A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

The bitter Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut erupted in fresh controversy Wednesday over a doctored photo of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) in blackface that was posted by a blogger who has been an influential promoter of challenger Ned Lamont.

Lieberman angrily demanded that Lamont denounce the action and sever all ties with Jane Hamsher, the founder of the Web log Firedoglake, who posted the photo on another blog, HuffingtonPost.com. She travels with the campaign along with other bloggers. She is not on the campaign staff but has actively promoted Lamont's candidacy and helped raise money for him through her blog.

The photo, showing former president Bill Clinton in dark glasses and Lieberman in blackface, appeared early Wednesday, accompanied by a dispatch attacking Lieberman, his supporters and some news organizations. There was no mention of the photo in the dispatch, and the photo later was removed. But the two campaigns heatedly traded charges as the day progressed.

The controversy came on a day when Lamont campaigned with two of the most prominent African American politicians in the country, Jesse L. Jackson and Al Sharpton. The intersection of events focused attention on two critical aspects of the Senate primary fight: the influence of the bloggers on Lamont's antiwar candidacy and the importance of the black vote in determining the outcome on Tuesday.

Lieberman responded indignantly after the photo posting was revealed. "This is one of the most disgusting and hurtful images that has been used in American history, it's deeply offensive to people of all colors, and it has absolutely no place in the political arena today," he said in a statement issued by his campaign.

Lieberman called on Lamont to ban Hamsher from traveling with the campaign, refuse to take any money raised by Hamsher and remove any links to her postings on his Web site.

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."

Lamont spokeswoman Liz Dupont-Diehl tried to distance the campaign from the photo and said campaign manager Tom Swan had called Hamsher and asked that the picture be taken off the blog. "This was not the campaign's doing," she said. "We find it offensive and inappropriate. We asked that it be taken down, and it was."

But Dupont-Diehl said the campaign will not bow to the Lieberman campaign's demand that Lamont cut any ties with Hamsher. "She's not part of the campaign staff," Dupont-Diehl said. "She's an independent blogger covering the race."

She called it "an isolated, nonrepresentative incident" and added: "Ned has been committed to affirmative action and equality. He's been more active in achieving those goals than many people."

I am not sure that Lamont can specifically be expected to take responsibility for the ad. But he should endeavor to ensure that his campaign no longer takes any money from Hamsher and denounces her hateful activity in the strongest possible terms. As for Hamsher, she deserves to be on the losing side of every political struggle. To even have to argue (again) that her actions are disgusting is obscene. This is the 21st century. I thought we were past this kind of boorish nonsense.

UPDATE: More from the always-thorough Tom Maguire.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Still more.