Ned Lamont’s campaign started off saying Joe Lieberman was too close to George Bush. Now they’re trying to make the case that he really has much more in common with Richard Nixon.
In a new video, culled from last night’s debate and stock footage, they have the Connecticut Senator morphing into Nixon and echoing his words on war.
“Lieberman is engaging in Nixonian deception when he says in 2006 that he wants to end the Iraq War, as he has opposed every single effort to end the war,” says the Lamont Campaign.
The strategy here is debatable. Lamont won the Democratic primary, and now, presumably, has to figure out a way to win over some of the independents and Republicans who’ve been telling pollsters that they plan to vote for Lieberman.
Maybe Lamont’s advisors figured it would be more resonant with those voters to cast Lieberman as a dishonest dissembler (by using Nixon imagery) than an out-of-touch conservative (by using Bush). More likely, they’re just casting around, at this point, for a message that works.
–Jason Horowitz