Pelosi speaks, Lieberman persona non grata

U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman may call himself a Democrat, but anyone at the big shindig thrown Friday by the Connecticut Democrats who denied him their nomination last summer would be hard pressed to go along with the senator.

As hundreds took their seats at the 59th Annual Jefferson Jackson Bailey Dinner in Hartford - the state Democratic Party's largest fundraising event of the year which featured an address by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - two giant video screens flashed candid pictures of prominent party leaders who hold federal, state, and municipal offices.

The pictorial roll call also featured shots of several Democratic candidates who lost their races in the last election, including Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, who upset Lieberman in the party primary but lost the general election when the senator ran as an independent candidate.

There were, however, no pictures of the state's junior senator and former vice presidential candidate, a development one wag compared to his being "disappeared" from the likes of the annual Politburo photos published by the former Soviet Union.

Lieberman, who did not attend the fundraising dinner because of his customary observance of the Jewish Sabbath, also was notably absent from the long list of party leaders cited in Democratic State Chairman Nancy DiNardo's welcoming remarks.

That roster began with former Gov. William A. O'Neill, who also was not in attendance, ran through each of the state's constitutional officers, legislative leaders, and current and former members of Congress, and even included Lamont, whose mention was greeted with a standing ovation and loud cheers.

Meanwhile, Democrats who can usually be counted on to deliver pithy remarks on practically anything proved especially reluctant to make on-the-record comments about Lieberman.

There were, however, several private and consternation-laden conversations about how Lieberman, a fervent supporter of the war in Iraq, had just scolded Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid for saying that the war has been "lost."

One politician, a former state officeholder who has remained active in the campaigns of several Democrats, even volunteered that he had recently met with a "major fundraiser" for Lieberman who was angry that the senator had become more hawkish since their last meeting.
U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who backed Lamont after he bested Lieberman in the primary, responded when asked about Lieberman's remarks that "the policy is a failed one," that there could be "no military solution to the civil war in Iraq," and that what was needed instead was "a surge in diplomacy."

He added that the American people were ahead of the country's politicians in their opposition to the war and that the troops deployed in Iraq "don't believe" the conflict is winnable.

Ah ha ha ha ha Lieberhousie : nobody loves you anymore!

*crossposted at The Fat Lady Sings