Inside Politics

Plotting strategy

“It’s the final stretch for Sen. Joe Lieberman’s Connecticut Democratic primary on Aug. 8, but everyone is already plotting strategy in case he loses to anti-war rival Ned Lamont — as polls suggest he might,” the New York Post’s Deborah Orin writes.

“A lefty conspiracy theory claims Republicans may endorse Lieberman if he loses the primary, since their candidate, Alan Schlesinger, has ethics problems and is under 10 percent in polls,” Miss Orin said.

“‘Absolutely not, no way,’ says Brian Nick, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“Anyway, Lieberman says he’d stay a Democrat while running on an independent line.

“The intriguing question involves the committee in charge of electing Senate Democrats — headed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who refuses to say what he’ll do if Lieberman loses the primary.

“But it may not matter, because, from a strategic point of view, Schumer’s Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee doesn’t need to put one red cent behind Lamont or Lieberman.

“Why? Because a Democrat will win that Senate seat in November, whether it’s Lamont or Lieberman. The DSCC is supposed to save its money for close races. Besides, Lamont is a self-funding multimillionaire, and traditionally, they don’t get much DSCC money.

“The MoveOn/Deaniac/Daily Kos types pushing Lamont may go ballistic if Schumer won’t fund him, but Schumer doesn’t answer to them — he answers to other Democratic senators.”

Lefty TV critics

“When Fox News Channel Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes spoke to the Television Critics Association Monday night at the group’s gathering in Pasadena, about two-thirds of the 150 attendees in the room walked out in protest,” the Media Research Center reports, citing the Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin.

Several of the TV critics left “voicing their scorn for what they say is Fox News’ conservative spin,” Mr. Garvin reported Wednesday.

Said the Media Research Center (www.mrc.org): “Can you imagine 100 TV critics, upset by CBS’s liberal bias, walking out on CBS chief Les Moonves or CBS News President Sean McManus? Or even a dozen critics turning their backs on the scandal-scarred Dan Rather? Such open disdain for Fox News Channel’s uniquely non-liberal approach speaks volumes about the media elite’s arrogant belief that it’s journalistic malpractice to give a fair shake to conservatives.”

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