'Wash Post' Endorses Lieberman for Senate -- While Hitting War on Front Page

By: E&P Staff The Washington Post's editorial page endorsed Sen. Joe Lieberman for re-election in his third-party Connecticut U.S. Senate race on Sunday, saying that even though he lost the Democratic primary -- and Republican leaders are now backing him -- his victory in November would still be the best thing for his party.

The Post, like Lieberman, is a strong backer of the Iraq war. Lieberman lost to an antiwar candidate, Ned Lamont.

The Post noted that "the critical question facing voters in November, as opposed to party leaders now, is who would make the better senator -- which is why we welcome Mr. Lieberman's decision to remain in the race. He would be, by far, the better choice for the people of Connecticut." It even asserted that Lieberman had been making "sharp criticism" of the president on the war for years -- likely a surprise to most Democratic voters in the state.

Just as the Post editorial page was endorsing the pro-war candidate in Connecticut, the paper's front page carried a report that painted the war in the worst possible light. It opened, "The war in Iraq has become the primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists, motivating a new generation of potential terrorists around the world whose numbers are increasing faster than the United States and its allies are eliminating the threat, U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded.

"A 30-page National Intelligence Estimate completed in April cites the 'centrality' of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the insurgency that has followed, as the leading inspiration for new Islamic extremist networks and cells that are united by little more than an anti-Western agenda. Rather than contributing to eventual victory in the global counterterrorism struggle, it concludes that the situation in Iraq has worsened the U.S. position, according to officials familiar with the classified document."

In its editorial, the Post declared: "Becoming beholden to orthodoxy is not healthy for either party. Compromise is not the equivalent of weakness, and Mr. Lieberman is no sap. He is a person of strong views who believes in listening to those who disagree with him and, if possible, finding common ground. The alternative is gridlock. Mr. Lieberman's brand of centrism and bipartisanship is a needed salve for a divided country, which could use more such lawmakers, not fewer."