Sunday Evening. I’m kind of burnt. I want to get something written for my blog before the evening is through, but just don’t have the energy for something big, so I want to highlight a few different things that I commented on today.

Diversity

CT NewsJunkie has an article, NAACP Criticizes Malloy Transition Team; Malloy Calls Criticism Premature. Friends talked about this on Facebook. Unfortunately, I can’t find my comment on Facebook about it, so I’ll recreate it here.

It seems as if both the NAACP and the Malloy transition team could have handled this better. The CTNewsJunkie article quotes and email from Scot X. Esdaile, president of Connecticut’s NAACP, saying, “The lack of diversity in Dan Malloy’s transition team is a slap in the face to all of the urban areas in the State of Connecticut”.

Malloy’s Chief of Staff Tim Bannon is quoted as responding, “It’s unfortunate that the NAACP chose not to discuss their concerns with us first before sending out a press release”.

I haven’t seen the whole NAACP press release, so I can’t comment in detail on it, but it would seem that a more positive tone might have been more effective, congratulating Governor-Elect Malloy on his election, reminding him of the great diversity of his supporters, and expressing a hope that the transition team and the administration will reflect that diversity.

The Malloy response doesn’t come across much better. From the bits and pieces in the CTNewsJunkie article, it sounds like some of the same old politics, “Let’s have our discussions in private instead of in public”. Some have suggested that there are things happening in the background that justify the tone of the NAACP letter.

Instead, both sides should be much more open, transparent and cordial. It could bring about a nice change.

Doucebags

Some of my longer term readers will recall articles I’ve written about a student, Avery Doninger, who was punished by her high school administration for writing in a LiveJournal post at home one night a comment about “the douchebags at the central office”. Various aspects of this case are still dragging through the courts. One aspect of this is how appropriate or offensive the word douchebag is. This came back to me today when I watched George Takei call out an anti-gay Arkansas school board member:

Be sure to watch at least the first 45 seconds of this video.

Joe Lieberman

Earlier today, Colin McEnroe posted a great column on the Hartford Courant Blogs, Haunted By The Undead? Nope – Just Lieberman. In it he looks at the possibility of Sen. Lieberman running for re-election in 2012. It is a great column with lines like:

At that moment, our eyes fastened on a Merrick Alpert for Senate campaign button sitting in the reddish sand. I bent to pick it up, and the bloody hand of Susan Bysiewicz reached up through the earth's crust and began pulling me down to my death as I screamed and woke up.

Mr. McEnroe suggests that Senator Lieberman’s options are limited and that he is unlikely to get the Democratic, Republican or Connecticut for Lieberman party nominations, leaving him no choice but to run as a write-in candidate.

My comment there:

It seems like you are missing the most obvious option. Sen. Lieberman will simply create a yet another new political party like he did last time. Perhaps it will be "Undead for Lieberman". This would be homage to your article and would set himself up for using the same party for centuries to come, providing he can better fend off the pirates this time around.

Of course, if he wants to appeal to other aspects of popular culture, he might try "Vampires for Lieberman" with a similar effect. This would also position himself well to defend Wall Street.

He could consider the "Steroid Addicted Wrestlers for Lieberman" if he really fears a challenge by Linda McMahon.

However, I think he should go with "Real AG candidates for Senate". This could be a nod to Dick Blumenthal, a slam to Susan Bysiewicz and an open invitation to Martha Dean in a show of bi-partisanship.