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He hid not his face from shame and spitting

"When I give my word, I stick to it, and I'm definitely going to organize with the Senate Democratic caucus," Joseph Lieberman told a Boston Globe reporter yesterday. Playing upon the slogan of his Energizer-Bunny re-election campaign -- "Stick with Joe" -- Tuesday night at his Goodwin Hotel victory party the Connecticut Senator quipped that the love of his life and mother of his children, Hadassah -- "even before Al Gore made me his running mate, you made me the luckiest guy in the world" -- had sometimes complained that she was STUCK with Joe. Our own photo above, a bit out of focus, but the love comes shining through. We were there amidst the horror -- brutally loud, relentless music that made us want to kill and maim -- and wonder -- a roomful of rich and poor, elegant and dowdy, happy, happy people. The security presence was nearly undetectable. Maybe it's a Connecticut thing. Pamela and ourselves, members of the opposition that we are, were totally swept up into the buoyancy of the moment.

"With Democrats and Republicans jockeying for control of the closely divided Senate, both parties will need Lieberman's vote," asserts the Boston Globe:

Lieberman reiterated his pledge to remain with the Democrats, saying a prime consideration was maintaining his 18 years of seniority on Capitol Hill in order to help Connecticut.

Lieberman said he spoke by phone Wednesday with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who called to congratulate him. Reid assured him he will keep his seniority, Lieberman said.

Lieberman also said he has no interest in serving in the Bush administration. "I would reject any offer, which has not come, and, I believe, will not come," he said [Rummy's replacement is already out there, but who knows what GW & Company may be cooking up in their toil-and-trouble cauldron?]

The acolytes at Joey's victory party Tuesday night were filled with wonder and joy. We mingled with a phalanx of devout yellow-tee-shirt-clad union firemen (above) whose enthusiasm and sweet, all-American good will touched our heart, if not our mind.

When it comes to Joey Lieberman, he's one of the best, but a politician is a politician. This from his August 2000 acceptance speech as Al Gore's running mate:

For more than 20 years Al Gore has been a leader on the environment.

He and I will continue the work we have done together to keep our air, water and land clean. We are going to continue to work to make sure that a child can drink a glass of water, or a father can fish in a stream, or a family can go to a park, without having to worry that their health and safety is at risk.

Tell us another one. We hope Joey's had his fill of those glasses of snake-oil water served up by the wolf-criers of global warming and will be moving on to more pressing matters in his new, double-barreled position of power.

The view out our window at the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford on a rainy Wednesday morning yesterday as we awoke to a stark new political landscape and tried to come to terms with the election returns from Hell. The pollsters had gotten it right, Karl Rove and many of our friends on the right side of the aisle -- including our own hope-against-hope self -- had gotten it wrong. As Dubya told the White House Press Corps yesterday, the Republicans had taken a "thumpin'." Power corrupts, and it did. They bought their tickets. Us -- we? -- voters, unfortunately, went along for the ride: The Democrats didn't win so much as the Republicans lost. Yecky poo. But, as the song goes, "That's life." Time to pick ourselves up and get back in the race.

More toe-curling rhetoric from Senator Lieberman's Gore VP acceptance speech back in 2000:

Two weeks ago . . . our opponent claimed that America has a hollow military.

I must tell you, that made me angry.

America . . . we know better than that -- our fighting men and women are the best-trained, best-equipped, most potent fighting force in the history of the world, and they will stay that way when Al Gore and I are elected.

As depressed as the economy may be in Connecticut's capital city, their primo men's furnishings store, Stackpole Moore Tryon, is right up there with our own Louis of Boston. Tuck, above, poses for the camera but earlier picked out an awesome belt and unflappable umbrella for us to bestow upon him as belated birthday gifts.

As bad as things may seem now to so many of our fellow Americans, had Al Gore been elected, who knows? We'll have to admit we're wicked disappointed with the way GW has been jerking us around of late. We love and admire Donald "things we don't know we don't know" Rumsfeld with all our heart and soul and guess one of the pundits on one of the cable shows was right last night when he used the "s" word, scapegoat. Taking a fall for the team. We're pretty sure that history, that clear-eyed, take-no-prisoners taskmistress, will show Donald Rumsfeld to have been one of the towering figures of the early 21st century. We may not live to see it, but our grand nieces and nephews will. This just in from one of our favorite commenters, Gayle Miller of And you thought YOU were cranky?:

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if in fact Sec. Rumsfeld insisted on resigning as a final service to his President. That's the kind of guy he is and that's the kind of loyalty GWB inspires.

