Lieberman vs. Lamont: ultra-left vs. ultra-ultra-left.

Edward "Ned" Lamont's narrow defeat of veteran Senator Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democrat primary on August 8 is a major upset. However, aside from their disagreement over the Iraq War (Lamont opposes it, Lieberman supports it), there seem to be few differences between the two candidates.

Senator Lieberman, who in his concession speech announced his intent to run as an independent in the November general election, racked up an abysmal seven out of a possible 100 points in his most recent cumulative score on THE NEW AMERICAN'S Conservative Index. Ned Lamont, often described as an earnest, fresh-faced "populist," might possibly earn an even lower score; he has staked out far-left positions on abortion, environment, spending, regulation, medicine, etc. For his election-night victory speech, the multi-millionaire (reportedly worth in the neighborhood of $300 million) was flanked by political supporters Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, and other leftists.

Although he is virtually unknown in national politics, Ned Lamont is no "outsider." The Lamonts are one of the most politically and financially connected families in America. Like the Rockefellers, the Lamonts epitomize that strange phenomenon of the super-rich who support and promote socialist, communist, and internationalist causes.

Ned's great grandfather Thomas W. Lamont, a partner of banking magnate J.P. Morgan, was named by President Woodrow Wilson to help negotiate the Versailles Treaty after World War I. He also supported the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, was a key mover in launching the Federal Reserve System, and helped found the Council on Foreign Relations. His son, Thomas S. Lamont (Ned's grandfather), a vice chairman of Morgan Guaranty Trust, was notorious for funding left-wing and communist causes.

The late Georgetown University Professor Carroll Quigley, in his monumental history Tragedy and Hope, makes some interesting comments on "the links between Wall Street and the Left, especially the Communists." "Here the chief link," says Quigley, "was the Thomas W. Lamont family." Quigley calls Lamont, "the most influential man in Wall Street," and notes that government files "show Tom Lamont, his wife Flora, and his son Corliss as sponsors and financial angels to almost a score of extreme Left organizations, including the Communist Party itself."