William F. Buckley and Joe Lieberman go back. Way back. Hell, they're still tight. One could say Joe owes his entire 18-year run in the Senate to the support of Buckley and the radical right, who possessed a fierce hatred of Weicker and always knew Joe, though a Democrat in name, would never turn his back on them. And one would be correct.

So one has to wonder how Joe is feeling about Buckley's startling conversion on Iraq:

"It Didn't Work"

...One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed....

Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans. ...

The accompanying postulate was that the invading American army would succeed in training Iraqi soldiers and policymkers to cope with insurgents bent on violence.

This last did not happen. And the administration has, now, to cope with failure....

Mr. Bush has a very difficult internal problem here because to make the kind of concession that is strategically appropriate requires a mitigation of policies he has several times affirmed in high-flown pronouncements. His challenge is to persuade himself that he can submit to a historical reality without forswearing basic commitments in foreign policy.

He will certainly face the current development as military leaders are expected to do: They are called upon to acknowledge a tactical setback, but to insist on the survival of strategic policies.

Yes, but within their own counsels, different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat.

So Lieberman's political godfather joins the ranks of those who "undermine presidential credibility at our nation’s peril". At this rate, the only two people left defending the president's policies will be Joe Lieberman and Laura Bush.