Watching the Newtown parade from afar


Well, I wasn't in Newtown yesterday, so I'm a victim of the Roshomon effect. Was Joe walking alone , or did he "rule the parade "? It all depends on which paper you read.

The Courant, in which Joe ruled the parade, devoted the bulk of its article to Joe, and though it did give some space to his detractors, it gave virtually none to his opponents, Lamont and poor Schlesinger. And why did Joe rule the parade, you might ask?

But it was Lieberman who ruled the parade route with his group at one point falling a half-mile behind as he shook hands and hugged hundreds of people who lined the parade route and ran into the street to greet him. Rosenthal said it was the largest attendance in the history of the parade.

Well, I wasn't there. Still, I have a hard time believing that the masses were rushing up to touch the hem of Joe's garment. On the charisma scale Joe scores about 0 on a scale of 1 to 10. No, from the videos I've seen (okay, taken by partisans) it would appear that Joe was being his usual self centered self by, in this case, slowing his section of the parade down for his own purposes. I've gone to my fair share of parades, and to be frank, I always find those large gaps fairly irritating, particularly if they're caused by someone I am just not crazy about watching when they finally get to where I am. The phrase "ruled the parade route", in this context, has a positive connotation, unlike a more appropriate phrase such as "seized control of the parade route". I think what we have here is a reporter who has gotten the message from corporate headquarters. If there are no legions of Joe worshippers (and they appear to have been few and far between) he will create them.

For, as we learn from the Day, they were not in evidence to the AP reporter:

While prominent Connecticut Democrats surrounded U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont at an annual Labor Day parade Monday in Newtown, the three-term incumbent marched several blocks behind with a group of campaign volunteers, a gap that symbolized his split with the party stalwarts who once supported him.

No indication here that the gap was caused by the worshipful multitudes.

But as I say, I wasn't there.

By the way, if you get the chance, watch Joe eat prunes when he has to shake Lamont's hand . It's really quite personal as far as Joe is concerned.
Posted: Tuesday - September 05, 2006 at 08:20 PM          

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