Earlier this week, Ned Lamont criticized Joe Lieberman for publicly speaking out on the Senate floor about Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Here is what Ned said.
“You don’t go to the floor of the Senate, and turn this into a political spectacle. You go up there, sit down with one of your oldest friends, and say you’re embarrassing yourself, your presidency and you’re embarrassing your family, and it has to stop”. This is what Lamont says now, but when the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal hit, old Neddie has a much different tone.
This is an e-mail that Lamont sent to Lieberman, Sept. 16th 1998.
” Dear Joe, I reluctantly supported the moral outrage you expressed because I thought it might make matters worse. I was reluctant because nobody expressed moral outrage over how Reagan treated his kids, or Gingrich lied about supporting term limits, (In other words, it was selective outrage); I was reluctant because the Starr inquisition is much more threatening to our civil liberties, and our national interest than Clinton’s misbehavior.
I supported your position because Clinton’s behavior was outregeous; a Democrat had to stand up and state as much, and I hoped that your statement was the beginning of the end.
Unfortunately, the statement was the beginning of a process that has turned political and morally offensive. I’m the father of three, and the thought that Clinton testifying about oral sex before a grand jury, might be broadcast into my living room is outregeous. The Starr report, read like a tabloid, not a legal recitation, and that it streamed into my home via every medium available.
This sorry episode is an embarrassment to me as a father, and to us as a nation. If Clinton had a sex problem, mature adults would have handled this privately, not turned it into a political crusade and legal entanglement, with no end in sight.
Senator, you have expressed your outrage about the presidents conduct, now stand up, and use your moral authority to put an end to this snowballing mess. We all know the facts, a lot more than any of us care to know, and should know. We’ve made up our minds that Clinton did wrong, confessed to his sin, and should be censored for lying, and then move on. It is time for you to make up your mind, and speak your mind as you did so eloquently last Thursday”.
Sincerly, Ned Lamont.
There it is folks in black and white. Lamont criticizes Lieberman for speaking out on the floor about the Lewinsky mess, yet in an e-mail, he supports Joe, albeit reluctanly, for speaking on the floor of the Senate. This is the raging hypocrisy of Ned Lamont.