Posted By: Stonecipher

July 2, 2008

Last weekend Joe Lieberman (I - CT) appeared on CBS’s "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer.

Sen. Lieberman used his appearance to promote his fear-mongering, pro-war agenda and to attack Barack Obama.

That in itself is not terribly surprising since Lieberman, the former Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee, has come out in support of John McCain. In fact, Lieberman has been one of McCain’s most visible surrogates thus far and some have even speculated that Lieberman could once again run for Vice President, only this time as a Republican.

The attack on Barack Obama in itself was reprehensible, but what is worse is the back-stabbing context in which it took place.

First, here’s what Sen. Lieberman said to Bob Schieffer:

"Our enemies will test the new president early. Remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Center happened in the first year of the Clinton administration. 9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush administration."

Lieberman implied that if we elect Barack Obama, the terrorists will attack. To add effect, the Senator from Connecticut prefaced this comment by discussing John McCain’s and even Hillary Clinton’s credentials as potential commanders-in-chief.

The timing of this comment was also suspicious, coming on the heels of comments made by chief McCain strategist, Charlie Black, in which Black claimed a terrorist attack against the United States would be good for John McCain’s campaign.

The incitement of fear of a terrorist attack seems to be a theme of McCain’s Campaign this week.

What makes all of this worse, however is the previous relationship that Senator Obama had with Senator Lieberman.

In 2006, Sen. Lieberman was about to face the political fight of his life. Lieberman’s unapologetic support for the Iraq War made him vulnerable to a potential primary challenger in his re-election bid for his Senate seat.

Sure enough, that challenger came along in the form of Ned Lamont, the president and founder of a small telecommunications network in the Northeast.

Lamont was the anti-war candidate and Lieberman sensed that he was in very real danger of losing his Senate seat before the General Election even began. So, Lieberman did what any smart Democrat at the time would do. He called rising political superstar Barack Obama and enlisted his help in convincing Connecticut Democrats that despite his stance on the war, Lieberman was the only right man for the job.

Except Lieberman didn’t just ask for Obama’s support, he begged.

According to Greg Sargent over at Talking Points Memo, a former Lieberman Campaign official who was involved in securing Barack Obama’s support described the Illinois Senator’s favor to his candidate like this:

"It was a favor as huge as we could have gotten -- it was like a drowning man getting thrown a life preserver. Just when Ned [Lamont] was trying to establish himself as a credible alternative on the war, Barack Obama came in and said, ‘Hey, I disagree with him on the war, but you should send him back to the Senate.’"

That same campaign official also said:

"We needed him [Obama] to strongly validate us as a candidate that liberal Democrats should not desert. We went to the Obama operation with a very urgent plea for him to come out for us."

Barack Obama did not owe Joe Lieberman any favors, and he agreed to support Lieberman in an attempt at Party Unity, something Lieberman clearly rejected just months later when he lost to Lamont in the primary and then promptly registered as an Independent in order to run against the Democrat in the General Election.

Lieberman went on to win his Independent bid for re-election and retained his seat. He continued to caucus with the Senate Democrats, allowing them to gain a one seat majority over the Republicans and therefore control of The Senate. But since 2006 Lieberman’s Joe-mentum has been carrying him farther and farther away from the Democratic Party, to the point where now, he has endorsed a Republican for President, and he has viciously and unfairly attacked a man who made a huge effort, with major political risks, to help him out.

Barack Obama’s stance on almost all issues has not changed since Lieberman used the Senator from Illinois to help convince the voters of Connecticut to re-elect him. If anything, Obama has drifted slightly closer to Lieberman’s political world-view.

The only thing that has changed between Barack Obama and Joe Lieberman is that now Obama is running against Lieberman’s candidate.

The point is not that Lieberman should not be allowed to support McCain, the point is that if he had even an ounce of integrity, he would highlight McCain’s strengths and be tactful enough not to launch these attacks against his recent ally that are filled with fear-mongering and wild and unfounded speculation about the results that Obama’s policies may produce.

Joe Lieberman is a back-stabber and sadly, this is a prime example of why if you want a friend in Washington, you better get a dog.

For a little more on this story, here's liberal blogger, Michael J.W. Stickings take titled "Joe Lieberman, Jerk Extraordinaire."

And also, here is a news story with clips of Obama speaking in support of Lieberman: