MORE ON JOE

One thing that occurred to me after I wrote the Joe Lieberman update to my last post is that sooner or later Joe is going to have to stop being an overt cheerleader for the war -- because all Republicans (including phony-Democrat Republicans) will have to make that shift, in anticipation of the next election cycle, when the war will be at least as unpopular as it is now. The GOP's '08 presidential candidates are already halfway there -- Giuliani left Iraq off his "twelve commitments" list, for instance.

So sometime before he endorses the GOP candidate, and sometime before he speaks in prime time at the Republican convention, expect Joe to start talking more in generalities about the importance of "going on offense against terrorists" and less about the necessity of the war; expect him to say that Democrats don't understand the threat, but not to talk about their opposition to an unpopular conflict. He'll be saying exactly the same thing, just in code -- don't worry, the base will get that. Even though Iraq will be the reason he's at the GOP convention, the word "Iraq" probably won't be in his speech once.

Although the word "Iran" might be.