Zell Lieberman

Can there be any doubt that Joe Lieberman will be the Zell Miller of this year's Republican Convention? Here he is smearing Barack Obama re Hamas. He is entitled to his views about the Middle East, but for the past five years he has taken those Likudnik views a step beyond propriety--saying that those who disagree with him (i.e.--the Democratic Party, which nominated him for the Vice Presidency in 2000) are counseling "defeat" and "surrender." And now this.

I wish Blitzer had been a bit more dogged and asked: "What could you possibly mean by that, Senator Lieberman--and please be specific. Why do you think Hamas "favors" Obama over McCain? What are you implying here, Senator? And were you worried about Obama's Middle East policy positions when he came to campaign for you in Connecticut?

p.s.--Last night I saw a preview of the terrific HBO movie "Recount," which is about the battle over the Florida vote in the 2000 election. Lieberman makes a particularly unctuous cameo, in which he knifes the Gore campaign in the back. I gave Lieberman the benefit of the doubt against Ned Lamont in 2006, even though I disagreed with him about the war. I shouldn't have.

Joe-mentum: Actually, my esteemed colleague Michael Scherer got there first on the Zell Miller analogy more than a month ago.