Monday, July 23, 2007

This is your fault CT.

Ned Lamont wouldn't be a part of this:

Lately, though, Lieberman has taken his alliance with GOP leaders up a notch. During the abortive debate on the defense authorization bill, he attended daily tactical sessions to help them plan their strategy for combatting anti-war amendments and their rhetorical points for use against the Democrats. And in a fitting symbolic twist, some of those meetings convened just down the hall from the office of Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who essentially owes his 51-seat majority to Lieberman’s continued caucusing with the Democrats.

Before the Democrats realized they could not break a GOP filibuster and set aside their anti-war crusade last week, the meetings were the main forum for developing the GOP counterpunching strategy. For example, the group — which typically included GOP leaders such as Minority Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi and prominent supporters of the war such as John McCain of Arizona — decided to highlight a Lieberman amendment that would have required the administration to report on Iranian support for attacks against coalition forces in Iraq.

Lieberman presented it as a consensus proposal. “Whether you are for or against the war,” he said on the floor, “I hope we can all find common ground in making this statement.” They almost could: It was adopted, 97-0. But Republicans immediately sought to put Democrats on the defensive. At a news conference with Lieberman and GOP leaders, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham said, “If you believe that everything in Sen. Lieberman’s amendment is true, how could you engage in a strategy that would at the end of the day allow Iran to be successful?”

Publicly, at least, top Democrats aren’t lashing out at Lieberman. Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, said the majority leader wasn’t aware that Lieberman had been at GOP strategy sessions, but he noted that “it’s up to Sen. Lieberman to decide what he thinks is best based on what he’s hearing from his constituents at home.” Maybe that means Graham, Lott and McCain all have second homes in Connecticut.

Yep, there's a spy in the trenches. And any democrat that trusts Joe Lieberman is going to wind up with egg on their face.

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