Seeing Red

Come on people! The voters of Connecticut elected Ned Lamont. The Democratic party didn't force voters to select him. Joe Lieberman was not following the will of his constituents and they chose someone else. If, like our President, he wants to cling to the "I did the right thing" line regarding Iraq, then he needs to accept the consequences. Even if he wins as an Independent, he has basically told his longtime supporters that his opinion is more valid than theirs. He's maintained the support of some loyalists and garnered the support of fair weather Republicans who see this as an opportunity to stick it to the Democrats. But, he's also attracted GOP crazies, who always have to take it to a whole "nuther" level..

- In case you thought McCarthyism in the press died out in the late-1950s, consider this past Sunday’s editorial in the daily newspaper in Waterbury, Connecticut. At least Ann Coulter, an avowed fan of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, has moved on to current threats (terrorists and other liberals), while the aptly named Republican-American, Sunday circ 60,000, is still obsessed with Communists.

It’s almost quaint, but as the author of a book about 1950s politics, I have to add that Red-baiting is no joke, even when the Red Menace is no more.

Not many were laughing late last Sept. 1, either, when New Orleans’ besieged Times-Picayune, then underwater and only publishing online, felt it had to reply to the Waterbury paper after it suggested their city might not be worth “re-claiming” after Katrina. "How dare they?" the Times-Picayune asked.

Not surprisingly, this past Sunday’s editorial was inspired by Ned Lamont’s upset victory in the state’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate last Tuesday, in which he edged Joseph Lieberman, mainly on grounds that the incumbent backed President Bush on the Iraq war and several other key issues. Lieberman is now running as an Independent.

On the surface, Lamont seems blessed with Republican-like credentials. He is a true blueblood, a phenomenally successful businessman and terribly rich. His father, Ted, a longtime Republican, was an economist who worked with the Marshall Plan, and later served in the Nixon administration. His uncle, Thomas Stilwell Lamont was vice-chairman of Morgan Guaranty Trust. His famous grandfather, Thomas Williams Lamont Jr., was a partner and then chairman of J.P. Morgan & Co.

But that doesn’t mean that Ned Lamont isn’t a Commie. Here are a few excerpts from the Waterbury paper’s Sunday editorial. It’s titled “Ned Lamont’s True Colors” and I think you can guess what color they are referring to:

“(L)iberal journalists adore him because they share his world view on abortion, homosexual marriage, universal health care, racial quotas, loopy environmentalism and especially the war against Islamic terrorism.

“They are blood brothers, or more accurately, fellow travelers. Just as journalism has become a hornet's nest of socialism (communism not yet perfected), if you shake Mr. Lamont's family tree, a lot of Red apples will fall.

“His great-grandfather, Thomas W. Lamont, was chairman of J.P. Morgan. A wealthy progressive pacifist, he was the sugar daddy for the American Communist Party and other extreme left-wing organizations. His wife, Florence, belonged to such subversive groups as the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship and American Committee for Friendship with the Soviet Union.

“Their son, Corliss Lamont, was an unapologetic Stalinist and atheist. Congress once declared him ‘probably the most persistent propagandist for the Soviet Union to be found anywhere in the United States.’ As national chairman of The Friends of Soviet Russia, he refused to condemn Josef Stalin's show trials in the 1930s. For 22 years, he was director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been financed by communists and dedicated to advancing Marxism since its inception and to this day seeks to impose socialism and atheism on America. ...

“According to one recent commentary, Corliss' nephew, Edward M. ‘Ted’ Lamont Sr., embraced liberal-socialism ‘and passed his religious devotion to atheistic materialism along to his son.’ Ned Lamont, in turn, has surrounded himself with people who may be characterized fairly as dedicated socialists and borderline communists. ...

“Corliss Lamont was the only Lamont unashamed to declare his communist sympathies and beliefs publicly, but that doesn't make Thomas, Ted and Ned any less Marxist. Red Ned may label himself a progressive, but when he espouses goals shared by Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Castro, et al., he gives away his true color.”

This account is rife with errors -- consider, for example, the suggestion that J.P. Morgan for decades entrusted its billions to the Communist Party’s “sugar daddy” -- but that’s not the point. Even if everything stated in the editorial were somehow true, it would still be an attempt to tar Lamont because of the views or political activities of long-dead ancestors. If you’re going to play the bloodline game, at least stick to the still-living father -- the Nixon administration official.

Pathetic!