Whatever the causation, I am so going to miss Rummy -- his lack of patience with idiots (a lot of congresspeople and most of the press corps) and his unbelievable courage. Can you see any Clinton appointee running BACK INTO the burning Pentagon to save some of his people?

We adore Gayle's turn of phrase re Secretary Rumsfeld's "lack of patience with idiots." One of our all-time favorite Dick Cheney quotations in response to a clueless "reporter's" verbal assault comes to mind:

I disagree with the premise of your question.

Jesus himself gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. He hid not his face from shame and spitting. Nobody said it was going to be easy.

"At least now I can pick you out of a line-up, should the need arise!"

She had to sit down on the stage of Joey's victory party last night because of those totally awesome stiletto heels -- three inches if a mile. It made our own booful one-inch metallic silver heels look like child's play. Check out that glorious hair, the silky black jumpsuit, the perfect makeup. This girl Pamela of Atlas Shrugs, who bills herself as a "New York Jewess," is wicked fun to hang out with. Blogging is her passion, and she's on a first-name basis with John Bolton, the man whose mustache repels bullets. Way cool to meet her in person. Above she raises her video cam beside the golden door to capture the magic of Joey Lieberman's triumph last night.

"Nice to meet you & your husband in Hartford," emails the adorable and awesome Evan Coyne Maloney of Brain Terminal, whom we met face to face -- there still are such a things, the blogosphere notwithstanding -- just yesterday, thanks to Roger L. Simon's decision to invite us to scout out Joey Lieberman's victory party down Hartford as a member of the Pajamas Media team. We've been filing stories here as our psychological and technical resources allow. Do you know what it's like to be a young, sexy woman in an old woman's body? While you're pondering that, here's our take on meeting folks like Evan and force-of-nature Pamela of Atlas Shrugs yesterday, in the T. S. Eliot sense (We already knew the brilliant and sensitive and soulful Sol of Solomonia, whose presence helped make us feel at home, from the minute we ran into each other):

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo. In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

"It was such a crazy, busy time that I'm sorry we didn't really get any time to chat. But at least now I can pick you out of a line-up, should the need arise!" adds Evan, who grabbed the scoop of the day with his Ron Silver interview. Absolutely, darling:

When you're a blogger, you're a blogger  all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dying day.

Swoon. From the point of view of a brain in a jar, this latest sojourn into "real life" has been most enjoyable, and thanks to his being the ideal husband, Tuck had a great time too.

"It was the first time I've cried since I lost my own election thirty years ago"

Lanny Davis is following us. Just a day ago, we would have said he prolly thinks we are following HIM, as we stumbled upon each other in a Hartford hotel just as his briefcase spewed its contents out before us for all to see. Could he be yet another Sandy "Pants" Berger type who gives the giggles to former boss Bill Clinton? This morning Lanny and ourselves met once again outside the hotel as both he and we and Tuck were about to depart. Read on for more conspiratorial details.

The Lord moves in mysterious ways. Even as we disavow belief in Him, we know that human nature is all about belief in this, that or the other. In our view, the particular belief makes all the difference. That's why the Judeo-Christian has it all over the Muslim, as the first -- after centuries of soul searching and auto da fe -- acknowledges the universal yearning to breathe free, while the latter, in common with all the totalitarian mindsets that ever came down the pike, thinks they know better than you what's best for you. Yes, you, Hillary. Fear societies heavy and lite are always with us.

Wanna know what Lanny said that broke our heart? as he offered to buy us coffee, and we accepted with joy? We said "you must be so happy." "No," he replied, "we're more relieved than anything." And then the clincher:

It was the first time I've cried since I lost my own election thirty years ago.

He bought us our coffees, and we took his picture (above) by the coffee urn, and as we parted we said to him "I just  want you to know we're all counting on you."

It's not her womanhood that is of interest

Even as pundits do say that Nancy Pelosi's sex is a big deal -- the first woman Speaker of the House, third in line to Leader of the Free World -- we beg to differ, natch. Unless we hold women -- as some do minority folk -- to some lesser standard. Just as it would be, should Hillary ascend to LOTFW, it's not her womanhood that is of interest but the content of her character, not to mention her ideology and mind-boggling powerbase. Can anything be done about it? That is yet to be seen. Meanwhile, above left, the totally awesome MSNBC anchorwoman Chris Jansen stood for hours upon an aluminum box -- equipment case -- in the atrium of the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford last evening, awaiting her moment in the sun when a victorious Joseph Lieberman mounted the podium behind her as the glory shone all about him. An artist's representation of Joan of Arc c. 1485, right.

