Senator Sanctimony watch

MANIFESTO

Time magazine has a two-page spread on Connecticut's junior senator this week. It's entitled "What Joe Wants" as if no one knew.

Juxtaposed with this national exposure is Glenn Greenwald's recent denunciation of Holy Joe wherein the Salon columnist adumbrates the senator's tactics.

[P]eople like Joe Lieberman attempted -- and are still attempting -- to bully and stigmatize those who were trying to alert Americans of the reality of what was going on in Iraq by depicting anyone who challenges the rosy-eyed deceit of the President and Lieberman as the ones who actually bear responsibility for the failures in Iraq, even as subversive and traitorous.

Most despicably, and most destructively, Bush followers like Lieberman ... have actually been insisting that Americans have a duty to allow them to spew their lies about Iraq without challenge. That's what Lieberman means when he demands that Congress "put the brakes on" criticisms of the war and that "instead of undermining Gen. Petraeus before he has been in Iraq for even a month, let us give him and his troops the time and support they need to succeed."

And he still got 50% of the vote four months ago.

As the Time article points out,

Lieberman's G.O.P. flirtation has its risks--and a time limit. By this time next year, the 2008 election cycle will overshadow anything that happens in the Senate. The longer he waits to capitalize on his moment, the greater the danger that he'll be tagged as one of those politicians for whom having power is more important than using it.