Connecticut candidates for the U.S. Senate smile after taking part in a three-way debate in Stamford, Conn., Monday, Oct. 16, 2006. From left are, Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger; incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who is running as an independent; and Democratic Party candidate Ned Lamont.

AP: Rivals take shots at Lieberman in debate

Sen. Joe Lieberman might as well have worn a bull’s-eye during Monday’s debate with his Democratic and Republican rivals.

Democrat Ned Lamont labeled the three-term Connecticut senator a career politician in lockstep with President Bush on Iraq. Long-shot Republican Alan Schlesinger described himself as the only conservative in a race against two liberals, warning GOP voters about Lieberman’s mostly Democratic voting record.

Lieberman took the jabs and delivered a few of his own.

“His finger-pointing … is the last thing Washington needs more of,” Lieberman said of Lamont, accusing him of running a negative campaign.

Schlesinger is right about Lieberman – he is a Lefty except for the global war on terror, War in Iraq. And Lieberman is dead on when he accuses Lamont of running a negative campaign.

But, the facts remain:

Lamont is trailing in the polls and has never lead.

Lamont is writing his own campaign checks and is having difficulty raising campaign cash.

Lamont desperately needs a knock-out of Lieberman in order to beat the long-time incumbent and has failed to deliver.

The Big Fact:

LIEBERMAN WINS

Allah Has the NUTS that Schlesinger won – according to the NUTROOTS, that is.

Daily Kos: Republican Alan Schlesinger, who was surprisingly impressive in the debate, made a clear distinction between himself and his two opponents on the immigration issue:

Atrios: Schlesinger for Senate

Crooks and Liars: Schlesinger came out fighting

Jane Hamsher: Finally. A Republican with the stones to tell Joe Lieberman to get off his damn lawn. Lieberman thought he was going to look “bipartisan” standing in between Ned Lamont and Alan Schlessinger during the debate today but he just looked like a man without a country, crying because everyone was trying to steal his candy. While Joe was praising every Republican in sight (Jodi Rell, John McCain, Susan Collins — funny, no Democrats)

myDD: Lieberman Crunched, Schlesinger Soars

How do you spell COORDINATED SPIN?

Ace hates them.

Flap thinks they are SELF-RIGHTEOUS DUMBASSES who underestimate the voters of Connecticutt.

MM thinks Lamont’s campaign has FIZZLED.

The most significant development of the campaign is how dispirited some of the unhinged Left now seem to be about the once-indomitable Lamont campaign. At HuffPo, Arianna’s begging for readers to “help save Lamont” and lamenting Lamont’s move to the center.

Stay tuned……

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Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: No Man’s Land?

Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Lieberman Defends Civil Rights Record

Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Richie Rich and the Two Anti-Semites

Technorati Tags: JoeLieberman, NedLamont

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. and former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, left, ride an escalator as they greet commuters during a campaign stop at Grand Central Station in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006. Lieberman, running for re-election as an independent, defied Democratic leaders by launching an independent bid after he lost the Aug. 8 primary to Democrat Ned Lamont.

Hartford Courant: Joe Lieberman In No Man’s Land

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a lifelong Democrat and student of politics, blanked when asked if America would be better off with his party regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

A Democratic victory would immeasurably boost the influence of two Connecticut friends, U.S. Reps. Rosa L. DeLauro and John B. Larson, and provide a counterbalance to the Republican Senate and White House.

“Uh, I haven’t thought about that enough to give an answer,” Lieberman said, as though Democrats’ strong prospects for recapturing the House hadn’t been the fall’s top political story.

He was similarly elusive about the race for governor. Is he voting for John DeStefano Jr., a Democrat and mayor of the city where Lieberman has lived since the 1960s?

“I’m, uh, I’m having,” he stammered, then laughed and said his decision would remain private.

And why should JoeMentum care about the other Democrats, including the ones like Senator Chris Dodd who are filming television commericals against Lieberman?

The Senate Democrat leaders have promised Joe that he will retain his 18 years of seniority in the Senate if he reorganizes the Senate with the Democrats. My bet is that sometime in the next 6 years Lieberman regrets this decision and switches parties and/or retires.

Stay tuned……

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Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Lieberman Defends Civil Rights Record

Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Richie Rich and the Two Anti-Semites

Technorati Tags: JoeLieberman, NedLamont

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman makes a point during a news conference in his Hartford, Conn.. campaign headquarters where he refuted points made earlier in the day at a news conference attended by rival Ned Lamont about his civil rights record.

