General Clark recalled that when he was the supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the 1990’s, he briefed Mr. Lieberman and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“I thought he understood, but he didn’t understand,” General Clark said of Mr. Lieberman. “All that experience, he still rubber-stamped the Bush administration going into Iraq. I like Joe, but I am very disappointed.”

"I want to know what the moral reasoning is for a man who went from being a Freedom Rider to being a torture apologist," [Kevin] Miner asked Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, as some in the crowd applauded. "I want to know how you justify that."

It wasn't the only tough question Lieberman faced from the college crowd in New Haven Friday, where he had gone to announce his idea for making college more affordable. But he answered the question - and others - without apology.

"Obviously I don't accept your second description," Lieberman said, and then launched into a spirited defense of his recent vote on legislation governing the prosecution and interrogation of terror suspects. The approval by Congress of the detainee bill was considered a significant election-season victory for President Bush and the Republicans....

His answer didn't sway Miner, or some of the other students gathered to hear Lieberman speak Friday.

"I'll never vote for him again," said Miner, 24, of New Haven. "Everyone deserves due process. He no longer represents American values."

But a review of the senator's public statements over that same period show he has been neither a consistent nor a forceful critic of Rumsfeld's, and at one point said that it would be a mistake to remove him during wartime.

"It's amazing when you look at what politicians say in campaigns and compare it to what they actually do," said Ken Dautrich, a professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut. "How could Lieberman with a straight face say. . . he's been an advocate for Rumsfeld to be fired or step down? It's clearly not the record. I don't know how else you can interpret that other than a campaign ploy."

It always amazes me how many evasions, half-truths, and outright lies our favorite Junior senator can squeeze into a one-minute sound bite. Watch and learn...

"Deep down, Lieberman is a Republican. That's why I support him," [former Ansonia Mayor Bill] Menna said.