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Mark Liebovitch, writing on the Bullshit Moose's new job as Joe Lieberman's spokesman, is an excellent indication (contra Nick Confessore) that one doesn't have to have one's head inserted in the dark recesses of one's own anatomy to write for the NYT:

Mr. Lieberman, a longtime Democrat of Connecticut who was re-elected as an independent and calls himself an “Independent Democrat,” has not ruled out becoming a Republican.

Mr. Wittmann, meanwhile, is a Trotskyite turned Zionist turned Reaganite turned bipartisan irritant turned pretty much everything in between — including chief lobbyist for the Christian Coalition, the only Jew who has ever held that position.

“Jewish mothers do not raise their Jewish sons to work for the Christian Coalition,” said Mr. Wittmann, offering one of many explanations for why that job was not an ideal fit.

I think the tolerance for Lieberman's phony bipartisan schtick may be coming to an end, and he's not doing himself any favors dancing around from Hannity to Russert and taunting Democrats with his eagerness to sell them all out if they do not kiss his ring.  I've felt for a while that the biggest problem faced by the Lamont campaign was not that their message about Joe's essential soullessness was not potent but that the limitations of time did not allow them to overcome the natural reluctance of people who had been voting for Joe for 18 years to come to terms with the fact that he was not the man they thought he was. That key Democrats had no higher commitment than to their own incumbency protection society and would not step forward and abet that process was a tremendous hindrance.

But the message was seeded and as time goes on and Joe plays into it (nodding like a dimwit as McCain calls for more troops in Iraq  even after he campaigned that nobody wanted to bring the troops home than he did) I think that it will eventually reach a saturation point.  Jim Baker is not going to save anyone's ass and the public will need someone to blame for the escalating bloodshed and nobody has set himself up to be a bigger, more despised patsy than Lieberman.  There is a wave cresting over his head and although I think he is much too obtuse and arrogant to realize it, the possibility that it will come crashing down on top of him in the not-too-distant future is very real.  Articles like this on the front page of the Times are a pretty good indication that Jodi Wilgoren (or whatever the fuck she is calling herself these days) will not be able to save him.