If You Go Out in the Woods Today . . .

The Lamont-Lieberman faceoff in Connecticut at least so far is providing the main-ring dollop of entertainment in these early-election-year days. It may not be quite up there with the tandem of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on a day-to-day basis, but that would be asking a lot of an election, after all.

The latest episode involves what I gather is a Lieberman attack-ad that seems at best plain silly. You should have no trouble finding amusing commentary most anywhere amongst your carefully bookmarked progressive blog list (try wandering Democratic Underground for starters), but I'll set you up here with a selection from Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo.

This first post introduces the ad:

Like I said before, I've got no horse in this race. Or something like that. But is Joe Lieberman serious about this silly 'bear cub' ad attacking Ned Lamont as a cat's paw of Lowell Weicker? (See Hartford Courant article on it here.) This has to be the most ridiculous ad I've ever seen. It's not even that it's mean. It's just too silly and stupid to believe. Does anyone really believe that Lieberman is in this fix because of Lowell Weicker? And pace Weicker, Lieberman and ad creator Carter Eskew, but even in Connecticut, Lowell Weicker has been out of the Senate for a really long time. I don't want to say he's ancient history. But he's sort of ancient history.

I mean, maybe the next ad will be on the Missile Gap or school busing. Or maybe Lamont's failure to bring the Patriots to Hartford.

I'm not sure I even have the heart to ask my Lieberman pals what's up with this. Lieberman's trying to show CT Dems he's not out of touch but he's showing them he's out of his mind.

The followups involve input from loyal TPM readers. For example:

Crazy like a fox? Or crazy like a moron? TPM Reader JH checks in ...

I'll chime in as someone that thinks the Lieberman ad is crazy, and not crazy like a fox.

I work in graphics and advertising, and the thing that strikes me hardest about this ad is how amateurish it looks. You can get away with a crappy cartoon ad if what you're selling is the local tile and carpet dealership, but Lieberman is supposed to be a serious person, not to mention a U.S. Senator. As an incumbent he should be selling his gravitas and experience, and he should be at least implicitly referring to his deep roots to his constituents (after all, he's been their Senator since '88). Ad hominem attacks are pretty standard for political advertising, but at least most pols try to be a little dignified when making them. For a senior U.S. Senator (and former second on the national party Presidential ticket), this is embarrassing.

He's right. It is embarrassing.

And more from TPM readers:

Ugh, the reviews just keep coming in on Joe's rendezvous with imbecility ...

From TPM Reader JM ...

Putting aside the bizarre premise and truly rookie-league production values, what does it say about Lieberman's campaign that they felt compelled to run this ad? Here's a staid former vice presidential candidate, a would-be statesman, lowered to running a straight-up attack piece more befitting an unknown, low-budget challenger. If there were any doubts that Lamont was for real, this settles it.

But it doesn't even do what a classic attack ad is supposed to do. How many Democrats who were mildly annoyed with Lieberman will see this ad and actually think worse of Lamont? How many will think worse of Lieberman?

Lieberman could have lost the Senate seat and retained his own dignity. But he may lose both, thanks to his own inexplicable bad taste.

Then there's TPM Reader TS ...

Pardon my unPC-ness, but that ad is retarded. Being born and raised in CT, I can honestly say that even I don't understand it. Lowell Weicker is ancient news... funny thing is, a lot of people really liked him, especially when you consider that he was governor just prior to to John Rowland. Once Rowland started getting sketchy, a lot of people wished they had Weicker back. Lieberman needs to screw his brain back in.

It ain't pretty.

For sure. But between you and me Joe's mug would challenge a mother's tolerance too. And his consistent willingness to support and suck up to the swine in power should classify him as shark-fodder for the folks now according to polls in the majority, realizing what knaves are occupying those plush seats in Washington DC.

The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

Somewhere in the last 24, now lost in my synapses, I read a quote from some republithug to the effect that they had had "more good news in the last week than in the preceding year." When they choose all the right words like that (no "noose," "weak," "then," or "receding," just to touch on some obvious potential pitfalls) it is usually a clue that the comment didn't actually originate in the White House. Alas that isn't helping with my recall, and it isn't so critical that I am going to give in to the temptation of on-line searching, which almost always teaches me fascinating things about stuff ever-so-far from whatever my original puzzle was.

