In response, the Lieberman press secretary [Steinfels] issued list of “facts,” a political term meaning “things which, if they were true, would make our jobs a lot easier.”

Here are my two favorite facts:

1. Joe Lieberman has been a scathing critic of the Bush Administration. This would be “scathing” in its mostly idiomatic and colloquial usage as a substitute for “fawning.”

2. Joe Lieberman is the only person in the United States of America who ran against George W. Bush twice, and beat him once. This is an apparent reference to 2000, when Lieberman ran against Bush the way Dan Quayle ran against Mike Dukakis in 1988 and the way Ed McMahon was the long-running and widely respected host of the “Tonight” show. This is also an apparent reference to 2004, when Lieberman wanted to run very badly and sort of did. Actually, he didn’t get to run against Bush at all that year , especially after he finished unambiguously fifth in the New Hampshire primary and subsequently announced he had tied for third.

That was the same kooky press secretary who called me up recently and asked me what kind of radio show I do and how she could listen to it and whether my newspaper column is exclusively political. I sort of figured this was one of their improv skits, so I went along as though these were perfectly reasonable questions to ask me. I then suggested that she could better understand one of my takes on Lieberman by reading a certain posting elsewhere in this blog, whereupon she told me she makes it a point never to read any blogs because they get things so wrong. I love this press secretary.

The mysterious and spooky campaign manager [Sean Smith] is very funny too. He has kind of exploded the old crypto-truckling stereotype of political operatives dealing with members of the press by pretending to threaten one. Here is how he concluded an email to a local TV reporter: “If you distort the truth and report that we are running a negative campaign and Ned is not, I will not forget it.” Ooh! It’s only June, and they’re already propping up pony heads in our percale, those scamps!

I just got off the phone with Lieberman's press secretary, and I can confirm that yes, she is a bit "kooky." I had called to find out simply what polling company the senator was using, and she nearly jumped down my throat: "Are you working on a story? Is this for a process story?!" She then ranted about how the campaign was focused on the issues of Connecticut voters, all the while growing more agitated. She terrorized me for a few minutes, asking why I had called, until I told her that I was only a lowly intern who knew nothing and oh, would she please let me go… Needless to say, she didn't answer my question.

posted by tparty at 12:24 PM