Democratic Senators Hug Their Beloved Pal, Joe Lieberman.

07 Sep, 2006 by John Hawkins

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Right now, all across the left side of the blogosphere, there are undoubtedly keyboards being pounded, Indigo Girls CDs being thrown across living rooms, and doves who won’t even swat mosquitoes are wishing horrible and foul dooms on half the Senators in their own party.

Why?

Because of the enormous wet, sloppy, kiss the Dems in the Senate figuratively planted on Joe Lieberman.

Just imagine the reaction Jane “Rape Gurney Joe” Hamsher and Kos must have had when they read this:

“I don’t think there’s any of us out there saying ‘Godd*mn, I hope Joe doesn’t win,’” said Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who has endorsed Lamont in the general election.

Indeed, Democratic senators applauded Lieberman at their weekly policy luncheon, when Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) asked him to brief the caucus on upcoming port-security legislation.

“Welcome back,” said Reid, who was scheduled to meet with Lamont later in the day.

After Reid’s introduction, Lieberman got “a warm ovation,” according to Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).

As much as liberal scrawlers on the Internet are calling for his scalp, Lieberman’s courtly colleagues seem to be patting him on the shoulder.

“I’d always like to work with Joe Lieberman,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is backing Lamont, said of a possible Lieberman win in the general election.

Others were a little more forward.

“I’m not going to settle for a handshake. I want a big hug,” Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told Lieberman. Lincoln has not endorsed either candidate.

A smiling Lieberman emerged from the caucus shortly after 2 p.m. to chat with about 40 members of the news media who had gathered in the hallway outside of the meeting room.

“I appreciated it immensely,” he said of the ovation he received, noting that it had been some time since his mere presence at a caucus meeting sparked applause.

For a second there, when I read this line from Blanche Lincoln…

“I’m not going to settle for a handshake. I want a big hug.”

…I wondered if I’d lost track of time and had forgotten that it was April 1st, because if a line in the article had been written expressly to infuriate left-wing bloggers, there’s nothing that could have done a better job of it than that — other than perhaps having George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove all joining the party and getting in on a big group hug!