POLITICAL VENTRILOQUISM has been around for a long time, but this new class of dummies are definitely not as smart as they used to be. I don't support Joe Lieberman, but he's certainly preferable to a sock puppet like Ned Lamont. For all their ickiness political parties serve a function of filtering and softening the the political rhetoric in order to reach as many sane people as possible. Unfortunately, that function is being undermined by well-intentioned but stupid moves to regulate campaign funding, which have empowered people like those behind MoveOn.org and George Soros at the expense of experienced politicians who at least understand how things work in the real world.