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I think so but Marion Steinfels squeezed out another lump of turd and flat-out lied (again).

But Lieberman has received some criticism for his efforts to reach out to minority voters. The flyer touting his civil rights record and featuring a photo of Lieberman and Clinton embracing also takes aim at Lamont's decision to drop his membership to the exclusive Round Hill Club golf course in Greenwich before running for the Senate. One Internet blogger called it race baiting.

The flyer quotes Lamont in a New York Times article saying he dropped his longtime membership because he was concerned the club was not as diverse as it should be and he didn't want the club issue to be distraction in the campaign.

"We continue to be disappointed at our opponent's personal and untrue attacks," said Lamont campaign spokeswoman Liz Dupont-Diehl. "We think the fact that the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have been inspired to come and work for Ned are indications of his commitment to affirmative action and equality."

Steinfels said the flyer is being distributed to other groups besides black voters, is relevant to the race and includes Lamont's own words.

A few things:

1. I'm not the only blogger who's calling this race-baiting as this story is all over the blogs and even Stevie Wonder can see that it's race-baiting plain and simple.

2. Lets go over this again (ugh). Lets go back to the flyer, back side:

Key words:

WHAT IS NED LAMONT CIVIL RIGHTS RECORD?

"He didn't pay as much attention to race...until he got into the senate race"

Okay, lets examine this.

1. The dishonest headline gets you ready for Lamont's so-called views on civil rights record then...

2. Dishonest out of context quote leaves people with the impression that Ned Lamont (a person who teaches at an inner city high school in BRIDGEPORT) doesn't care about race relations.

Okay, scream with me...THAT'S RACE-BAITING!

I'm a proud, smart, African-American who is well-educated I know what race-baiting is and if you look up the term in the book, this crap from the Lieberman campaign would fit the description 100 percent. In fact, this is right up there with Karl Rove's dirty "black baby" smear on John McCain in South Carolina and it's disgusting.

Okay, let me try this in another way...

Picture this:

I was a uninformed (or as Sean Smith would say, low-information) voter who was planning to go to church on another typical Sunday. Out of nowhere (which would be the case since Joe Lieberman doesn't publicly announce his events in advance) there is George Bush's favorite Democrat on the mic gleefully talking about walking with Dr. Martin Luther King during the 60s, offering up proposed "earmark" to help with urban violence in the North-End and THEN asking for your vote (now lets not forget at some point, Millionaire Joe will talk about Lamont's money and his "holdings" in Halliburton (without mentioning that he has holdings in the same company).

Okay, church is over and you walk outside and go to your car. "Oh my," you say and you take this flyer off your window shield which talks about how great Joe Lieberman is and the fact that he was endorsed by Bill Clinton (who some in the African-American community regard as the first black President). You flip the flyer over and POW! You learn that (according to Lieberman) Ned Lamont doesn't care about race relations.

Now everyone scream with me...THAT'S RACE-BAITING!

Now (again) let's take a look at the part of the quote (which the Lieberman camp mysteriously leave out).

"It's not as diverse as it should be," Mr. Lamont said. "I didn't pay as much attention to that before the race began, to tell you the truth.

"They don't have any discriminatory policies," he added.

Now, some other things to consider:

-This was one of the topics presented in the Lieberman push-polling call before the debate.

-The club is based in an area where there is not a large population of minorities.

-The club DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE and the Lieberman camp has no evidence to suggest that it does discriminate.

Look at DLC hitman Dan Gerstein's response to the question:

"We're surprised that the Lamont campaign wants to make an issue of this,"Gerstein told Election Central. "This flyer simply states the facts, and in particular repeats a very questionable statement Mr. Lamont made which raises many questions he has yet to answer. If he's so concerned about discrimination, why didn't he resign from this club before he became candidate for u.s. senate? Also, what are the policies at the club and why won't he answer that question?"

Okay, for the last time, lets go back and view what Ned said (I'm getting tired of this).

"It's not as diverse as it should be," Mr. Lamont said. "I didn't pay as much attention to that before the race began, to tell you the truth.

"They don't have any discriminatory policies," he added.

In short, the club is freaking expensive which has nothing to do with race BUT the Lieberman people (without any evidence) wants to plant that impression in the minds of the same "low-information" voter who just heard Lieberman's "inspirational" speech and is endorsed by Bill Clinton. To add insult to injury, Lieberman's camp wants Lamont to prove that the club isn't racist although THEY HAVE NO EVIDENCE THAT THE PLACE IS RACIST.

Again, scream with me...RACE-BAITING!

BTW: Susan, you definitely get props for writing the piece so quickly. I'll never put you in the category with Mark Davis again (although, it would of been sweet if you would of asked Marion if she had any evidence of racism at the club and explain that Lamont stated that the club does not discriminate...but your piece is a good start).

Where are the other reporters? You shouldn't let the Lieberman camp get away with this race-baiting act as it's dishonest and as the worst offense from them in this campaign.

Joe Lieberman: desperate, desperate, politician who will do anything to save his seat, even use the very race-baiting tactics that would offend Dr. Martin Luther King (the very person Joe has no problem aligning himself towards whenever he sees an African-American).

UPDATE: Ah, Susan, Lamontblog picks up on something you probably missed (most likely, you didn't have the flyer in your hand when you questioned Marion...)
Steinfels unloads another laugher:

[Lieberman spokeswoman Marion] Steinfels said the flyer is being distributed to other groups besides black voters...

"Other groups besides black voters?" Which particular groups is Steinfels talking about? Seeing as that the flyer is obviously targeted towards black voters, even going so far as to state in large type: