Unfortunately while the Times' readers strongly mirror the dynamics at play in the race and reveal in an oh-so public fashion where Lamont and Lieberman gain their support, Susan Haigh of the AP writes another story about Lamont's personal wealth, focusing on his income and how much he's paid in taxes. Haigh parrots the Lieberman campaign's insinuation that Lamont's country club membership is somehow improper.
The Lieberman campaign cites Lamont's recent decision to drop his longtime membership at Greenwich's exclusive Round Hill Club golf course, where Prescott Bush - the father and grandfather of the two Bush presidents - once was the club's president. Lamont said the club was "not as diverse as it should be."
[Millionaire lawyer Joe] Lieberman is petitioning his way onto the November ballot as an independent just in case. In what he calls the fight of his political life, the senator has tried to portray his rival as an inexperienced, flip-flopping millionaire whose only motivation for being liberal is to win the Senate seat.
This has really got to stop. Millionaire lawyer Joe Lieberman's campaign is writing copy for the Associated Press. Where is the fact checking? Lamont has been shown to be incredibly independent minded in his time in municipal office by Connecticut standards, as demonstrated by mikect's analysis at My Left Nutmeg. Haigh has a responsibility to her readers, if not truth as such, to rebut false claims coming out of the Lieberman camp. Her piece on whole is really about Ned's success and his money - not exactly what voters want to be reading about one week before the primary (I'm not certain this wasn't written six months ago) - but her reproduction of Steinfels' attacks verbatim really Iraqs up this story.
Writing irrelevant pieces that carry unfounded partisan attacks pro-bono is no way to practice journalism, Susan. Let's try to do better the last week before the election. Voters might actually what to read about Lieberman's position on Iraq (wait, does he have one?) and why he thinks universal healthcare is a bad idea. Stop getting played like a fiddle by Steinfels and look at the groundswell of support that is propelling Ned towards victory. That's the real story and you won't even need to seek out Tom Swan or Liz Dupont-Diehl to find out how to spin it for spin is not necessary when your base in Connecticut's grassroots.
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