times staffers be "executed," and titled a column on Lincoln Chafee, "They Shot the Wrong Lincoln." And she did so proudly, openly, and in her own name -- not in an anonymous comment.

So, please, spare us the bogus indignation. And stop trying to build an illogical but politically-convenient thesis on the backs of a few unhinged and clearly fringe commenters.

The faux fury routine is getting very, very old.

One thing about the right wing "dumbosphere" (that's what I call the righty blogs) that always amazes me is how quickly they would give up everyone else's right to free speech, while giving themselves free reign.

I guess for them, freedom is in the eye of the beholder.

Another "short trip" solution

An Army spokesman suggested that if patients at beleaguered Walter Reed Hospital want to discuss their problems with members of the media, they'll need to take a "short trip" to Starbucks to do so.

Why is it that so many compassionless blowhards think a change in geography is a magical solution to people's problems? From Joe Lieberman's "short ride" for victims of sexual assualt to get proper treatment, to the Walter Reed ailing patient's "short trips", it seems that it's just easier to shuffle these "problem people" around rather than address their concerns with real solutions and compassion.

I guess people who administer Walter Reed are hoping those "troublemakers" get lost in the shuffle.

It's sickening.

From The Raw Story:

The US Army is denying yesterday's claims that some patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Medical Hold Unit were told not to speak to the media.

Army spokesman Paul Boyce tells Think Progress that patients are free to speak to the media; however, they must receive permission to speak with the press while on hospital grounds.

When questioned further, Boyce told TP that if patients wished to speak to reporters without permission, "They can go to Starbucks."

Think Progress writes, "Asked whether this was a reasonable solution for patients recuperating from physical and mental trauma, Boyce said yes. 'It's just a short trip, and many of them want to get out [of the hospital] anyway.'"

Sure, if my leg had been amputated because of an IED in Iraq and there were rats gnawing on the stump every night, I'd love nothing more than to hop on over to the local Starbucks for a grande mochaccino and a press conference.

Yeah, that really sounds like fun!

Richter "shakes up" the 4th

That was an "earthquake joke"...get it? Richter scale? (everyone groans)

Word on the street is that former New York Rangers superstar Mike Richter is considering a run against long-overdue-for-replacement Republican Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut's 4th district.

So far I haven't seen much more than speculation on the matter. State Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said as much earlier this week, but the former goalie hasn't gone as far as to announce his candidacy.

More speculative info is posted on Swing State Project.

CTLP Bloggers at Key Issues Forum

(Article by Genghis Conn, reposted from Connecticut Local Politics. Great job, folks!)

CGG and I headed to Hartford today for the Courant’s Key Issues forum about blogging. Also attending were Colin McEnroe, Matt Stoller of MyDD and Tim Tagaris of the Lamont campaign.

Panelists from left: myself (with tie!), Colin McEnroe, CGG, Matt Stoller and Tim Tagaris
It was a lively discussion. Matt Stoller, Colin and I argued about civility and polarization in politics, both CGG and I spoke about the impact that Connecticut’s blogs have had on races in state, and I took time to plug TownBlogs.

CTBlogger has audio of the forum. How did he do this without actually being there? It is a mystery.

Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie was there, and filed this report. Good stuff! You can also see some video tonight if you go to Fox 61’s website.

Matt Stoller argues a position
I had a blast at this event. It was great to get a chance to talk about blogging with such a distinguished group of panelists, and to interact with the audience at the forum. Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the Lieberman people did in fact submit a question about ethics in blogging. My awesome wife found that one out.