AP: Lieberman defends civil rights record

Sen. Joe Lieberman defended his civil rights record, disputing a black Democratic group’s charge he lied about his 1960s activism fighting segregation in the South.

“That’s really outrageous and, of course, it’s a lie,” Lieberman said Wednesday.

The Connecticut Federation of Black Democratic Clubs, which includes 20 clubs across the state, endorsed Lieberman’s Democratic rival Ned Lamont and questioned whether he marched for civil rights.

“Senator, the Connecticut Federation of Black Democratic Clubs is offended by your television ad which claims you were an advocate for African-Americans’ first-class citizenship and as such you marched for our civil rights,” said Henry E. Parker, a former state treasurer, during a news conference attended by Lamont.

“Our research indicates that there is no evidence of you taking any action that could be described as an initiative to remove the shackles of second-class citizenship,” Parker said.

Lieberman’s campaign produced a 1963 college newspaper clip that cites Lieberman’s reporting from Jackson, Miss., about the arrests of civil rights workers. Lieberman was chairman of the Yale Daily News.

“Was I there?” Lieberman said. “You bet I was there.”

Lieberman said he led a group of Yale students to Mississippi. He also recalled being part of the Washington, D.C., crowd at the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famed “I Have a Dream” speech in August 1963.

Keep writing those self-promoting campaign checks, Ned.

Behind in the polls, Lamont has given $2 million to his campaign to unseat the three-term incumbent.

Lamont has contributed $8,751,500 of his own personal wealth to his Senate bid, including a $2 million check he wrote on Tuesday. The latest poll showed him trailing Lieberman, 48-40 percent, with Republican Alan Schlesinger at just 4 percent.

Has the Fat Lady sung?

NOPE, but warming up in this race.

Keep writin’ Ned…….

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Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Richie Rich and the Two Anti-Semites

Technorati Tags: JoeLieberman, NedLamont

President Bush walks with FEMA’s Mike Brown (R) and U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) (L) after Florida was hit by Hurricane Charlie in this August 15, 2004 file photo. Lawmakers charged with enforcing ethics in the U.S. House of Representatives met on October 5, 2006 to begin an investigation of a sex scandal that has ensnared top Republicans and could harm their chances of keeping control of Congress in the November 7 elections. Foley resigned his office and checked into an alcohol rehab center last week after copies of his overly friendly messages to teen-age male congressional pages set off a scandal that could threaten his party’s majority in Congress.

William Rusher: The coming Republican debacle

Regular readers of these columns will not have been taken by surprise by the recent turn of events against the Republicans in the forthcoming Congressional elections. I have warned for several months that the GOP faces “a handsome drubbing.”

In part this is simply a reaffirmation of the old truism that the party in the White House traditionally suffers losses in Congress in the Congressional elections of its second term. In further part, however, it is a byproduct of the fact that this particular administration and its allies in Congress have succumbed to the familiar temptations of power.

Read it all……

Flap agrees.

The Mark Foley Sex Scandal was the nail in the coffin for the national Congressional GOP.

Speaker of the House Hastert should have RESIGNED to contain the damage. But, he, instead insulated himself with the rather weak “Buck Stops Here – But I didn’t know about it.”

But, the Foley Sex Scandal and Hastert’s intransigent is only the latest of GOP’s foibles and Rusher names a few in his piece, including the budgetary largess of “EARMARKS”.

American voters are tired of the GOP.

They will throw the RASCALS out in November.

William Rusher

Technorati Tags: WilliamRusher, GOP, DennisHastert, MarkFoley

Matt Drudge: CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE MESSAGES WERE PAGE PRANK GONE AWRY

According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.

According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. This source, an ally of Edmund, also adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund.

The news come on the heels that former FBI Chief Louis Freeh has been named to investigate the mess.

Developing…

Flap has been asking about those AOL IM’s and how they were obtained by Brian Ross of ABC News.

But, now a set-up of Foley by some smart-ass Pages to F**K around with him.

Pretty sad and pathetic – if true.

Stay tuned………

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Mark Foley Sex Scandal Watch: Identity of Page Who Accused Mark Foley Exposed

Technorati Tags: JordanEdmund, MarkFoley, BrianRoss, ABCNews

The Jawa Report: ABC Trying to Hide Foley Mistake? Changes Text of ‘Blotter’ Entry

This post pointed out that ABC had mislead the public by misstating the age of one of the former pages who was instant messaged by Mark Foley as under 18.