Hillary princeling Rahm Emanuel has larded the congress with moderate Democrats beholden to the former Goldwater Girl. He deserves all praise from those who worship power above all else for his Rovian accomplishment. A moment of silence, and then back into the fray. You've probably already heard that Donald Rumsfeld is toast. Someone we've never heard of -- Robert Gates -- will replace him at Defense. We'll probably have something to say about all that sometime soon after we get ourselves up to speed, but right now our heart is aching too much at the despicably politically expedient tossing overboard of this great American. Thanks, Mr. President, for alerting us [not]. While the thought of cut-and-run Democrats feeding the dreams of Osama & Company makes our blood run cold, we don't like being jerked around. May the Democrat victory take you and your fellow Republicans in the congress back down to your roots.

Meanwhile, how fun to have been amongst the happiest people in the world in the atrium of the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford yesterday, the hard-working acolytes of Joseph Lieberman, who followed their slogan, "Stick with Joe," through thick and thin when the "progressive" party from which he sprung ate their own and threw him to the wolves last summer. Lot more pics and anecdotes -- including our personal encounters with some of the best looking and most passionate members of the blogosphere -- to come. Also watch for our SECOND divine encounter with Lanny Davis at the Caffe Bella this morning and our ultimate crackpot theory about it all.

I love Lanny

We literally ran into the nicest Democrat in the universe -- Lanny Davis, right, above with Tuck yucking it up outside the elevator at the Goodwin Hotel in downtown Hartford this afternoon.

We were all set to blog a background piece on Hartford, where we met a red-state gal in the Starbucks of this blue-state bastion down the street from our hotel just after lunch. But when destiny calls, you blog to the moment.  Heading for the elevator after checking out the armies of media trucks and satellite dishes outside the hotel, we saw a beautiful familiar face. "Lanny?" we asked tentatively . . . "Yes," he answered. Then we embraced, as we confessed we're a Republican covering Joey's victory party for Pajamas Media. He laughed and hugged back, and then all hell broke loose as the contents of his briefcase flew out in all directions.

"I won't photograph that," we volunteered in a spirit of bi-partisanship. We mentioned we'd seen him on Neil Cavuto's show last night. "Yes, I was on every show last night," he replied. He pondered as to why his briefcase wasn't locked, and we suggested perhaps he had something he wanted to leak.

Now that we've had this delightful and fateful introduction, we'll feel free to follow up on his invitation to look him up later on this evening to see if there's anything to this leak rumor we've started. Oh, and maybe to get a word or two with the bigtime winner of this latest silly season.

"Ripping the polite facade off the mainstream media’s last gasps"

The spanking new 13-inch MacBook came home today. How sweet it is. We've opted to use our wireless mouse rather than the built-in finger-lickin' feature. It's all about puffing up our feathers for the oncoming Pajamas Media coverage of the Lieberman victory dance tomorrow evening.

While our betters spent the day following news reports and preparing for tomorrow's big day of interviewing powers-that-be types, we were at the Northshore Mall Apple Store mid morning purchasing our adorable new MacBook (above). Cute as a button. It took us the better part of the afternoon to install the necessary programs -- mainly Photoshop, wireless mouse, AOL Instant Messenger and a few other minor but critical adjustments that aren't as easy as they look -- and now we are ready to face the music and dance. Here's Pajamas Media's election day preview. We guess you could say we are amongst the unnamed "other web luminaries, ripping the polite facade off the mainstream media’s last gasps."

Oh, sweet Baby Cakes. We will miss you and Tiny during our sojourn in the Nutmeg State. You two are in charge. There's no point in leaving dishes of food out, as you will eat it all up the moment we head out.

Ripping off the facade of the mainstream media's last gasps is where we live. Bring em on!

To thine own self

Blog what you know. We were tempted by Roger L. Simon's invitation to do video interviews at Senator Lieberman's victory party, but like Joey himself find ourselves suddenly empowered by having been let off the hook (see details below). Videography just isn't our thing. Instead, we're planning to live blog from the floor with still photos and soundbites -- if we can arrange computer access -- and send our contributions off to Pajamas Media by email. Like all things election, from the latest polls to "botched" mouthings, the situation is fluid, Better to mingle with a roomful of movers and shakers in "Hartford's Best Hotel" election night than sit at home awaiting word from the network oracles sequesterd in the "secret 'quarantine room' in New York, where they alone will get access to the first waves of data from precincts around the country." Above, our usual beauty in unexpected places, this time with the morning light streaming in over our computer desk.

