Revoltin' Joe

Lieberman's true colors.

WASHINGTON -- Four days after calling his party affiliation a "closed issue," U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman said Sunday he was "not ruling it out" that he could turn Republican.

He told NBC's "Meet the Press" he will return to Washington as an "Independent Democrat" - "capital I, capital D."

But the R is lurking.

"I'm not ruling it out," he said, "but I hope I don't get to that point. And, I must say, and with all respect to the Republicans who supported me in Connecticut, nobody ever said, `We're doing this because we want you to switch over.'"

Lieberman also left open another controversial door - supporting more U.S. troops in Iraq.

"I think we have to be open to that as a way to succeed to achieve a free and independent Iraq, which would be an extraordinary accomplishment, but it's got to be tied to a new strategy," he said.

That strategy may be "tied to commitments from the Iraqi government to disarm those militias and to bring more Sunnis into a national unity government."

Lieberman is considered unlikely to switch to the Republican Party, but his comments triggered a fresh round of outrage by liberal bloggers Sunday. His comments came after insisting during his primary and fall campaigns that he would remain a Democrat.

An alert reader asked me last week if I thought Lieberman had "learned a lesson" from the election. Yes, he has. That he can defy the views of his "constituents" with impunity.

And I know theres a lot of anger about this

But he also stressed his independence, saying he was following the model of former Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr. of Virginia. Byrd, a Democrat, became an independent in 1970 after refusing to sign a pledge to back all Democratic nominees.

Byrd won re-election as an independent in 1976, but became an ally of Republicans on most matters.

But he did say "Jr." Not Senior, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. Now, it's very likely the fruit didn't fall far from the tree, but it's good to get our generations right.