Those of you following the Connecticut Senate race may know that Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont both showed up at a Wake-Up Wal-Mart earlier today. Yesterday,
Maura at My Left Nutmeg found that Liberman had accepted $1000 from Wal-Mart's PAC just this last February. Now I happen to believe that taking Wal-Mart's money should not disqualify you from being a Democrat, but it really ought to disqualify you from showing up at an anti-Wal-Mart rally.
Naturally, this issue came up today. Here's the story as recounted in the Connecticut Post:
When a Lamont supporter heckled Lieberman on accepting PAC money from the Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, Lieberman shouted "Good work. Let me just answer that lie with a fact," he said. "Wal-Mart PAC sent my campaign a check in March and we returned it in less than a week later. Stick with the record, deal with the facts."
The folks at NRO (always glad to help multi-national union-busting corporations) got confirmation from Wal-Mart that Joe's story was true. And then they threw in this little dig:
Ned Lamont's most ardent supporters in the blogosphere are not covering this campaign as journalists, but rather as active participants in the campaign. I don't think this comes as a shock to anyone, nor do I think these bloggers would deny it. But it's an important fact to keep in mind, and their "reports from the field" should be taken with handfuls of salt. They are in "shoot first, fact-check later" mode.
The problem with this argument is that that PAC check is only part of what Maura found. She also found that Lieberman took $4000 from the late Wal-Mart heir John Walton and his wife Christy during his presidential campaign. Did you return those checks too, Joe?
Frankly, I doubt it. Fighting Wal-Mart wasn't hip back then and Joe didn't have to morph back into a Democrat for another three years yet. However, if he answers the question and I turn out to be wrong, I'd be delighted to apologize.
Anybody in Connecticut want to ask him?
JR