Rumsfeld-Loving Joe Lieberman

Duncan Black writes:

Eschaton: One thing I never want to hear again is about what a noble and ethical man Joe Lieberman is.

And directs us to an old story pointed to by Ned Lamont's website:

FOXNews.com - Democrats Call for Rumsfeld to Resign - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum: Some Democrats are calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (search) to resign amid controversy surrounding pictures depicting U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners outside of Baghdad. But others say the demand for pink slips is merely politics in an election year when Democrats are hoping to oust President Bush.

"The Congress will politicize this, will spend too much time investigating it," Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., told Fox News. "This has been a setback for our cause."...

"The Pentagon (that) Secretary Rumsfeld oversees has become an island of unaccountability, ignoring the Geneva Conventions, our allies and common sense," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Thursday....

"It's the way it was handled," Kerry said on a campaign stop in California. "The lack of information to the Congress, the lack of information to the country, not managing it, not dealing with it, recognizing it as an issue."

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Congress should impeach Rumsfeld if he declines to resign and the president refuses to fire him. The New York Times seconded those demands with a Friday editorial headlined, "Donald Rumsfeld Should Go."...

Lieberman told Fox News that the calls for Rumsfeld's ouster are a distraction from the larger picture. "We're in the middle of a war — you wouldn't want to have the secretary of defense change unless there's really good reason for it and I don't see any good reason at this time," Lieberman said....

Pelosi's and others' calls for a resignation are "a sign that opportunism always seeks an occasion in Washington," [Newt Gingrich] said. "There's zero reason for Donald Rumsfeld to resign and every reason for the president and Donald Rumsfeld to tell the truth," Gingrich said. "It's just politics in a presidential election"...

Joe Lieberman: Rumsfeld-lover.

Meanwhile, over at the New York Times, reporter Mark Leibovich whines that it is unfair that Lieberman's Senate Democratic colleagues won't back him as an independent if he loses the Democratic primary, calling their failure to do so "a peculiar brand of stigma":

Lieberman Hopes His Fate Isn't Sealed With a Kiss - New York Times: Mr. Lieberman has also encountered a peculiar brand of stigma from his Democratic colleagues in the Senate.... Several of them say they will support their “good friend” in the primary. But only a smattering say they will support Mr. Lieberman no matter what happens Aug. 8. The rest have either avoided the question... or vowed to support the primary winner, even if it is Mr. Lamont, whom most of them have never met.... People close to Mr. Lieberman say he has been wounded by the conditional devotion he has received from most of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate...

Neither Leibovich nor Lieberman seem to understand what a "political party" is, or what a "primary election" is.

And over at the Horse's Mouth, Greg Sargent is further bemused by Leibovich and Lieberman:

The Horse's Mouth: TIMES AND LIEBERMAN CAMP BASH BLOGS IN TANDEM. The New York Times has just posted a long piece on Joe Lieberman and his efforts to rid himself of the travails he's caused for himself with his embrace, literal and otherwise, of President Bush. Reporter Mark Leibovich brings a great deal of sympathy... lets the Lieberman camp indulge in a bit of ritualistic blog-bashing without offering anyone the chance to rebut it....

Mr. Lieberman... appears taken aback by the ferocity of the onslaught, particularly from liberal blogs. To Mr. Lieberman's camp, the bloggers embody what his longtime friend Lanny Davis calls "the demonizing, hating, virulent, character-assassinating left of the Democratic Party." Mr. Lieberman began, "Some of the vituperations, some of the extremity of the language and anger," before his voice trailed off. He paused for a second and started again: "They're describing a person who is not me."... "He's being subjected to the hate machine like Bill Clinton and George Bush have," said Mr. Davis.... "Joe Lieberman has never been subjected to this before."

There's plenty to dig into in this piece -- among them Lieberman's strained efforts to make light of his embrace of Bush. For my part, I find it surprising that not a single column inch was devoted to allowing anyone to rebut the Lieberman camp's broad-brush attacks on the liberal blogosphere.... [B]asic journalistic fairness should have required the reporter to get a rebuttal.

The piece also gives too little space to the substantive case against Lieberman, quoting just one single Lieberman opponent on the record who's made to sound a touch unhinged...