Yesterday, George Will just about blew poor George Stephanopoulos' mind when he announced that he had done this "reporting" stuff and got an interesting little scoop: Joe Lieberman, who voted against Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court, is apparently of a different mind today:
WILL: Well, I called Lieberman's office this week and said, "Why did your man vote against Alito?" And they said, "He was wrong, now he likes Alito."
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did they really say he was wrong? That the vote was wrong?
WILL: He said that now that having seen Alito in action.
The folks at ThinkProgress are more than a little confused at how Alito "in action" spurred some sort of conversion in Lieberman. Back when Lieberman was busy opposing Alito, they note that the judge's civil rights record was central to Lieberman's cause for alarm. The Senator stated: "Judge Alito has repeatedly established a very high bar, an unusually high bar, for entrance to our Courts for people who believed they've been denied equal opportunity and fair treatment based on race or gender." Since then, Alito in action should have only confirmed these fears, not alleviated them.
On the other hand, Lieberman's flip isn't all that surprising, given his penchant for working both sides of the street. The "independent" Senator doesn't seem to have much of a problem being considered a potential vice-presidential nominee for John McCain or appearing at the GOP Convention. But quietly, he's also cut checks to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee so as to save his job if his McCain flirtation ends badly.
All this just goes to show that if you pick up the phone and call Lieberman's office, you will inevitably have a truly magical conversation.