Via TPM Election Central, Newsweek has some scoop on the Obama-Lieberman confrontation of last week:
In a brief but animated Senate floor confrontation last week, according to a campaign aide who asked for anonymity when talking about private discussions, Obama told Lieberman he was surprised by Lieberman's personal attacks and his half-hearted denials of the false rumors that Obama is a Muslim.
I wasn't aware that Joe was part of spreading (or at least not stopping) the Muslim lie, but I'm not the least bit surprised. More:
The aide says Lieberman was "strangely muted" during the exchange.
Perhaps he was shocked that someone was finally calling him on his scurrilous tactics.
McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker says Lieberman "played a key role in reaching out to the Jewish community in the primary ... and you can expect that will continue."
In other words, as Greg Sargent rightly points out, Joementum is going to keep spreading this garbage. And McCain is going to keep him around as cover so he can say "I have a lot of Jewish friends."
Well, yours truly is a Jewish American (actually I'm a dual citizen with Israel), and I can tell you that I have nothing but contempt for slimy Joe Lieberman and his sanctimonious attacks on Barack Obama.
If anyone has examples of Lieberman half-heartedly denying the Muslim rumor, please let us know in the comments. And let's keep careful watch on this odious character and call him on it if he ever does it again (which he will).
UPDATE: Here is one story that contains what can be interpreted as a half-hearted denial, but I have a feeling there is more out there that hasn't been documented that Obama knew about, otherwise he wouldn't have taken this step:
Joe Lieberman, who made history as the first Jewish candidate on a major presidential ticket in 2000, said he once was confronted the storyline about Barack Obama being Muslim and not a strong supporter of Israel.
"I’ve heard about it," Lieberman told me just now in a telephone interview.
"The one time that I confronted it, I was campaigning in Florida for Senator McCain. I spoke to a large group and a man stood up and asked me about it, or he referenced it. And I said, of course, that I know Senator Obama pretty well. Obviously one’s religion is a matter of choice. Everything I knew said he was Christian. So, I don’t know how widespread it is but that’s the one time I confronted it. And of course the most important thing is that Senator Obama said it’s just not true."
And let us not forget this doozy about Hamas' alleged endorsement of Obama:
But the fact that the spokesperson for Hamas would say they would welcome the election of Senator Obama really does raise the question, "Why?"
And it suggests the difference between these two candidates