TIME.com: Lieberman Lost the Old-fashioned Way -- Page 1

Joshua Micah Marshall thinks this November election will be a very big deal:

TIME.com: Lieberman Lost the Old-fashioned Way -- Page 1: Many pundits ... are either being disingenuous or are caught in a time warp. Democrats are actually fairly united on the Iraq War in their opposition.... And though many senators are not as full-throated in their opposition as the base... you don't see... challenges... against other senators who aren't ready to bring the troops home....

Lieberman... seemed almost militantly indifferent to the disaster [in] Iraq... his passion about the war seemed reserved exclusively for those who questioned it rather than those who... botched the enterprise. His continual embrace of President Bush... was an insult to Democrats... Bush has governed as one of the most destructive Presidents in modern American history. It's almost as though Lieberman has gone out of his way to provoke and offend Democrats on every point possible.... Is it any wonder the guy got whacked in a party primary?...

[T]he Lieberman train wreck is also part of the unfolding story of the 2006 election cycle... gulf... between Washington and the country.... Lieberman... let himself live in the bubble of D.C. conventional wisdom.... [H]e was part of the delusion and denial that has sustained our enterprise in Iraq for the last three years.... A-List D.C. pundits were writing columns portraying Lieberman's possible defeat as some sort of cataclysmic event... as though voters choosing new representation were on a par with abolishing the constitution or condoning political violence. But those breathless plaints only showed how disconnected they are... the President's approval rating seldom gets out of the 30s. Congress is unpopular. Incumbents are unpopular. Voters prefer Democrats over Republicans by a margin of about 15%. When a once-popular, three-term senator gets bounced in a primary battle with a political unknown, it's a very big deal. Those numbers all add up to a political upheaval this November. The folks in D.C. see the numbers. But they haven't gotten their heads around what they mean. Joe was out of touch. And Washington D.C. is too.

They didn't see the Joe train wreck coming and they're not ready for what's coming next either.