What Do The Kossacks Want?

The obvious answer to the question “What does Ned Lamont want?” is that he wants to replace Joe Lieberman in the U.S. Senate. And there are plenty of other people who would like to assist him.

Lamont’s most active and articulate supporters are the Kossacks; that is what they call themselves. They are readers and assiduous followers of Daily Kos, a liberal web site maintained by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga. Some of the people who support Lamont’s insurgency campaign may be Republican sappers. It’s no secret that Lieberman will draw votes from Republicans in a general election. Connecticut Republicans afflicted with a bad case of moderation like Lieberman because a) he’s genuinely affable, and b) a moderate Democrat.

Lieberman probably cannot be defeated in a general election. The senator is more popular in Connecticut than Chris Dodd, whose position on the war in Iraq has not alienated the readers of Daily Kos. But anything can happen in an election. The war in Iraq may yet become an albatross for Lieberman, depending upon whether and how quickly the country reverts to its previous condition before the war. Saddam Hussain is gone, but the conditions that gave rise to him are still very much present.

In Iran, those conditions have boosted the fortunes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is developing the country’s nuclear capability and has promised to wipe Israel off the map. Lamont is in the enviable position of being able to present his views on the war, similar to Dodd’s, by quoting solely from conservative writers. Bill Buckley has said that the efforts of the Bush administration in Iraq have failed, and Arnaud de Borchgrave, an unblinking conservative who writes for the conservative Washington Times, is convinced that blood is thinker than water. In a recent piece, de Borchgrave addresses convincingly the question why Pakistan has been unable to find Osama bin Laden. Lamont’s opposition to the war is his strong suite. He claims, however, not to be a one dimentional candidate and points to other of Lieberman’s failings.

Lieberman’s most glaring failure, according to Lamont’s speech announcing his candidacy, is the senator’s reluctance to present a Democratic face to the administration. On several points, Lieberman has not “stood up” to the president. Lamont favors more spending on social security over private savings accounts; “universal, affordable health care” over health savings accounts; more spending on public schools over vouchers; and on Iraq, he wants those who “got us into this mess” to be held accountable. If elected, Lamont has promised a direct frontal assault: “I will tell the Bush administration to put their haughty arrogance in their back pocket and deal with the rest of the world with respect. That's how America will start winning again in a post 9-11 world.” There is no telling how all this will play in Peoria; but in Connecticut, it’s red meat for hungry Kossacks.

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Powell, the JI, And Economic literacy

Powell, Pesci Substack The Journal Inquirer (JI), one of the last independent newspapers in Connecticut, is now a part of the Hearst Media chain. Hearst has been growing by leaps and bounds in the state during the last decade. At the same time, many newspapers in Connecticut have shrunk in size, the result, some people seem to think, of ad revenue smaller newspapers have lost to internet sites and a declining newspaper reading public. Surviving papers are now seeking to recover the lost revenue by erecting “pay walls.” Like most besieged businesses, newspapers also are attempting to recoup lost revenue through staff reductions, reductions in the size of the product – both candy bars and newspapers are much smaller than they had been in the past – and sell-offs to larger chains that operate according to the social Darwinian principles of monopolistic “red in tooth and claw” giant corporations. The first principle of the successful mega-firm is: Buy out your predator before he swallows

Down The Rabbit Hole, A Book Review

Down the Rabbit Hole How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime by Brent McCall & Michael Liebowitz Available at Amazon Price: $12.95/softcover, 337 pages “ Down the Rabbit Hole: How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime ,” a penological eye-opener, is written by two Connecticut prisoners, Brent McCall and Michael Liebowitz. Their book is an analytical work, not merely a page-turner prison drama, and it provides serious answers to the question: Why is reoffending a more likely outcome than rehabilitation in the wake of a prison sentence? The multiple answers to this central question are not at all obvious. Before picking up the book, the reader would be well advised to shed his preconceptions and also slough off the highly misleading claims of prison officials concerning the efficacy of programs developed by dusty old experts who have never had an honest discussion with a real convict. Some of the experts are more convincing cons than the cons, p

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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