First it was a "one-day story" about a
radio outburst. Then it was a
blog story. Now it's
a newspaper headline:
Online Buzz Benefits Lamont
Lieberman Joust Fuels Bloggers, Spurs Donations To Foe
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman dropped his usual air of imperturbability during a drive-time radio appearance Wednesday, snapping at the host over a column criticizing the senator and backing his challenger, Ned Lamont.
Six years ago, when Lieberman last ran for re-election, his comments would have had the shelf life of an ice-cream cone. But on Thursday, they only grew louder, amplified by Internet bloggers.
We're having real effect driving the coverage here in Connecticut. More on the flip
Joe Lieberman's outburst, mild or not, is the gift that keeps on giving. The Hartford Courant followed up the radio interview with an extended blog entry by the radio host and columnist Colin McEnroe. Other blogs, too numerous to mention, also fueled the fire
The most telling part about this is the emotional tone: Joe is looking old, angry, resentful, and self-destructive. Joe is hurting himself. Mr. McEnroe has been very calm about this - he didn't argue with Joe, simply made his points and backed them up with decent facts.
More choice quotes:
Online buzz about Lamont, who has been an official candidate for less than two weeks, already has helped generate $132,255 in credit-card donations to Lamont through a Democratic fundraising site, ActBlue.Com. About $10,000 came in Thursday.
If Ned could get $10K for every stupid thing Joe did from now until August (Primary date!), he's going to out-raise Grouchy Joe.
"This little moment on our show, it wasn't a gigantic moment," McEnroe said. "It was a kind of moment [the bloggers] were looking for. They were kind of looking for a moment when Lieberman's famous composure broke a little bit."
Read the whole article here.