What a difference a day makes.... even more so, eight years.
In the 2000 presidential campaign Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in his long-shot presidential bid.
In 2000, Sen. Joe Lieberman (was D, now I-CT) was the vice presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore.
Fast forward to the 2008 campaign.
Tuesday night Hagel said of McCain's criticism of Barack Obama's pledge to engage with Iran... "I'm very upset with John with some of the things he's been saying. And I can't get into the psychoanalysis of it. But I believe that John is smarter than some of the things he is saying."
Hagel said that unlike McCain, he believes engaging in high-level talks with Iran, unconditionally, is not appeasement and praised Obama's policy of engagement... "I am confident that if Obama is elected president that is the approach we will take.... It is essential."
When asked about a rumor that the Bush administration was ginning up the possibility of war with Iran, Hagel threw the "I" bomb.... "You've got the power of impeachment...." an attack on Iran without the consent of Congress "would bring with it.... outstanding political consequences, including for the Republican party." (Huffington Post)
The subject of Iran and foreign policy brings us to Lieberman's opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today.... "Democrats and Our Enemies."
Decrying Obama's position of talking with our enemies, Lieberman takes aim at the Democratic party and especially it's presumptive nominee... "Sen. Obama stands in stark contrast to John McCain, who has shown the political courage throughout his career to do what he thinks is right.... John also understands something else that too many Democrats seem to have become confused about lately - the difference between America's friends and America's enemies."
Embracing The Decider's Iraq war and Middle East policies, Lieberman asserts.... "I felt strongly that Democrats should embrace the basic framework the president had advanced for the war on terror as our own..."
Not only has Lieberman embraced the administration's failed foreign policies, but he acts as tender to McCain on his travels, jumping in to clean up McCain's misstatements and filling in as poster boy for McCain's self-proclaimed bipartisan support.
Hagel praises Obama, and Lieberman endorses McSame.... and so the political world turns in the political do-si-do.
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