Double Trouble

by digby

Joe Klein’s surprisingly mild column on Joe Lieberman in this week’s TIME contained one very interesting bit of information:

There are those who believe the Senator’s unwillingness to criticize Bush has its roots in politics. “He flew too close to the sun,” said a Connecticut Democrat who believes that Lieberman played nice with the President in the hope of securing both the Democratic and the Republican nominations for Senate this year.

Johnathan Chait asks:

Can this really be true? If so, it’s astonishing. Lieberman represents one of the bluest states in the country. He had zero to fear from a Republican challenger. Was he so eager to avoid having to undergo the formality of a reelection campaign that he wanted a double-endorsement?

The nugget from Klein’s source strikes me as not completely implausible, but pretty hard to believe. If Lieberman really pulled his punches against Bush so he could avoid a token challenge, that would be a pretty good reason to vote against him. I’d love to see more reporters dig into this.

I don’t find it hard to believe. I was chattering with Jane Hamsher about this yesterday and we both immediately speculated that Joe might have been plotting a presidential run — not as a Democrat, but under the Unity ’08 banner. It certainly would explain why he would have wanted a double endorsement.

It might also explain why he has been acting so shocked and angry. He thought he was getting a double endorsement and he may just be getting no endorsement at all.