ABC News has changed the copy on their story about the Foley IMs:

ABC News now has obtained 52 separate instant message exchanges, which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys who began their exchanges with Foley at the age of 16 and 17, and continued through the age of 18.

But the original wording is still in the Google cache:

ABC News now has obtained 52 separate instant message exchanges, which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys under the age of 18.

And NO Correction is noted on the ABC site.

Fraud on the public?

Now is ABC News covering-up the story?

And by the way, who gave ABC reporter Brian Ross the IM”s?

Update:

Bryan over at Hot Air has Jordan Edmund at 17 rather than 18.  And there is more:

And new information emerges.

House GOP leaders on Tuesday asked for an investigation into an allegation that former Rep. Mark Foley showed up drunk outside the House page dorm near the nation’s capitol, FOX News confirmed.

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Mark Foley Sex Scandal Watch: Identity of Page Who Accused Mark Foley Exposed

Technorati Tags: JordanEdmund, MarkFoley, BrianRoss, ABCNews

Drudge is reporting:

ABC ONLINE GLITCH LEADS TO IDENTITY OF FOLEY ACCUSER

FEATURED IM EXCHANGE WAS WITH 18 YEAR OLD

Wed Oct 04 2006 20:32:06 ET

A posting on ABCNEWS.COM of an unredacted instant message sessions between Rep. Mark Foley and a former congressional page has exposed the identity of the now 21 year-old accuser.

The website PASSIONATE AMERICA detailed the startling exposure late Wednesday.

ABCNEWS said in a statement: “We go to great lengths to prevent the names of alleged sex crime victims from being revealed. On Friday there was a very brief technical glitch on our site which was overridden immediately. It is possible that during that very brief interval a screen name could have been captured. Reviews of the site since then show no unredacted screen names.”

SEX CHAT WAS WITH 18 YEAR OLD

On Tuesday ABC news released a high-impact instant message exchange between full-length and, as ABC explained, a young man “under the age of 18.”

ABC headlined the story: “New Foley Instant Messages; Had Internet Sex While Awaiting House Vote”

But upon reviewing the records, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, the young man was in fact over the age of 18 at the time of the exchange.

A network source explains exchanges with the young man and disgraced former Congressman Foley took place before and after the 18th birthday.

MORE…

Passionate America has Meet Jordan Edmund One Mark Foley Instant Messanger

Now that that is out of the way I will reveal how I (and a few others) discovered Jordan Edmund was one of the former house pages that participated in sexually explicit instant messages with Rep. Mark Foley. Also I will explain to you why I believe it necessary to reveal Jordan Edmund’s identity. You may not agree with my decision, but I hope to explain my reasoning by the end of this story.

Read it all…….

The question to Brian Ross and ABC News is who gave you the Jordan Edmund’s IM’s and when did they give them to you?

Is Brian Ross doing another “HATCHET JOB” on Speaker Dennis Hastert?

ABC fraud on the public?

Stay tuned……..

Technorati Tags: JordanEdmund, MarkFoley, BrianRoss, ABCNews

UPDATE

AP: Aide says he reported Foley 3 years ago 

A senior congressional aide said Wednesday he told House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s office about worrisome conduct by Rep. Mark Foley toward teenage pages more than three years ago, long before officials have acknowledged becoming aware of the issue.

Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., prepares to speak a fundraiser in Amherst, N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, with first lady Laura Bush (not shown). Reynolds’ top aide, Kirk Fordham, a past aide to former GOP Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, resigned Wednesday amid the uproar over Foley’s Internet exchanges with former teenage pages and Hastert’s handling of the problem.

AP: Aide Says He Reported Foley 2 Years Ago

The Fat Lady has sung for Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Mr. Speaker, resign your Speakership for the good of the Republican Party before you take the entire GOP down with you.

Congressman John Shimkus and Majority Leader John Boehner MUST also resign their leadership positions.

A clean slate…….

Yet, Hastert’s office denies the AP story.

Mr. Speaker RESIGN and end this blood-letting in the media.

Related:

National Review: The Price of Foley

Tony Blankley: Republican integrity

Previous:

Michael Ramirez on the Congressman Mark Foley Sex FLAP

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert Watch: President Bush – DON”T RESIGN, Mr. Speaker

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert Watch: RESIGN, Mr. Speaker

Technorati Tags: MarkFoley, DennisHastert, JohnShimkus, JohnBoehner, KirkFordham