About that weird Lieberman ad attacking Ned Lamont as Lowell Weicker’s stalking horse, TPM Reader AS writes in …
It’s about the perception of strength: Lamont as Weicker’s lapdog (or in this case, bear cub). Dovetails perfectly with his other game, which is that Lamont is lapdog of the lunatic left wing Internet nerds. Whether Lamont tacks center or left, Lieberman the groundwork will be there for arguing he’s somebody’s puppet and not his own man. And it’s not an attack that’s easily defended: how do you get up and say, “I’m not so-and-so’s lapdog?” Weak.
Added bonuses: (1) It’s somewhat Rovian. Rove’s rule is to attack the enemy’s strength, hard. One of Lamont’s strengths as a personality is that he’s a self-made, home grown Connecticut success. (2) It turns one of Lamont’s primary lines of attack back around, namely, that Lieberman is Bush’s/Hannity’s lapdog.
I may not be subtle enough to understand Carter Eskew’s genius in putting this ad together. But I have to go with the brain I have. And to me it’s a dumb ad. If Lieberman wants to go with the Internet nerd argument, he should go with that argument. Getting into Lowell Weicker just makes him seem like he’s in a time warp, in his own little world. And that goes to what’s actually Lieberman’s big liability, the perception that he’s out of it, out of touch with his constituents’ views. And, honestly, a bit whacked.
As for it not being easy to respond to, I don’t agree with that. The pretty obvious and I’d figure pretty effective response would be for Lamont to say, “What’s Joe Lieberman talking about?” I think most voters would think, Yeah, what is Lieberman talking about?
