The Pander Bear

The only thing I remember about Paul Tsongas' 1988 presidential campaign...the Pander Bear. The Pander Bear appeared with Democratic candidates Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman in Connecticut as they made a stand at Wal-Mart in Bridgeport:

A press conference is planned on the steps of City Hall, featuring Senator Joe Lieberman, Senate Candidate Ned Lamont, and Gubernatorial Candidate John DeStefano.

Lamont I get. He's a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kos and the far left. Their second favorite thing behind a nice anti-war demonstration complete with flag-burning and a Cindy Sheehan sighting is an opportunity--any opportunity--to rag on Wal-Mart.

Lieberman on the other hand, I don't get. Joe's been around long enough to see the effect of Wal-Mart in his state. But apparently it doesn't matter:

Joe Lieberman returned a contribution from Wal-Mart's PAC earlier this year, the retailing giant confirmed to me this afternoon (see this post for background). There are two points I'd like to make about this:

1)Ned Lamont's most ardent supporters in the blogosphere are not covering this campaign as journalists, but rather as active participants in the campaign. I don't think this comes as a shock to anyone, nor do I think these bloggers would deny it. But it's an important fact to keep in mind, and their "reports from the field" should be taken with handfuls of salt. They are in "shoot first, fact-check later" mode.

2)It says something truly shameful about the Democratic Party that their candidates actually brag about returning campaign contributions from Wal-Mart. As Jay Nordlinger asked in a cover story on Wal-Mart back in 2004, "Is [campaigning against Wal-Mart] wise of politicians, considering that 100 million people shop at Wal-Mart every week?" As Democrats refuse to acknowledge, Wal-Mart is actually one of the nation's most powerful forces against poverty because it creates jobs and saves Americans billions through lower prices.

In the meantime, gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano was also scheduled to make an appearance at today's festivities. The same DeStefano who as mayor of New Haven a short two years ago said of Wal-Mart: The New Haven Wal-Mart will employ 340 full and part-time workers. Wal-Mart and three Sam's Clubs, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, employ 8,340 in the state.

"We're glad the space is filled, it's a great location," said Mayor John DeStefano Jr. "We think the store is going to be successful there. We're taking something that was empty and filling it with more jobs and tax revenue." (New Haven Register)

Yet that wasn't going to stop him. Apparently the only thing that could was an unexpected local shooting: Another candidate for governor, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr., who since earlier this year has been critical of Wal-Mart, cancelled his planned appearance Wednesday after a shooting in his city.

The Pander Bear is not easy to find. I normally hibernates for years at a time, coming out only at the most opportune moment; usually when and where politicians, tv cameras and special interests converge.

Meanwhile the longest-name-for-a-blog blog has nothing to say and doesn't appear to have been updated since it's launch. Very effective guys.