(Crossposted from My Left Nutmeg.)

The good nuns and the even better Jesuits taught me that when Satan really wanted to mess with your mind he'd appear in saintly garb. Enter Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League and the kind of Irish Catholic who makes Irish Catholics like me try to pass themselves off as Hindus.

Donohue, in a brilliant display of religious hypocrisy, has ripped into bloggers hired by the John Edwards campaign.

In his "manic concession" speech, using a teeth-grinding metaphor that summoned unpleasant memories of his three-way dead heat for third place, Joe Lieberman said we were only at halftime in this "game."

Halftime, hell! It's only 30 seconds after kickoff.

Well, so much for all that "independent Democrat" nonsense.

Joe Lieberman has formed a new political party, a party of one.

It's called the Lieberman for Lieberman Party of Liebermans Supporting Lieberman Par...ooops, I mean the Connecticut for Lieberman Party.

Why a new party? Because it lets piggy Joe climb a few pitiful lines up on the ballot. According to Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, the maneuver will place Joe on the fifth line instead of the eighth or ninth.

Or as Joe would probably put it, "I'll be in a statistical dead heat for the fifth line."

Question for State Central: How can Joe remain a Democrat when he now has a party of his own?

Don Michak of the Journal Inquirer is reporting that prominent Dem lawyer Bruce Rubenstein has sicced the Feds on anonymous bloggers impersonating Senators Harry Reid and Barack Obama on Connecticut Local Politics.

A highly placed member of CT Dem State Centarl is of the opinion the JoeLieberman will leave the Party within the next two weeks to run as an independent.

Reporting for MY Left Nutmeg, in haste, from the floor of the Democratic State Convention in Hartford

Here, as promised, is a transcript of Ned Lamont's remarks at the press conference announcing NOW-PAC's endorsement of his U.S. Senatorial campaign.

It gets curioser and curioser. On the heels of the  attack postcard cited by Councilman in a previous thread, comes this letter. It tries to look like a personal letter from Deidra Ierardi in New Britain, but the small print at the bottom reads "Paid for by Friends of Joe Lieberman." Ms. Ierardi is, apparently, a member of the New Britain BOE, although the letter never says so.

The letter is sloppily reproduced with ink smears. Full text, with emphasis added, is below the fold (with emphasis added).

Markos (Kos) Moultisas of DailyKos fame will be appearing in a commercial for Ned Lamont when he comes to New Haven on May 21. He spilled the beans at an event in Asheville, NC, on Friday, BlogAsheville reports:

Are you helping with Ned Lamont's campaign

We're not working with him, but I'm going up there in two weeks to appear in a commercial he's shooting.

Back in December, Senate Dem Leader Harry Reid had this to say about Joe Lieberman:  "I've spoken to Joe Lieberman and he knows he's out there alone. I mean, literally alone. Joe is a fine man, he has strong feelings, but he's just alone. Even Republicans don't agree with Joe."

Now he's letting Joe feel the love. Read and weep.

We're in deep doo-doo now folks.

Joe Lieberman famously remarked not long ago that "It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more years. We undermine the president's credibility at our nation's peril."

Now he's gone and done the unthinkable.

Joe Lieberman has undermined the President!

According to a Democratic Town Committee (DTC) member who was present, "It came right out of his mouth. He said,'I'll wait and see how the primary comes out.' But he would not rule out running as an independent. 'I feel I have a lot to offer the state,' he said. And this after talking about what a great Democrat he was. I was shocked."

The Windsor DTC was taping the event for a public access show (Ned Lamont appeared before them earlier), so there is probably tape of the fatal admission. The DTC member I spoke to said that he was going to try to speak with the videographer to isolate the quote. "But a lot of people in the room heard it."

How any Democrat can, in good conscience, continue to support Lieberman's bid for renomination is beyond me.

Ned Lamont is on record as saying he will not run as an independent and will support the Democratic nominee.

But, then, Ned Lamont is a Democrat.

From an email from Ned:

Less than a month ago I officially announced I would challenge
Senator Joseph Lieberman in the Democratic Primary. Our first
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing deadline has passed and I
am encouraged and amazed to report that more than 4,000 of you
stepped up and contributed. This is 33% more than our original goal,
and a resounding testament to your hard work and ability to spread
the word about our campaign and our vision. From the bottom of my
heart I want to thank you. Clearly, without your support I would not
be in this race.

Read the rest at My Left Nutmeg

Ned Lamont officially introduced himself to the voters of Connecticut today and did it with a casual mastery that belies his wet-behind-the-ears political status.

As he spoke, the crowd burst into applause with all the regularity of Republicans at the State of the Union, but with none of the hypocrisy. Lamont clearly spoke from the heart and the crowd responded with love.

Read a transcript of his remarks on the flip.

"Once 1,000 people have pledged to volunteer across every city and town, this campaign can begin."

A brilliant stroke, IMHO. In effect, Ned Lamont is saying: "When I do announce, the question of whether this is a serious campaign will have been answered in the resounding affirmative."

All Connecticut progressives should visit Ned Lamont's web site today and pledge their support.

Read the whole thing, but here are some highlights:

At 52, Lamont is tan, fit and possessed of an easy confidence that often comes with being born into a fortune and making it bigger. He understands the long odds against succeeding in a primary against an incumbent senator. His interest in making the race springs from issues, not burning personal ambition. . . .

Iraq, however, is the issue that will drive Lamont's race. He was inspired when hawkish Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., called for a withdrawal of American troops late last year.

That provided a stark contrast to Lieberman's stalwart support of the war, particularly his optimistic assessment of it in a Wall Street Journal piece in November. Lieberman's chummy relationship with President Bush has added to the "groundswell of anger" that Lamont detects.

More below the fold.

According to Forward in New York, Joe's not above going out of state himself.

Senator Joseph Lieberman met last week with some Orthodox leaders at the home of Milton Balkany, a rabbi whose legal troubles led President Bush's campaign and a New York mayoral candidate to return contributions linked to him.

More below the fold.

For the ADD crowd, there are some highlights below the fold.

Even though he says he is still "three to four weeks away" from making a decision, he left little doubt in a conversation this morning that the Internet will play a key role in his all-but-official campaign.

"The Internet is very important," he said. "I'm new, I'm an unknown and between now and August I'm going to have to reach out and meet a lot of people. The 'Net will help me do that."

He is also well versed in the history of Howard Dean's success at raising funds over the 'Net. "I think there are a lot of shall we say traditional contributors who will shy away from me given the nature of this campaign," he noted. "The Internet is a way to bypass that problem."

The web site Time To Go Joe has already racked up $67,000 in pledges that are just waiting to be spilled into Lamont's campaign coffers.

More on the flip....