contrapositive

LAMONT WATCH Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) appears to have left the building.

How else to explain his strange performance this morning on right wing pundit Glenn Beck's radio show?

BECK: I've been saying this before we even went into Iraq, that we're trying to change the face of the Middle East. The weapons of mass destruction was a nice side benefit. We were trying to go and pop the head of the snake in Iran. That's what we were trying to do. And I don't think anybody had the courage or could actually come out and say that with world politics the way they are.

LIEBERMAN: Well, you're right. And I think if I fault the administration for anything before the war--cause I think we did the right thing in going in to overthrow Saddam--it's that they oversold the WMD part of the argument.

How many senate Republicans would have the inclination--let alone the gall--to endorse that argument? I can't see solid conservatives like Sen. John Warner (R-VA) and Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) agreeing to the proposition that in Iraq "we were trying to go and pop the head of the snake in Iran."

And I have a tough time picturing even a spineless Bush loyalist like Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) making the case that the administration's only significant mistake before the war was talking too much about WMDs. (If you think that distorts the meaning of the passage, go ahead and read it again.)

Has Lieberman been locked in a closet with Paul Wolfowitz for the last six months? Does he even want to win this race? Or is he just gunning for a spot in the Neocon Hall of Fame?

In a word, bizarre.

UPDATE: In its Wednesday edition, The Times devotes an entire quote-laden article to Lieberman's appearance on Glenn Beck's show. But the passage above--inarguably the most salient chunk of the conversation--goes unmentioned.