Normally, I would have just posted this in the open thread, but I wanted it to get a bit more exposure than the open thread affords.
Yesterday mcjoan front-paged CT-Sen: Now Come the Lies from news over at Liberal Oasis about the Lieberman campaign passing off, in a TV ad, a bumper sticker that says, No More Joe along with a web address that is in no way related to the Lamont campaign.
If you missed her diary, she has images of the bumper sticker, as does almost everyone else, so I won't add it here, plus a link to the Lieberman ad over at Crooks and Liars.
Now FactCheck.org weighs in:
Before touting Sen. Lieberman's accomplishments for Connecticut, the ad shows two bumper stickers side by side. One is Lieberman's and the other is supposedly from his primary challenger Ned Lamont.
The faux Lamont bumper sticker reads "No More Joe" and, in smaller type, "Ned Lamont - Democrat for U.S. Senate." At the bottom of the sticker is the following URL: www.nomorejoe.com.
The fake bumper sticker looks remarkable similar to the official Lamont sticker, complete with the same color scheme and elongated American flag.
Further, the website on the sticker featured in the ad, www.nomorejoe.com, does not exist. The page is currently blank. Nomorejoe.com is registered to Highground Inc. of Phoenix, AZ. A spokesperson for Highground told FactCheck.org that the domain name was purchased in 2004 as an independent expenditure for a local campaign against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and has no affiliation with the Connecticut Senate race.
Overall, the Lieberman campaign is well within its rights to argue that Lamont's campaign lacks a positive message and is simply "anti-Lieberman." But creating false campaign material and passing it off as authentic? That seems at odds with the ad's praise of Lieberman's "principles."
- by James Ficaro
Short, but sweet.
FactCheck.org is an organization that I sometimes love to hate, but in this instance I'm very happy they looked into it and made it a story.
Now, it's time for Ned to run an ad, countering this one. They could even direct people to FactCheck.org to check it out (if in doubt), and ask at the end "What else has Joe lied about?"
An easy 15-sec ad. Short and sweet.