HAS LIEBERMAN LOST HIS MARBLES? OR IS THERE SOMETHING BEHIND THE TREACHEROUS SENATOR'S ODD BEHAVIOR?

Joe Lieberman has undermined the meaning of membership in the Democratic Party for years and has led a small, completely Inside-the-Beltway, elitist and divisive faction (the DLC) which has done nothing but muddy the waters of party affiliation. And now, finally challenged by an actual Democrat, Ned Lamont, who is campaigning on straight-forward Democratic Party values and principles, George Bush's favorite Democrat, is cracking up-- really cracking up. As more and more Connecticut Democrats are getting familiar with Joe Lieberman and his voting record, he is rapidly losing ground to Ned Lamont. Lieberman's fragile ego hasn't been able to handle it and he's lashed out innapropriately... some would say insanely.

Last week Lieberman started running widely ridiculed and majorly deceptive advertisements accusing Ned of... being a Republican. A friend of mine in Hartford, a clinical psychologist, called me yesterday evening and told me she had never seen a clearer case of projection in her career. "It has really torn into his psyche over the last month that more and more Democrats have seen him categorically exposed as a traitor. Everyone knew he was Bush's #1 ally when it came to the brutal occupation of Iraq but now everyone is connecting the dots and seeing that Lieberman is just a Republican in disguise. People who weren't sure who Sam Alito was last month now know that it was because of Lieberman's plotting with the GOP that he was confirmed as a Supreme Court Judge. So what does he do? He accuses Lamont of exactly what he is and what has made people dislike and distrust him: being deceitful and being a Republican."

Yesterday Lieberman's bumbing campaign manager, Sean Smith, a right-of-center political consultant/hack, admited to a talk show host on WSTC/WNLK in Fairfield County that Lieberman has no intention of supporting Ned if Ned wins the August 8 primary. Ned, of course, has announced that he will support the will of Connecticut Democrats and support whomever wins the primary.

Old line Lieberman operatives and cronies are urging him to abandon the Democratic Party-- whch has did long ago except in name-- and run as an "independent." Ironically, Lieberman is popular with Connecticut Republicans but not with independents. One of his harshest critics, in fact, is independent former Governor, Lowell Weicker. But not as harsh as Jane over at firedoglake.

It is just so pathetic.  But Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid better be thinking about what they plan to do if in fact this isn’t a feint and it happens, because they know WE’LL be banging the war drums over it.

I love Ned, I back Ned because it’s the right thing to do, win or lose.  But Lieberman’s actions are those of a desperate man.  His internal polling must just SUCK.  Things look better and better for Lamont every day, and I hope every Senator who ignored our faxes and voted for cloture on Alito gets a little shiver when they watch what is happening to Joe.  This is not "all about the war" as Joe’s cheerleaders would position it.  It’s much bigger than that, and they should know it by now.

10AM UPDATE: THE UNDERDOG VS THE LAPDOG

At some point wily old Joe is just going to not want to get out of bed in the mornings anymore. Today's HARTFORD COURANT was probably not a welcome addition at Chez Lieberman today.

In the battle between the Underdog and the Lapdog, the evidence mounts that the Joe Lieberman camp has not only lost touch with the senator's home state but with reality, too. Those folks have been in George W. Bush's pocket so long they're even talking like him now. Seeking to lambaste Ned Lamont, Lieberman's primary opponent, the senator's staff and admirers reach into the Bush-Cheney-Coulter playbook. No less a light than Sean Smith, Lieberman's campaign manager offers the bizarre, Orwellian, Bushian assault on the foe: [...] Personal villification being the GOP order of the day, it is of little surprise that it rubs off on Lieberman's pals as well. Christopher Droney Jr., the former Democratic state chairman, goes the Coulter road to smear anyone who doesn't kowtow to Lieberman as Lieberman kowtows to the White House as part of the Bush-Cheney-Lieberman Axis of Eerie. The forty percent and growing people, all hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them, who dare to wonder about Lieberman are slandered as terrorists-- the old Bush ploy of attack attack attack, call names, brand them as enemies, not opponents. "I think to be terrorized through the summer by an extremely small group of the Democratic Party, much less the voting population, is total insanity for a person who is a three-term senator," Droney said the other day, speaking to the entitlement that his man Lieberman somehow enjoys.

And speaking of news unwelcome at Chez Lieberman! The new Rasmussen polling numbers came out this morning and Holier-Than-Thou Joe's negative momentum is continuing unabated. Every single day, as they campaign around the state (and as Lieberman's vile, negative, patently false ads run), Ned Lamont gains support and Lieberman loses more and more support. The new Rasmussen Report shows a narrowing 6% gap between the recently unknown Lamont and the 3-term/all over Fox Nooze Senator-- 46% to 40%. A friend of mine who works for a cowardly U.S. Senator who had his arm twisted into endorsing Lieberman, told me Lieberman is the most hated Democrat inside the Democratic caucus and not only will no tears be spilled if Lieberman loses but that it will spark the biggest party-- at least on the Democratic side of the aisle-- in 20 years.