The promised Lieberman/McCain article is up on the site. A taste:Lieberman is loved for much the same reason McCain is mistrusted. One undecided conservative told me that his doubts about McCain come from his apparent game of footsie with John Kerry in 2004. Flip the coin, though, and you get the warm feelings for Lieberman, the product of his repeated kicks at the Democratic Party. For conservatives, Lieberman's acts of apostasy were so total, so commendable, that this "Independent Democrat" who continues to vote for Harry Reid as majority leader can actually strengthen McCain among Republicans uncertain of McCain’s fealty to their faith.All this allows Lieberman to construct a telling, if internally muddled, case for McCain. Lieberman supports McCain because he's "increasingly troubled by the hyper-partisanship of our system," but nevertheless assures wavering Republicans that, "from my unique perspective as an Independent Democrat, I can tell you that John McCain is the most electable candidate the Republicans have." He fortifies McCain's foreign policy bona fides by telling the audience that "McCain sees the transcendent challenge of our time, radical Islamic extremism" but then swears that McCain will continue to be "very aggressive about democracy promotion." Lieberman backs up McCain's claims to experience by assuring the crowd that "McCain is very respected by world leaders," but then calms the restive warmongers in the audience by letting them know that "Vladimir Putin doesn't like McCain. And that's a good thing!" The clash between Lieberman's pro-choice record and McCain's consistent pro-life beliefs is played up as evidence that political opponents can respectfully disagree, and used to prove that McCain doesn’t waver in his convictions. So, in Lieberman’s telling, McCain is the candidate best able to break free of partisanship and stomp the Democrats, the most conscious of Islamic extremism and committed to the policies that perpetuate it, the most respected by world leaders who hate him, and the most consistent supporter of the regressive social policies Lieberman has spent his political life battling against.I'm pretty happy with the piece, and encourage -- nay, exhort -- nay, beg and plead -- that you read the whole thing.
