For someone who's grandstanded at crucial moments like scolding Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair or questioning the patriotism of fellow Democrats who opposed the Iraq war, Lieberman simply faced the consequences of angering many of his Democratic constituents. He's even slipped and called it the "Democrat Party," fer crissakes. He could have tried harder to get back into the good graces of the Democrats if it were important to him, but after endorsing McCain I can't see how the Democrats owe him anything.

Too many legislative victories for the GOP and the Bush administration, like enabling the Iraq war, approving of extremist Supreme Court justices like Alito and Roberts and enabling warrantless spying and torture have depended on "centrist" Democrats like Lieberman and others. Like I was saying, whether it's Pelosi, Reid, Sylvestre Reyes or Lieberman, if they can't even join the majority of their party to stand against eroding constitutional rights or stopping the worst abuses of power of the Bush administration, why should they deserve critical leadership positions?