Ned Lamont gets big blogger support; why not Jonathan Tasini?

Tasini, challenging Hillary Clinton in the New York Democratic Senate primary, is
even more deserving of support from progressive bloggers than is Lamont. Beyond Iraq, he’s got truly impressive progressive credentials on issues such as fair vs. “free” trade, gay marriage and national health care.

Meanwhile, Hillary is not, really, that much different than Joementum, above all on Iraq, but to a fair degree on other issues. Critiques of Bush on Iraq have been implicit or muted, and just about the conduct of the war, not the decision to do it.

The AP story claims otherwise, in this graf:

But unlike Lieberman, whose outspoken support for the war and perceived closeness to Bush angered many Connecticut Democrats, Clinton has been deeply critical of the administration's conduct of the war. In a televised Senate hearing earlier this month, she castigated Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for conducting a "failed policy" in Iraq and later called for his resignation.

But, Joementum has also called for Rummy to step down. Joementum has also been critical of the conduct of the war but not the decision to wage it. And, even a few Republicans have made noises about Rummy.

And, Hillary is like Joementum in other ways. Since 1993, she’s been silent on national health care. She’s been silent on gay marriage. And, I’m assuming she’s just as supportive as Bill was during his presidency on “free” trade issues such as NAFTA and the WTO.

So why isn’t Tasini getting traction? I think part of it is just what he says — he doesn’t have Lamont’s personal money, and against a candidate with Clinton’s money AND name recognition, that’s a huge hole to plug with donation money

Plus, there’s this:

Tasini, who is Jewish and lived in Israel for several years, angered many activists in New York's politically influential Jewish community earlier this month when he criticized Israel's conduct during its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In any case, it’s hypocritical for blogs such as Kos to not promote his candidacy, let alone try to call donations his way.