How Do You Like Your Democratic Iraq Now, Mr Lieberman?

by digby

So I hear that the national political press corps is about to descend on Connecticut like a swarm of locusts to cover the Lieberman Lamont primary in its final week. They are going to be following Joe around in a bus apparently.

This is good news, actually. Maybe they can finally get him to answer a few questions about Iraq, which he has suddenly clammed up about. It seems like only yesterday that Joe was saying stuff like this every day:

“We have reached an important milestone and achieved a new momentum in reaching a goal all Americans should embrace – building a secure, peaceful, democratic Iraq that is no longer a threat to the United States or the international community,”

Now, not so much.

If I were a real journalist and I had a chance to chat with Joe, I’d ask him if he still thinks that’s true in light of his fellow Senators’ condemnation of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s remarks about Israel. It seems nobody has yet been able to get him to explain this.

He did attend and applaud Maliki’s speech, but failed to appear afterwards when reporters were asking questions. He’s been so busy bragging about his earmarks and having his campaign place flyers in black neighborhoods accusing Lamont of being a racist (Lee Atwater would be proud) that perhaps he hasn’t had time to weigh in on the most pressing foreign policy issues of the day.

Still, Joe is a man of principle and mid-east policy is his signature issue, so I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to take questions. Joe has been like a proud papa about this new Iraqi government. I’m curious what he thinks of it now, aren’t you?

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