We were thrilled, of course, when Roger L. Simon called the other night, inviting us to participate in Pajamas Media coverage of election night by grabbing cameo video interviews with whomever we could buttonhole at Senator Joseph Lieberman's victory party Tuesday night at The Goodwin Hotel in Hartford. Even as we protested that we don't own a video cam, and the most we've ever done as far as "filmmaking" was mini videos of cats via the Movie Picture Mode of our Pentax Optio 450, the Pajamas Meister reassured us that our creativity would carry us through. We basked in the honor of being asked, blogged about it, made reservations for two at the Goodwin and worried about how we would ever carry off such a thing. We even did a dry run, posting our first video on You Tube, roundly panned for its amateurish inadequacy by our own flesh and blood. After all, the single, Cartier-Bresson moment of beauty and truth, accompanied by the telling "printed" word -- not moving pictures and "taped" conversation -- is our thing.  So, believe it or not [Admit that damnation by faint praise was the first thing that came to mind. -- ed] we were relieved when Roger emailed last evening to tell us that Pajamas blogger and videographer extraordinaire Evan Coyne Maloney had agreed to be on scene for Pajamas in Hartford. So we're going with Plan B, covering the event with still photography and quotable quotes, to be uploaded live, on the spot, if we can arrange computer access. Otherwise, you can read about it in the morning.

May the best man win.

Update: We've reserved a MacBook (It has more memory -- 1 gigabyte -- than the standard) at our local Apple Store, to be picked up Monday morning. Will install Photoshop and then be ready to roll.

"I would say, considering Mrs. Lieberman here, it would be more of a cattail effect"

Tuck and Tiny and Baby take the roles of Joseph Lieberman and friends for Exercise 1 in our quickie video tutorial in preparation for Tuesday night as a Pajamas Media agent at Lieberman headquarters in Haffa, with hats off to Caravaggio. View here.

"We're going to pretend that you are Joe Lieberman and Tiny is Hadassah . . . She seems like a really interesting woman . . . as opposed to Hillary, who is 'Ooh. I can't stand her,'" we tell Tuck in our first test video, "Joseph Lieberman's Cattail Effect" -- now on YouTube-- in preparation for Tuesday evening at The Goodwin Hotel in Hartford for Joey Lieberman's victory lap:

So, Mr. Lieberman, do you think there will be indeed a coattails effect from your victory with, say, Chris Shays and the other Republicans running in your state?

I would say, considering Mrs. Lieberman here, it would be more of a cattail effect.

"This has been such a delight. Thank you very much. You'll probably see this on Pajamas Media."

Update: For more cattail effects and such, head on over to Friday Ark #111 at Steve's Modulator. Then check in at Blog d'Elisson for a miniature masterpiece of the blogger's art of appropriating found objects -- in this case a recent pic of our own Sweet Tiny Pea in the little house -- as blogfodder for his wit:

Tiny, one of the Resident Kitties at sisu, takes shelter from the storm in her own makeshift Ark.

We've added Elisson's awesome email comment, "Tiny and Baby are 'da bomb'" to our Kudos, upper right. Thanks, big guy.

"Well, did you evah?"

"Well, did you evah? What a swell party this is" . . . Bubba and Joey yuck it up at a Connecticut primary rally last summer. Would you buy a used car from either of these gentlemen? (Douglas Healey photo for The New York Times)

“He left America somewhere else we haven’t been since, unfortunately, admired and even liked throughout the world,” fantasized Joey Lieberman at a Connecticut primary rally last summer, sucking up [PMF] as only a consummate politician can to the man of the moment, in this case his buddy Bubba. Anti-Americanism is as old as the hills, but when high office is at stake, historical facts need not apply. Here was what Clinton's definition of is was in July:

Despite his endorsement of Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Clinton has said that in the general election he will support whoever wins the Democratic primary. His wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and many other prominent Democrats have taken the same position. Mr. Lieberman has said that he will run as an independent if he loses to [billionaire Ed] Lamont . . . [Bubba] added, “No Democrat is responsible for the mistakes that have been made since the fall of Saddam Hussein that have brought us to this point.”

That, in a nutshell, is the sinister -- Latin for left -- politics of this wild-and-wooly mid-term electoral season, when the ubiquitous polls are predicting a seismic shift from right to left. With an assist from the Soros-funded "grassroots" 527 zombies -- Moveon and such --  Lamont went on to win the primary, and Joey, "empowered" [his word] by having shaken off "the old clothes of rigid received ideas and alliances" [Roger L. Simon's words], ran as an Independent.

