A tale of two speeches

Thanks to CSPAN (the internets were overloaded with Joementum's hackers), I was able to keep abreast of the numbers of the Connecticut Senate Primary as they trickled in. A close, tough loss for Lieberman, and a hell of a game plan by the Lamont people.

Lieberman would have won had he not decided to run Indy should he lose, and had he quesnot scaled back on his GOTV. Also, he totally blew off Bridgeport, where DLC ally Gub. candidate Dan Malloy was mayor, and that too could have been the 4 points he needed. It was a high turnout primary and the message was pretty clear: Democrats are tired of Joe.

But I also got to watch Joe and Ned's speeches via C-SPAN. Joe's was very good under the circumstances of losing and demanding a Mulligan. It was obviously drafted way in advance, so Joe was expecting to lose. The theme will be: Washington is too partisan, and even though I have been a senator for 18 years while it got partisan and was unable to stop it, send me back so I can fix it as an "Independant Democrat." It was a load of hogwash, but it was as good a theme as he could come up with.

Ned's speech, by contrast was terrible. First he started out with talking point lines from some of the many rallies he must have been going to the last couple of days. Then he settled down, stopped shouting into the microphone and thanked a couple people. Then he remembered the one scripted bit, a nice classy talk about Joe. He thanked Lieberman for his service and hoped that Joe would come to his senses in a few days and give up on his grudge match. This should have come first. I also liked his tale about CA Rep. Maxine Waters. Revs. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton (and Randy Jackson from American Idol's stunt double) stood in the back akwardly, giving those fist high-fives to people like Tom Swain. Al Sharpton is such a tag-a-long. Oh well. Today is the big CT-Dem unity rally, I am looking forward to the awkwardness when they mention or are asked about Joe.

Also, Joe's line that it is "half-time and Lamont is up" reminded me of Joe's "three way tie for Third Place" in 2004. It was just as laughably pathetic. I wonder if people will ask for their money back. That is also what the Netroots should do, call Democrats who gave big to Joe to a) not give him any more and b) ask for a refund.

The last time a sitting senator lost in a primary was 2002, when Bob Smith was ousted by the establishment for being too crazy, running briefly as an indy for president, and having no chance against then NH Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. This one was totally opposite. I didn't give any money to Ned, and I don't plan on doing so now either. The man has hundreds of millions of dollars. But I congratulate my friends in the blogosphere who worked long and hard for this, enjoy it.

Then go examine and challenge those signatures, strip him of his committees, revoke his endorsements, dry up his money, and make him the laughing stock of DC that he deserves to be.