But desperately trying to get the train back on the track here, the idea that Rove will not be indicted is undeniably a serious downer for any sentient creature. The man-or-whatever has done so much damage to civility and what used to be our formerly widely-admired form of governance that an indictment would actually have been too good for his kind. He might even be the exception that even Amnesty International would acknowledge as rationale for not totally outlawing torture (I doubt that - they do have principles, versus Rove et al). But it does seem healthy and in the spirit of getting the equivalent of the grieving process in motion to face that reality that is apparently anathema to the guy appointed though likely not elected to be our leader. Not all that long ago (a year?) the idea that KKKarl would even be a genuine target of the investigation was semi-fantastic. Disappointing outcome indeed, but let us not misplace the bigger scorecard.

Anonymous Liberal helps with the perspective. Kevin Drum in Washington Monthly apparently coined the terrific phrase I borrowed for subject, which alternately evokes for me names like Agnew and Mitchell but could also stimulate some latter-day Stephen Foster crooning. Humor aside, it's bad enough when the miscreants themselves are allowed to lower the bar on their behavior to where not getting caught with incontrovertible evidence is good enough; what the hell is the Post (among others) doing helping them with the lowering?

You're Not Supposed to Get Indicted

Wednesday's Washington Post reported:

In a White House that had virtually forgotten what good news looks like, the past few weeks have been refreshing. A Republican won a much-watched special congressional election. President Bush recruited a Wall Street heavy hitter as Treasury secretary. U.S. forces killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. And now the architect of the Bush presidency has avoided criminal charges.

To which Kevin Drum responded:

Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. The GOP barely won a congressional election in a district that's 60% Republican. After a year of looking, the White House finally persuaded someone to become Secretary of the Treasury. They killed a terrorist they could have killed three years ago if they'd wanted to. And Bush's top aide has "avoided criminal charges."

Low expectations is right. If I close my eyes I can picture Chris Rock:

"You're supposed to win that election. You're not supposed to get indicted. What do you want, a cookie? You low expectation havin' motha f----s!!!"

Not Just Another Genealogy-dazed Mormon

In this case it would be Senate Dem leader Harry Reid, and Netroots rather than Roots he is after. Senator Reid brazenly stuck his nose into the YearlyKos bloggerfest in Las Vegas last weekend.

If only the reporter had indicated whether it was the studio Rolling Stones ("Beggar's Banquet") or the live recording ("Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out"). They're both totally kick-ass (Watts especially explosive when he comes in at the start on the off-beat), but I was weaned on the Ya-Ya's version and I'd like to know!

As the Rolling Stones' 'Street Fighting Man' blared from the speakers, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid entered the massive ballroom at the Riviera Hotel to speak to 1,000 YearlyKos attendees and, it's safe to say, wasn't sure of precisely what reception he would get.

While the Senate Democratic Leader should by default feel somewhat comfortable addressing a conference filled with progressive activists and bloggers, Reid is a moderate-to-conservative Democrat and, with problems that attendees may have with some of his previous stances, the decision to appear was, to some extent, a political risk.

But the former boxer from tiny Searchlight, Nevada jumped gamely into the ring last night, played to a packed house and, by the time his 20-minute speech ended, Reid appeared to leave as a rock star, mobbed by so many well-wishers and autograph seekers that his phalanx of security could barely get him out of the room.

"As a former boxer, I know fighters when I see them -- you're fighters," said Reid to wild applause. "You're fighters for the truth. You've made a tremendous difference in our country and for the Democratic Party."

With "Give 'em Hell, Harry" signs waving throughout the audience, Reid, who was the first major Democrat to sign on as a YearlyKos speaker, stoked the progressive fires and encouraged those present to remain active and prepare for a tough fight this election year and beyond.

"It was you who were quick to stand against the Swift Boat attacks on Senator John Kerry," he said to an enthusiastic response. "It was you who defended Valerie Plame, an American spy, and Ambassador Joe Wilson against Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. And it was you who led Democrats to victory against the privatization of Social Security."

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Here's a great section from the middle of the speech:

"In the coming months, America faces a great choice. And for such a great choice, the question we must answer is simple.

"Do we -- as a country -- unite and change direction toward a better future for us all, or do we continue in the wrong direction of the last six years? A direction that has resulted in three dollar gas prices, a mess in Iraq, a crisis in health care and incompetence in government.

"You and I have the answer to that question. Unfortunately, the Republicans have their answer -- that's distract and divide.

"Republicans have no interest in changing direction, or taking on the issues before us. Their only goal is for them to stay in power -- even if it jeopardizes the future for us all. You see, Bush Republicans know what we know. Karl Rove knows what we know. And that's if Americans focus on real issues, Republicans will plummet even lower than they are now."

