Friday, August 04, 2006

Lieberman's primary opponent blasts Wal-Mart...while getting money from his Wal-Mart stock

When it comes to Democrats, life just imitates comedy. From the Washington Times:
Connecticut millionaire businessman Ned Lamont, who sharply criticized the employment practices of Wal-Mart this week in his campaign to unseat Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democrat primary, owns stock in the company, Senate records reveal.

"This is about waking up Wal-Mart, and this is also about waking up corporate America," Mr. Lamont said Wednesday at a Bridgeport rally against the retail giant, hosted by many of the same liberal bloggers who have boosted the former cable executive far ahead of Mr. Lieberman in the polls.

But Mr. Lamont and his family are part owners of the company, according to financial disclosure records he filed earlier this year with the secretary of the Senate. Mr. Lamont, his wife and a dependent child own as much as $31,000 in Wal-Mart stock.

Mr. Lamont and his wife jointly own two accounts containing as much as $16,000 in Wal-Mart stock. Their Wal-Mart holdings spin off as much as $3,500 in annual dividends. In addition, a trust fund he set up for one of his children contains as much as $15,000 in Wal-Mart stock and spins off as much as $1,000 in dividends.

In his remarks at the anti-Wal-Mart rally this week, Mr. Lamont never mentioned his shareholder status in the company. He did, however, criticize Mr. Lieberman for not doing more during this three terms in the Senate to help the workers he says are so mistreated by Wal-Mart.

"We believe that universal health care is a basic right for each and every American," Mr. Lamont said. "It won't take me 18 years to go down to Washington, D.C., and get that done."
Mr. Millionaire makes a cool chunk of change off of a company that he finds reprehensible...and he wants to argue that he is for "the little guy"? Brilliant, Ned.

How about some real chutzpah?
Mr. Lieberman attended the same event and took similar whacks at Wal-Mart. But Lamont supporters mercilessly flogged Mr. Lieberman as a hypocrite because he had once received -- but later returned -- a $1,000 contribution from Wal-Mart's political action committee.
That's how the leftist nitwit selective attention span works: Ned can own tens of thousands of dollars in the evil WM stock, and it's all good; but Joe's puny $1k donation is just too much to stomach?

Lieberman countered the criticism with the advice to "Deal with the facts." Sorry, Joe, but facts have never been friends to the left. Unfortunately for Joe, facts won't matter...he's destined to lose. The only thing that would be greater than the CT Senate seat going to a Republican (which won't happen) would be for Joe the Independent to win the Senate seat and thumb his nose at the Democrats in his next term. Oh, well, one can dream.