Stepped in it

As blogs-o'-the-Left seem prone to do, Jane Hamsher--owner and proprietor of the not-kid-friendly Firedoglake--has stepped in it. Jane is working closely with the Lamont campaign in Connecticut (though not to hear Ned tell the story), and put herself in the hot seat yesterday:

Were it not for the antics of one of the Lamont campaign’s favorite bloggers, yesterday would have been an unqualified success for Joe Lieberman’s challenger. A Quinnipiac University poll came out that showed Lamont boasting a hefty 13 point lead. Quinnipiac is in Connecticut, and its polling efforts are highly respected.

But as Lamont toured the Nutmeg State with the less respected Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in tow, blogger Jane Hamsher showed some of the poor judgment that the progressive blogosphere is justly famous for. On a post appearing on the widely read Huffington Post, Hamsher displayed a doctored photo that showed Bill Clinton with his arm around Lieberman. Lieberman’s appearance had been altered so he was in black face, minstrel style.

Someone at the Lamont campaign apparently had the good sense to realize that making a playful joke based on one of American history’s most hateful racist images was a bad idea. According to Lamont’s campaign manager, upon becoming aware of the image the campaign “took immediate action.” Hamsher removed the photo. (You can view the image here.)

But according to Ned today, there is no "relationship" with Hamsher or "the blogs":

Lamont brushed past reporters Wednesday night in Bridgeport, saying: "I don't know anything about the blogs. I'm not responsible for those. I have no comment on them."

As only he can do, Tom Maguire explains in a way that even bloggers on the left can understand as to the how and why Lamont's explanation isn't much of one and won't fly.

By the end of the day, you've had folks inventing a word for it even. Soxblog's Dean Barnett turned it into a verb: Hamshered.

As of this writing, Hamsher has issued an apologia, er...apology but her site is allegedly down. As Tom Maguire noted, the question is did it fail under an avalanche of unexpected traffic or is Jane ducking for cover.

Yet another exhibit in the museum of Angry Liberals gone Mad.