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And at least one of you was speaking to me recently of the conservative talk-radio gad-fly Mike Stark, who apparently has gifts for both making it through the caller-screens and then being able to more than hold his own with the hysterical other-worldsters. Well he was at YearlyKos too, and this post has additional Reid-reinforcement to offer.

Well, the first YearlyKos conference is now in the books and one of my favorite parts of an amazing event was getting to meet other bloggers whose work I have long admired, but who I had never met in person.

For example, I met Mike Stark, who I also got to spend quite a bit of time with in the YearlyKos media room and elsewhere. Mike runs the Calling All Wingnuts blog, on which he runs audio of the many instances in which he humiliates right-wing types on their radio shows after he somehow manages to get on the air -- which he does with astounding regularity.

You can really see Mike's impact in the way he now has these people so paranoid that, on a recent Rush Limbaugh show, the Oxycontin King went nuts on a totally innocent caller because he was so sure he had finally nailed Mike. You can read about that and listen to it here.

But I mention Mike and his site today because of something he has posted about a brief interaction he had with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid -- Mike told me about it after it happened -- that was short, but very interesting.

As I said in my previous piece on Reid's excellent speech, the Nevada Senator was mobbed like a rock star as he left the massive hotel ballroom and, like me, Mike managed to get close enough to shake his hand. But I'll let Mike tell you what prompted his close encounter with Senator Reid:

"I approached his exit path and ended up standing about 10 feet from him when I said, loudly enough to be sure he heard it, 'Cut Holy Joe loose, Harry. He’s deadweight on our Party.'

"Well, Harry is no coward. He continued on his exit path which took him right by me. Of course he was shaking hands on his way out. He shook my hand, leaned into me and said, 'I heard what you said.'"

From what Mike told me later, it was obvious from his manner that Reid understood Mike's sentiments about Joe Lieberman and embraced the thought himself. Short, but interesting and sweet.

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Accidental Serendipity

On the remote chance you missed it, title is in homage to Yogi Berra (he of "deja vu all over again" fame).

I recently found a chance for a little backroads exploration. My inspirations included, besides the obvious off-the-beaten-path, several touted birding sites and anomalous terrain known as the Tenino or Mima Mounds. The latter involves intriguingly hummocked meadows, with theoretical causes ranging from freeze-thaw cycles when the area was in the outwash of the ice sheet that occupied Puget Sound a while back to gophers (go figure). In hindsight, birds and all were an interesting excuse, but the wandering was the primary goal and ended up being the biggest benefit.

But along the way I spontaneously turned off old Highway 99 (a pretty obscure highway itself at this point), catching a glimpse out of the corner of my eye as I started up even more minor (but paved) sideroad of as small sign saying something about "Haven." I shortly came upon Wolf Haven, a wolf-recovery site renowned throughout the NW (and probably beyond). I certainly knew of the place, largely because of daughter's recent thesis work on wolves, and had general parameters of location (i.e. somewhere within 50 miles of actual locale) in my mind, but this was a bit uncanny. I'd talked of the place with a co-worker with a lupophilic son (hi, Danny!) recently and with daughter only a couple days earlier, but it was not in my consciousness when I stumbled on it. Short of time, I chatted with giftshop-worker, admired birds at feeder (the best I would see on my jaunt: yellow-winged blackbird, goldfinch, towhee), drew her excited attention to a couple baby rabbits wandering in adjacent garden, and moved on, a little giddy over the coincidence.

My reverie was only broken when I struggled to parse sign a few miles later: "if you study here, sit happens." My double-take revealed it was a dog boarding/obedience facility.

I wandered some more blue highways, including a visit to the Mima Mounds Wildlife Reserve and a short stroll there. The mounds were fun, but paled in comparison to my recollection of Sky River Rock Festival back in 1969 (of course much pales in comparison to that!). I was a bit pressed for time knowing I had a rendezvous with rush-hour traffic on the Interstate ahead of me. I did wander off-course enough to stumble upon an intriguing Nature Conservancy site where there is obvious plant propagation underway. This site is along the Black River, a generally intriguingly obscure waterway that appears to invite birders, kayakers, butterfly-swimmers, gosh knows who wouldn't be interested. Crowd-lovers, I guess.

But latter part of my ramblings were more in the way of preliminary tastes, frankly. Some interesting exploring options there.