A Connecticut Democrat In King George's Court: Joe Lieberman Is Back In The Party

CHICAGO (TDB) -- Sen. Joe Lieberman seems to be solidly back in the fold with the Connecticut Democratic Party. His reappearance as a "D" officeholder on the party's Web site is an interesting political twist because he was unceremoniously shown the door last year. Dem voters looked elsewhere in the primary showdown and denied renomination. Nowadays Lieberman doesn't even try to pretend he's a full-fledged Dem, though the party in his home state doesn't register any distinction on its Web site, where the senator simply shows up as being in good standing. However, Lieberman lists himself as an IDP, meaning he's an Independent Democrat, a party he created so he could run for reelection after losing the nomination battle to Ned Lamont.

Lieberman votes with the Democratic caucus in the Senate, but he stands with the minority Republicans and President George W. Bush on the War in Iraq, which caused voters in his own party to throw him out. Bush sees progress in Iraq, even after Shiite policemen killed 70 men execution-style in the northern town of Tal Afar. Bush says the Iraqi people are gaining confidence.

Just like the president, Lieberman contends things are looking up and he's accusing Democrats who support withdrawing troops by next year of pushing for a "hasty retreat" -- an odd choice of words since the war has been under way now longer than World War II.

"The deadline for retreat that Congress wants to impose is both arbitrary and inflexible. American troops would be forced to begin withdrawing regardless of conditions in Iraq, regardless of the recommendations of our military commanders, and regardless of impact a hasty retreat would have on America's security and credibility -- in short, regardless of reality."

1984 Redux: Same 'Big Brother' Ad Was Used Against Lieberman

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Apparently, Big Brother wasn't watching. The YouTube ad that is being hailed/denounced as creating a Brave New World of Internet viral political campaigning was a complete rip-off. Check out Connecticut for Joe. It was hardly noticed and got less than 1,000 hits.

Newly-elected Democratic Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's former blog guru Phil de Vellis claims he concocted the Hillary Clinton as Big Sister version that has had the 'sphere atwitter. If so, he polished an apple that somebody previously had bitten. Such amazing creativity. Or is it plagiarism?

Watch the Connecticut version. Turns out that Ned Lamont's supporters floated nearly the same ad last year in his showdown with Lieberman.

[UPDATE: Blue State Digital where de Vellis worked until his reputed responsibility for the anti-Hillary ad became known, did Lamont's Web work last year. And a Blue State wheel has moved on to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Inquiring minds might be wondering: Pure coincidence? Blue State, however, insists it has absolutely no connection to the 1984 video and de Vellis was terminated; de Vellis says he quit.]

[UPDATE 2: Bob Adams made the Lamont ad last July. When he saw the Hillary version earlier this month he mused about copycats. Another veteran of Ohio Democratic politics, Tim Tagaris, worked for the Lamont campaign in 2006 and pointed out the existence of Adams' work. And there's more from Bob. It looks like Ohio really is the heart of it all.]

Somewhere In Washington: Pseudo-Flap Over Edwards At DNC

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Only in America could there be a flap over a rhetorical device -- a shopworn crumb of a rhetorical device -- that involves constructing a mental image delivered during a speech about what someone might be doing "somewhere in America."

[Ed Note: And here is where I H/T PsychoBillyDemocrat somewhere in Akron.]

A 'net in high dudgeon has pointed out that former Sen. John Edwards dipped into the "somewhere in America" dustbin for a verbal flourish at the DNC that sounded suspiciously similar to something David Bonior, the former Congressman from Michigan, said in 1996. Others are tutting that "somewhere in America" riffs, though nowhere near as common as oratory that starts "ladies and gentlemen," are hardly on the endangered speeches list.

Although Sen. Joe Lieberman is no longer popular with the Democratic left, the Connecticut pol once was in good-standing, and created a Somewhere in America moment at the 2000 Democratic National Convention, which nominated him to run for vice president alongside Al Gore. Read on:

"Tonight I believe that the next frontier isn't just in front of us ...but inside of us ... to overcome the differences that are still between us ... to break down the barriers that remain ... and to help every American claim the limitless possibilities of their own lives.
Sometimes, I try to see this world as my dad saw it from his bakery truck.
About this time, he'd be getting ready for the all-night run.
And I know that somewhere in America right now ... there is another father loading a bakery truck ... or a young woman programming a computer ... or a parent dreaming of a better future for their daughter or their son.
If we keep the faith, then 40 years from now, one of their children will stand before a gathering like this ... with a chance to serve and lead this country that we love.
So, let them look back to this time, and this place, and this stage and say of us: they kept the faith."

Lieberman tied his use of the moldy rhetorical device to an anecdote about his dad, a young woman, and a parent wistful about better days ahead. Edwards used a mom, as did Bonior.

At most, Edwards is guilty of a rheumatic moment in American speech-writing and oratory. But I'm sure that somewhere in America somebody is striving for eloquence. Perhaps a young mother who drives her dad's bakery truck, and dreams that someday her son will grow up to run for president. Or program computers. Or become a speech writer.