THE JOHN AND JOE SHOW. To follow on Rob's point, it's interesting to contrast the directions of Joe Lieberman and his closest Republican analogue, John McCain. Remember, the Joe and John show seemed pretty similar in its early seasons. But as the drama has dragged on, Lieberman has moved much farther from the Democratic Party, recreating himself as a self-styled conservative conscience of liberalism. McCain, by contrast, has downplayed his points of heterodoxy and sought to refit himself into the conservative mainstream. Rob asks why: "Does the lack of a Republican equivalent of Lieberman stem from a characteristic of their side, or of ours? I'd like to think that at least part of the difficulty with finding a friendly Republican comes from an admirable level of intellectual consistency on the part of Democrats." I fear the answer is a bit more mundane. McCain wants the presidency, while Lieberman knows he'll never have another shot at it. Thus, the voters McCain wants are well situated in Wingnuttia, and he will take up residence there to reach them. Lieberman, of course, was primary'd from the left and so sought to shore up support on his right, so his incentives are now to retain a cross-party coalition in Connecticut. He'll never again have robust support from the Democratic base. For better or worse, the two politicians just have different incentives. McCain has to humiliate himself for the Republican base, and Lieberman has to humiliate himself for the Republican base. Funny how that works out. --Ezra Klein
