Who's dumber?

Joe Lieberman or his campaign team.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) further inflamed his party's liberal base yesterday by opposing two Senate measures seeking to limit the scope of the war in Iraq.

In doing so, Lieberman may have further jeopardized his chances of defeating businessman Ned Lamont in the state's Aug. 8 primary. Lamont, a political unknown until a few months ago, has drawn national attention and rising poll numbers at home in recent weeks -- especially after he drew support from a third of the delegates at a recent state party convention.

"This is further evidence of why a lot of people call Joe Lieberman 'George Bush's favorite Democrat,' " said Lamont spokeswoman Liz Dupont-Diehl.

Liz throws out the red-meat and what does Lieberman's spokeperson say in response...

Lieberman spokeswoman Marion Steinfels acknowledged that Iraq is an "emotional" issue, but she dismissed any impact of the senator's votes yesterday on the primary contest.

"There are a lot of other things the voters of Connecticut are worried about," she said.

As evidence, she pointed to a Quinnipiac University poll in May that showed 12 percent of Democrats said they would vote against a candidate solely because they disagreed with his position on the war.

Good grief, is that the best you can do Marion? It's tough defending a dishonest politician like Lieberman but nonetheless, your comment is pretty sad and as weak as it gets. Thankfully, the Post didn't let you off the hook with your nonsense.

Quinnipiac polling conducted earlier this month, however, showed Lieberman ahead of Lamont by 15 points among likely Democratic primary voters, a somewhat slim margin, given that the challenger was virtually unknown statewide and Lieberman has a long tenure in elective office.

Keep up the great job Lieberman staff, you're making Lamont's job that much easier.