CNN’s Political Ticker describes how “Joe Lieberman is fast becoming the Democrats' public enemy No. 1.” In championing John McCain for President, Lieberman apparently has no qualms campaigning for a candidate who is fundamentally at odds with nearly every domestic priority he has worked toward his entire public service. While he claims the merits (or lack thereof) of McCain’s foreign policy trump all else, you can’t help but see the underlying resentment toward the Democratic Party he still carries from his last election. An excerpt:
Lieberman has wasted no time in questioning Obama's positions on Iran and Israel, two topics on which Lieberman and McCain agree. Just one day after Obama clinched his party's nomination, Lieberman joined Republicans on a McCain campaign teleconference call assailing Obama following his foreign policy address to a leading Jewish group.
Lieberman accused Obama of blaming U.S. policies for "essentially sort of strengthening" Iran. "If Israel is in danger today, it's not because of American foreign policy, which has been strongly supportive of Israel in every way," he said. "It is not because of what we have done in Iraq. It is because Iran is a fanatical terrorist, expansionist state."
Later that day, during a budget vote in the Senate, Obama led Lieberman to a corner of the Senate floor for a pointed private conversation. Without elaborating, Obama told reporters the chat was about politics. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had a similar private conversation with Lieberman.
For his part, Lieberman said he assured Obama he would avoid personal attacks. "I said, and we agreed, that any time I get out there mostly I'm going to be talking positively about John McCain — and anytime I would take issue with Barack Obama, it would never be personal because I have the highest regard for him personally," he said.
Still, Democrats were irked. Lieberman seemed to be breaking new ground — shifting gears from simply promoting McCain to taking shots at Obama.
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