Why Lieberman is getting challenged

Fresh off of the huge Jon Tester win, a Montana blogger says:

Joe Lieberman has angered the base of his party. And I mean seriously angered. This isn't about his position on Iraq. Heck, a lot of Democrats have positions on Iraq the base is not fond of. But there are no big guns pointing at HRC or even at Joe Biden in the way they're pointing at Lieberman.

It comes down to the fact that Lieberman regularly parrots the worst of the worst right-wing talking points on Iraq, implying that those who would redeploy are nothing less than traitors. I expect that kind of crap from Michelle Malkin. Coming from a sitting Senator of my own party -- yeah, it makes my blood boil a bit.

Since Lamont has announced and has become a real force, watching Lieberman's response has been even more depressing. The man spoke fondly of back rooms that used to make decisions about nominees. So he's become anti-democratic. Then he attacked Lamont for being a puppet controlled by blogs, then it was that he's really a Republican, then it's that he's a tool of Lowell Weicker (amazing, the man has been controlled by Democrats, Republicans, and an Independent).

For a man whose main claim to keep hold on the seat was that he has such deeply held integrity, it sure is weird to see him run a downright Rovian election. I'm not necessarily in agreement with other bloggers that Lieberman shouldn't run as an independent. If we tell him he's not welcome in our party, I think he should feel fine leaving. And, honestly, I think we'd stand a good chance of beating him and the Republican in the general.

Quite a statement coming off of a 26pt primary upset.