Jaws (not calls) drop as Credo Mobile uses Lieberman’s mug in ad

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman was in the news last week for applying thumb to nose at former Democratic colleagues who couldn’t quite put their fingers on their backbones to deny him a committee chairmanship. So his appearance over the weekend in a Web ad for Credo Mobile, the politically progressive communications company formerly known as Working Assets, has caused some jaws (if not calls) to drop. In the ad, which showed up on the lefty Crooks and Liars blog, a standard-issue head shot of the senator appears alongside the slogan “Switching is easy” — a double entendre that applies both to Credo’s desire to attract competitors’ customers and Lieberman’s snubbing the Democratic Party after a primary loss in 2006.

UPDATED with comment from Credo after the jump. 

Lieberman’s recent antics are already the subject of humor, but one observer who doesn’t find them funny is Brian at the Incertus blog, a Credo fan who called the company’s effort …

… a horrible ad, because speaking as a progressive, the last person I want to see on an ad for things that matter to me is Joe Effing Lieberman. And I really don’t want to see it with the tagline “switching is easy,” because I interpret that as an insult. … I’m guessing that Working Assets means this as a tongue-in-cheek joke, but it’s falling flat on me right now. It’s a little too soon for that kind of humor, especially since Lieberman is in a position where he can do great damage to progressive causes …

A few commentators at Democratic Underground show more forgiveness (to Credo) and willingness to crack a smile, but on balance they still seemed miffed:

Is this supposed to make me want to switch phone companies? It sooooo doesn’t. … I have Credo and this makes me think of switching back. Mission unaccomplished. … Lieberman can’t commit to a cell plan. I heard he switched to AT&T but still uses a Verizon phone.

Full disclosure: A past-due bill from Credo is sitting on my desk at the moment, unopened. (I know what it says: I received a “courtesy call” from the company yesterday.)

UPDATE: Here is comment from Becky Bond, political director at Credo, via email:

Before the Senate caucus vote on Lieberman, we urged a few hundred thousand
of our members (who were constituents of Senators or Senators-elect eligible
to participate in the democratic senate caucus vote) to ask the caucus to
strip Lieberman of his committee chair.

Lieberman has been a terrible chair of this critical committee. He has not
held the Bush administration accountable for its crimes. He has supported
endless war. He did not defend the American people from government spying.
This was an accountability moment for Lieberman, and we hoped the Senate
caucus would do the right thing. They did not. Likely, this campaign was
what the huff post commenter was talking about.

The ad was a tongue in cheek attempt to get the attention of people who,
like us, are infuriated by Lieberman’s stands on issues. The idea was this.
The nation’s eyes last week were on Lieberman, who is famous for switching
his liberal ideas for conservative ideology. You can switch too, but in
support of progressive ideals. The ad was successful in getting people’s
attention. But clearly some people did not get the joke.

To be honest, the first I heard of people not understanding the ad was when
I was checking my RSS feed of the Minnesota Independent. I’m reading you
constantly for news of the Senate recount!

By the way, Center for Independent Media is one of the 50 groups our members
are supporting this year.

http://credomobile.com/Mission/MissionCauses.aspx

Tell your readers who are members that they have until Dec. 31 to vote for
you in the distribution of our donations

http://www.workingassets.com/Voting/Default.aspx