I had the quote wrong last night, but again, here is Joe:

"For the sake of our state, our country and my party, I cannot and will not let that result stand."

Breaking somewhat with my promise to keep my tongue on profanity hereabouts, that is unadulterated bullshit.

This is solely for the sake of Joe Lieberman's Ego.

Leaving aside questions of country and state, you have no party anymore, Joe. You've just declared yourself an Independent.

No one should refer to Lieberman as a Democrat. He's on record this morning, officially, as an Independent. It's a matter of public record now with the state of Connecticut. The Republican majority in the Senate just officially got bigger. (That's something a lot of us have suspected all along, but it is nice to see in print, finally.)

And if we're going to look to Joe Lieberman as the vanguard of protection for our country, I beg to differ. Joe Lieberman has long been the face of bipartisan cover for Republican thievery.

Y'know, many people were shocked when Al Gore stood in the middle of Bicentennial Mall here in Nashville and announced his choice of running mate. A lot of good people stood up in the spine-melting midsummer heat and stood behind Gore's decision to the end, however. When Gore "lost" the election in 2000, there was no requirement that Joe Lieberman had to go home. I seem to recall that Lieberman was out in front of the press, saying that "for the good of the country," it'd be best if Al Gore didn't press forward to become president. Never mind that Joe had already set up a soft place for himself to land. There is no "resign to run" requirement in Connecticut, yet he cruised to victory without campaigning there. The people of Connecticut did him a solid favor. He then had six years in office to make a difference. How did he choose to use them? For starters, he ran an embarrassing ("Joementum?") and unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2004, and now in this bitter loss to Lamont.

All along, he chided his Democratic colleagues and his fellow Americans to put up and shut up. He became Fox News' favorite Democrat.

Now, he claims that he owes something to the country. He claims that he owes something to the party which he just abandoned. He's standing on principle and proclaiming that it's his charter to protect the Democratic voters of Connecticut from themselves.

It offended me at the time, but now? Lieberman is the true face of "Sore Loserman." In 2000, 2004, and now 2006. Yes (quoting Tom Tomorrow), it would be a repurposed bit of Republican propaganda, but since Joe is so comfortable among members of the GOP -- going so far as to recruit and to pay College Republicans $150 a day to canvass for him -- I'm good with that.

As for now, Lieberman is not a Democrat. So I look forward to seeing him stripped of his national support lines and of his party-bestowed committee assignments. I'm sure his response will be his reflexive turn to pious indignation.

Too bad.

____________________________

"winkin' at my peers," quotin' Thurston.

...and the RNC would have it right.