Lieberman Backtracks On Alito Vote, Now Supports Him

Yesterday, George Will just about blew poor George Stephanopoulos' mind when he announced that he had done this "reporting" stuff and got an interesting little scoop: Joe Lieberman, who voted against Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court, is apparently of a different mind today:

WILL: Well, I called Lieberman's office this week and said, "Why did your man vote against Alito?" And they said, "He was wrong, now he likes Alito."

STEPHANOPOULOS: Did they really say he was wrong? That the vote was wrong?

WILL: He said that now that having seen Alito in action.

The folks at ThinkProgress are more than a little confused at how Alito "in action" spurred some sort of conversion in Lieberman. Back when Lieberman was busy opposing Alito, they note that the judge's civil rights record was central to Lieberman's cause for alarm. The Senator stated: "Judge Alito has repeatedly established a very high bar, an unusually high bar, for entrance to our Courts for people who believed they've been denied equal opportunity and fair treatment based on race or gender." Since then, Alito in action should have only confirmed these fears, not alleviated them.

On the other hand, Lieberman's flip isn't all that surprising, given his penchant for working both sides of the street. The "independent" Senator doesn't seem to have much of a problem being considered a potential vice-presidential nominee for John McCain or appearing at the GOP Convention. But quietly, he's also cut checks to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee so as to save his job if his McCain flirtation ends badly.

All this just goes to show that if you pick up the phone and call Lieberman's office, you will inevitably have a truly magical conversation.

Comments

[afgail]

Lieberman gives opportunism a bad name. I'M BETTING HIS WIFE DIVORCES HIM SOON. He just ain't the man she married. Totally devoid of honor and self respect.

[eden4barack08]

Michael Gerson calls Lieberman one of the most decent men in Washington DC? No wonder this country's going down. If that's a decent man, the others are what?

[Primus29]

It would be AWESOME if Senator Lieberman was the VP nominee for the Republicans.

AWESOME.

[nmjangirl]

Totally awesome because it would mean they would lose!!!

[PurplePhase]

It wasn't Alito's action that made Lieberman change his mind about Alito.

It was Lieberman's desperate attempts to become McCain's VP and pander to the right. Lieberman pandered to Democrats, Independents, and now Republicans. He ran out of people to pander to.

[darthdarcy]

Alito lied under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee repeatedly as I have first hand knowledge of directly as did many of those Senators who suborned that perjury after learning of the many pages I sent detailing his criminal acts in NJ while that states top Federal Attorney and his being the prime mover in a long term criminal conspiracy...of which I was one of it's victims..

Alito does not belong on any bench in this country, not even night time traffic court..!

And so say I...!

[mnash]

Senator O said Saturday night that something had happened but did not say what and that is why he voted against Alito.

And Mr Lie, nobody should have voted for you

[JerzGirl226]

Wait a minute. He regrets voting against Alito because he's seen him in action? Has Alito been anything other than what we thought he was going to be? Lieberman is full of crap.

[razorblade]

I'm sure Mr. Will misunderstood him.

It was difficult to hear because the Senator had his head firmly wedged up Senator Mc Cain' s
rear portal as he was saying it.

[Grunty1]

Lieberman regrets one of the few things he has done right in recent years?

Yes, his conversion to the Dark Side is almost complete.