THE TRIBESMAN:

Lieberman is McCain's bipartisan wingman (JONATHAN MARTIN | 3/23/08, Politico)

Wherever John McCain goes these days, it seems, Joseph I. Lieberman is there.

When McCain needed a quick reminder in Jordan last week on how to characterize Islamic radicals in Iraq receiving aid from Iran, Lieberman was there to whisper into his colleague’s ear. A day later in Israel, the Connecticut senator proved equally helpful, stepping in to help McCain clarify the meaning of the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Whether wearing yarmulkes together amid the throngs at Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall, meeting reporters outside 10 Downing Street in London or sporting matching suit-and-sweater combos at a snowy New Hampshire town hall meeting, the two have been nearly inseparable since Lieberman endorsed McCain last December.

As McCain hopes to wage a campaign that appeals to an independent-minded electorate exasperated by the Bush administration and the political status quo, Lieberman, a former Democratic vice presidential nominee, has become something of a symbolic character witness meant to testify to the Arizonan’s bipartisan approach.

It's also a calculated ploy to peel off Jewish voters, who Maverick is not unlikely to carry in the Fall. After all, black/Jewish tensions were just as central to the drift of neocons into the GOP as was Israel.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 23, 2008 6:46 PM