Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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John Droney RIP

“Remember, you are judged by the company you keep” -- Rose Pesci to her son Don, 1950 All the encomiums let loose by twinkling Democrat Party stars following the death of political icon John Droney were appropriate and – dare I say it – understated. “Droney was known as a pro-gun, conservative Irish Democrat who owned guns and enjoyed hunting,” Chris Keating tells us in a front page, top of the fold Hartford Courant story – “CT leaders mourn a Democratic insider and mentor who once represented Trump. ‘His impact was generational.’” In addition, Droney “once represented Trump.” We shall not see his like again; at least those of us who are advancing toward old age and the yawning grave at warp speed. “Droney was a key player in multiple Democratic campaigns over a span of more than 50 years,” Keating tells us, “including the stunning upset in 1988 by then-state attorney general Joe Lieberman over three-term Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr....

Welcome to the Revolution, Fergie’s Homecoming

The Fox News headline is attention-getting: FBI snares an American heir indicted for allegedly bankrolling anti-cop, pro-Hamas communist revolution . So too is the lede: “The Justice Department and FBI have a new communist financier in their crosshairs for alleged financial crimes: James "Fergie" Cox Chambers Jr., the estranged bad-boy heir to the Cox cable empire.” Spanish police, we learn, “… detained Chambers on the luxury island of Ibiza, in response to an international arrest warrant, according to sources. Chambers is allegedly wanted for money laundering and providing support to Hamas, following years of financing anti-Israel and anti-West organizations and protests. The transnational network he helped fund and support is kicking in to cast him as a victim of the Trump administration's ‘fascism,’ while critics are cheering the arrest as long overdue.” Where else but on a “luxury island” should one expect to find a billionaire bad boy? And “Fergie” has been...

Bolders on the Left

“Be bold, be bold, but not too bold – lest the marrow of your bones runs cold,” an English Fairytale reminds the bold hero of the tale. That is excellent advice for politicians who wish to succeed in attaining and holding office. In primary elections, we find, bold politicians may be as bold as they wish. General elections, however, are horses of a different color. In a general election, the election deciders are far less narrow-minded than are the more energetic electors in primaries because the election field is wider. The danger always is that bold primary messaging may leech into general elections and undermine the gent who has proposed the abolition of police departments and prisons. The wiser, more Machiavellian option is to draw a veil of ambiguity around the abolition of police departments in primary elections and then – after you have been elected to office -- abolish the police department. Kevin Rennie -- once a moderate Republican legislator in Con...

Graham’s Finest Hours

Graham In The Wisdom of Father Brown , G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Journalism largely consists in saying ‘Lord Jones Dead’ to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.” Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly and unexpectedly of a ruptured aorta, brought on according to a preliminary post-mortem by hardened arteries, never had that problem. By most accounts following his death, both from Republicans and Democrats, Graham was able to traverse the usual mine-sown partisan political ground without loss of limb or humor. His relationship with Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal is a case in point. The two – one an anti-Trump Democrat, the other a pro-Trump Republican -- have frequently traveled to Ukraine during that country’s darkest hours. Both set their faces against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s absurd notion that Ukraine “is not even a country” shortly before invading the country and dragging piec...

Is Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont a moderate Democrat?

Elliot, Lamont “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” -- Mark Twain In the opinion of most political commentators in the state, including reporters, Lamont is a moderate Democrat. A dispassionate answer to the question might be: It depends what you mean by “moderate. That goalpost has been moved leftward by New England Democrats within the past few decades, most severely within the political lifespan of Lamont. The governor was first brought to public notice when he defeated incumbent U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman in Connecticut’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in 2006, twenty years ago. Although Lamont gained the endorsement of the state’s Democrat Party and won the primary, he lost to Lieberman in the general election. Four years later in 2010, Lamont ran for governor on a platform promoting balanced budgets, job creation and economic com...

Platner Implodes

Sanders and Platner Graham Platner, running for the U.S. Senate against Susan Collins in Maine, has lost considerable support among establishment Democrats in the face of allegations that were known long before they disembarked from the Platner bandwagon. On July 7 Politico reported, “ More than half of the Senate Democratic caucus has called for Graham Platner to drop out of the Maine Senate race, less than 24 hours after POLITICO reported that a woman the oysterman once dated had accused him of sexual assault… Most Democrats previously stuck by Platner even as his beleaguered campaign battled scandal after scandal in recent months. By Tuesday, the tide had turned firmly against Platner, with 38 of the Senate’s 47 Democratic senators calling for him to drop out as of early Tuesday afternoon.” What was the straw the broke the donkey’s back? It was not the “Nazi” tattoo Platner proudly sported throughout his questionable assignations. Correcting som...