Thursday, August 17, 2006
Lieberman Loves Farrakhan
Remember the big stink the Powerline boys made over Minnesota state senator Keith Ellison's having as a college student -- along with many other naive black men who soon learned their lesson -- had the most tenuous and temporary of connections to Louis Farrakhan? Remember, also, just how much the Powerline boys love Joe Lieberman, their favorite (former) Democrat? Well, guess what: Back in 2000 -- long after Keith Ellison and every key black leader and national figure had rejected Farrakhan's bigotry and anti-semitism, guess who was cuddling up to the guy? C'mon, guess. OK, I'll tell you: Joe Lieberman. Check it out, right here:
The Lieberman campaign is trying to frighten white voters in Connecticut -- and Democrats in Washington -- by reminding them over and over again that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson support Lamont. This week, the senator's aides told the New York Times that playing the two African-American preachers off against Lamont will enhance Lieberman's appeal on an independent ballot line. "Primary night was the first time that many Connecticut voters saw Lamont on TV, and he's surrounding himself with two of the more divisive and problematic figures in the Democratic Party," said Dan Gerstein, the Lieberman campaign's communications director. It's true that Jackson and Sharpton, who bustled onto the podium the evening of the primary to grab their share of the Lamont spotlight, tend to be polarizing figures. But what if Lamont had praised an even more polarizing black leader? What would Lieberman say if his rival had reached out to someone really outrageous, like Louis Farrakhan? If he were honest, he'd exclaim "Great idea!" -- because that's exactly what he said six years ago. Lieberman can hope to get away with his racially inflammatory strategy only if everyone else forgets not only his habit of sucking up to Jackson and Sharpton but his history of stroking the most bigoted black leader in the world. Evidently he and Gerstein (who was also his spokesman during the 2000 presidential campaign) expect that nobody will mention the embarrassing episode when Lieberman's ambition (and opportunism) led him to praise Farrakhan. Given the laziness and amnesia that afflict the national press corps, they may be right.UPDATE: It was just pointed out to me that Keith Ellison's most vocal local attacker, Minneapolis attorney Daniel Rosen of the Rosen & Rosen law firm, is a prominent Republican activist and generous GOP donor. Funny how Rosen's GOP ties never got mentioned in all those StarTribune and Minnesota Public Radio stories -- or by his fellow Republicans at Powerline and MDE.
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Take a look at John Hinderaker's wikipedia entry.
Powerline's Hindrocket was the City Pages Best Meltdown Award Winner.
Powerline's Hindrocket was the City Pages Best Meltdown Award Winner.
In 2000, he gave $1250 to Bill Luther (counting all the Rosen and Rosen donations as his), but those were the only donations he's made to a Democrat in the past six years -- and in 2002, he gave much more money to Luther's Republican rival, John Kline, to whom he's given thousands in donations ever since.
I mentioned this on Lloydletta's Nooz. I've got notes from an interview with Keith Ellison. I still need to finish writing it up.
OK, something's screwy here -- looks like the donations list was updated since Lloydletta and I last checked it, because now there's a small flurry of Democratic donations in past years for Rosen. But still no Democratic donations since 2003, and the lion's share of his cash has gone to Republicans. (Damn, I KNEW I should have done a screen shot!)
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