"When love comes so strong, there is no right or wrong" . . . "There's been K Street chatter, our colleague Jeffrey H. Birnbaum tells us, that Lieberman could be on an administration list to replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the next year or so," gossiped the WaPo's "In the Loop" on Valentine's Day, 2004, referring to "The Kiss" that "an exuberant President Bush planted on Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's right cheek as he waded through the Capitol crowd after the State of the Union a couple of weeks ago." The picture, writ large in the loony left's preferred medium of papier-mâché puppets, became "an infamous image for Mr. Lamont’s supporters." (Gerald Herbert AP photo)

According to a Toronto Star report this morning, Lamont, "the anti-war businessman who snatched the party nod from Lieberman, has been unable to broaden his support from his Democratic base and questions now turn to what the newly independent Lieberman will do in Washington if he is elected Tuesday":

Lieberman was "freed" by a Democratic party that rejected him for his slavish adherence to the Bush war in Iraq, but what was supposed to have been a referendum on the war in this northeastern state now appears to be a referendum on Joe.

The war is deeply unpopular here, but Lieberman's resurrection continues . . .

He says he will caucus with the Democrats who rejected him, but he will become one of the most scrutinized politicians in the country.

A fiercely independent senator in a chamber that could be deadlocked in this polarized nation could wield huge power and be in much demand from both sides.

And, thanks to the above-mentioned Roger L, we'll be there at the start of the revolution! Do you suppose Hadassah Lieberman is measuring for curtains in the Secretary of Defense's office? Note to self: Start getting back up to speed on how to use that video feature of the Pentax Optio 450. More good stuff from that Toronto Star article:

But the audience wanted to talk about the war.

Lieberman acknowledged mistakes had been made in Iraq, but he quoted former U.S. general and president Dwight Eisenhower, saying anyone who advocates a timetable for withdrawal doesn't understand war because you are sending a signal to your enemies and allies that you are quitting.

"The result would be bloodshed beyond what you could imagine," he said.

Invitation to our readers: Send in your questions -- in the comments or via email -- for us to ask Senator Lieberman, Hadassah -- Roger! -- and whomever we can buttonhole at his victory party Tuesday night.

Let's party!

"The Goodwin Hotel has been voted Hartford's Best Hotel for its elegant accommodations and impeccable service," boasts the website of the fancy digs where Tuck and we will be staying election night. Why the Goodwiin, you ask. Read on.

Senator Joseph Lieberman's victory -- YES! -- party will be held next Tuesday night at "Hartford's premier business and social address," The Goodwin Hotel, "where classic turn-of-the-century settings combine with turn-of-the-millennium convenience." And guess what? Thanks to Roger L. Simon, we've got Pajamas Media press access to what should prove to be one of the more interesting denouements of the current silly season, where Hadassah's Joey -- thrown out of the pouch compliments of the base base of the Democrat  Party -- will take his rightful place as one of the first nationally prominent "freerangers" of the 21st century. PJM is similarly covering the Governator's victory party on the west coast.

Our assignment, should we accept it -- and we have -- is to work the room, looking for interesting folk -- the famouser and more controversial the better -- to video interview with our Pentax Optio 450. Then we'll feed whatever we can grab to Andrew Marcus, who will upload the goodies to the PJM site.  Egad. We've got our work cut out for us practicing how to do that between now and Tuesday. Where's that manual? As we told Roger during a phone conversation this evening, we've only ever made mini-videos of cats, but he doesn't see that as a problem, so we're donning our videographer's hat and heading south Tuesday morning for a one-night stand, with Tuck at the wheel. The ride down should give us a chance to finish reading Mark Steyn's America Alone. Here are a few excerpts from our most recent Lieberman post to get us in the mood:

"In response to one of my questions, the Senator allowed that he felt running as an independent to be 'empowering,'" writes Roger L. Simon in a totally fascinating teaser for his forthcoming exclusive Pajamas Media interview with Joey Lieberman:

I could see in his eyes that he meant that in deep way. I empathized. I know from my own life how empowering shaking off the old clothes of rigid received ideas and alliances can be. At best, you can be reborn. Not a bad deal for someone whose age has a 6 in front of it.

Like the heart that loves, the heart that shakes off "the old clothes of rigid received ideas and alliances" is forever young. We are particularly thrilled with Joey's epiphany, as those ratty old clothes he donned during his brief and unseemly affair with the "Inconvenient Gasbag" in Election 2000 were ill fitting, indeed.

Speaking of shaking off old clothes, what will we wear?