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Blogger Kills Lieberman Image At Lamont's Bidding

The unofficial interplay between independent bloggers and political candidates reached a new level yesterday as the campaign of Connecticut Senate hopeful Ned Lamont convinced a blogger to remove a doctored photo of Sen. Joseph Lieberman from the Internet.

Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, who has been traveling with Lamont's campaign in recent days and posting frequently about the intraparty race between him and Lieberman, posted an image of Lieberman in blackface at The Huffington Post. When Lieberman complained about the image and demanded that Lamont disavow it, his opponent did just that.

Lamont's campaign also appealed to Hamsher to remove the photo. She agreed and then apologized at both The Huffington Post and Firedoglake. But Hamsher also blasted Lieberman for using the controversy "to hurt [Lamont] and score political points," accused his campaign of distributing "race-baiting" fliers and attacked "right-wing Republicans" like blogger Michelle Malkin for calling attention to Hamsher's blog entry.

At the top of her "sincere" apology for people who were "genuinely offended" by the image, Hamsher included this disclosure: "It’s also important to note that I do not, nor have I ever, worked for Ned Lamont’s campaign."

Tim Tagaris, Lamont's campaign blogger, called Hamsher's manufactured image of Lieberman (and former President Bill Clinton) "terribly disappointing" and "in poor taste." But he emphasized that the campaign was not responsible and complained of a "direct attack on us, using a blogger as a proxy."

"It’s worth noting [that] well over 500 bloggers write about the campaign almost every day, none of which are campaign staffers," Tagaris added in a post headlined "Weapons Of Mass Distraction."

He did not mention the role Hamsher played in directing Lamont's first video blog.

The use of blackface images and other racial stereotypes by liberal bloggers has arisen before, as noted on two occasions at The Blogometer last year.

Ironically, liberal blogs such as Eschaton and TalkLeft have criticized the use of blackface in other settings. And even more ironically, Hamsher herself went ballistic last fall when first lady Laura Bush made a reference to comedian Eddie Cantor, who gained a following with his blackface routine.

"Does the first lady not know who Eddie Cantor was?" Hamsher wrote. "Or does she actually think it's appropriate to invoke a comedian famous for appearing in blackface when talking about minority students, and then crack wise about their erstwhile future as criminals?"

UPDATE (snippets of what others are saying):
-- Kevin Aylward at Wizbang: "Coziness with bloggers like Hamsher (and several million of his own dollars) helped propel Lamont from nowhere into a tight race for the Democratic nomination [for] U.S senator, but that coziness comes with a price. When one of their biggest boosters has a ... moment like this, they have little choice but to distance themselves, potentially alienating their biggest boosters."

-- Tom Bevan at Real Clear Politics: "it's interesting to see Lamont throw the crazies who've essentially made his campaign under the bus so quickly when their antics put some heat on him."

-- Erick-Woods Erickson of RedState: "Ned Lamont went to bed one night in the arms of left-wing bloggers. He rode them for all they were worth and woke up apparently regretting the experience."

-- Jake Tapper of Political Punch (ABC News): "From the classic school of 'It can't possibly be offensive when I do it because I'm a liberal!' which is so popular on the internet these days."

UPDATE II: Oliver Willis weighed in with a thought for his fellow liberal bloggers. "Incidents like this continue to fuel my belief that liberal bloggers need to really think of their role as journalists/commentators and get over the activist thing. Yes, the GOP infrastructure is clearly more advanced than the DNC's, but at some point you have to just let the party be the party and do your work from the outside."

Posted by Danny | 08:00 PM

Comments

Linked from Old War Dogs >> Lamont does a Clinton

Bill Faith | 08.03.06 01:30 PM

"...unofficial interplay...", eh?

True, most bloggers cover politics for the sheer joy of it but, increasingly, more blogs on the left are finding financing from organizations like the Democracy Alliance and thus, losing their amateur status. Could firedoglake be one?

ahem | 08.04.06 12:52 PM

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