Joe Lieberman is about to go fully Zell Miller on the Democratic Party. Though in fairness to Zell, he just retired and Joe is embracing the GOP while serving in the US Senate as a self-proclaimed independent-Democrat.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, is leaving open the possibility of giving a keynote address on behalf of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) at the Republican National Convention in September.

Republicans close to the McCain campaign say Lieberman’s appearance at the convention, possibly before a national primetime audience, could help make the case that the presumptive GOP nominee has a record of crossing the aisle. That could appeal to much-needed independent voters.

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McCain has yet to ask Lieberman to speak, either in primetime or elsewhere, at the convention. But if McCain thinks it will help make his case for the White House, as some of his allies suspect, Lieberman would be willing to speak on his behalf.

“If Sen. McCain, who I support so strongly, asked me to do it, if he thinks it will help him, I will,” Lieberman said in a brief interview.

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog frames the situation and needed response well:

This is bad because the speech won’t be Zell Miller, it will be Zell Miller plus. The plus is the fact that the press — still — treats Lieberman as the cuddly, adorable, highly appealing independent (I almost typed “maverick”) who’ll make swing voters sit up and take notice…

Endless repetition of the notion that support from Lieberman equals support from a Democrat makes it seem true.

That’s why, well before this speech happens, the Obama campaign needs to neutralize Lieberman. Obama needs to make sure that everyone in American realizes that that elfin, soft-spoken, apparently nice guy is possibly the biggest apologist in America for a war the vast majority of the country hates. Obama needs to portray him as a dishonest faux-naif who acts shocked, shocked, when anyone dares to suggest that he’s exactly what he is, a Republican apparatchik still pretending not to be one.

Will that happen? I doubt it. But if it doesn’t, this speech will do real damage.

I think this is a spot-on assessment and I just don’t see Democrats doing what is needed to inoculate themselves from Lieberman.

Lieberman has been actively campaigning for John McCain since December 2007. He is willing to support Republican incumbent Chris Shays in the CT-04 against Democratic challenger Jim Himes. He has not, to my knowledge, endorsed a single Democrat this cycle. And now he sits on the verge of being a key speaker at the Republican National Convention.
The real question at hand is, what does it take to get someone kicked out of the Democratic caucus?