THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

It’s Either Good or Bad, but He’s Got ‘Joementum’

Politicians often say things that they’d like to take back. Perhaps, none more so than Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, who in 2004 made a bad pun during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination:

“Writing off speculation that he may make a poor showing in New Hampshire and drop out of the race, Lieberman told CNN’s “Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer” that his campaign is picking up, as he put it, ‘Joementum.’ ”

Jan. 26, 2004, CNN.com
•

Senator Lieberman finished fifth in that primary, and critics were quick to make fun:

The crowds welcomed him with Joevations. He surged in the Joevernights. “Joementum!” crowed his campaign. He was Joevial.

Alas, Joeverconfidence felled him. He finished fifth in New Hampshire and was written off. He was Joast. Joadkill. D-Joe-A.

William Saletan

Slate.com, Feb. 4, 2004
•

The pun didn’t die with that defeat. It became sarcastic slang, even meriting an entry in Wikipedia, the reader-written online encyclopedia:

Joementum is a portmanteau referring to the perceived lack of potential for success of a campaign or endeavor. ... The term has become popular among some bloggers, who might say, for instance, that a rapidly failing political campaign was showing Joementum.
•

Now, with polls showing that Senator Lieberman might not win his Democratic primary on Tuesday, that pun has been recycled endlessly on blogs supporting his opponent, Ned Lamont:

“Feel the Joementum!” And “Joementum stalls.”

// posted by montag @ 6:21 PM