Vice President Dick Cheney, who is currently vacationing at his home in Wyoming, took time out today to be interviewed via telephone about the the implications of his pal Joe Lieberman’s defeat yesterday in the Connecticut Democratic primary. Typically blunt, Cheney was critical of the Democratic Party for having the chutzpah to “purge a man like Joe Lieberman,� a development that the VP viewed as “disturbing.� It was fairly apparent from Cheney’s comments that he and his fellow Republicans plan to play up the stereotype that the Democrats, in catering to the left wing of their party (which, frankly, is not all that far to the left), will be weak on issues of national security and defense and will cut and run in Iraq. Thus, a vote for Ned Lamont or any other “Defeat-ocrat� (to quote the equally blunt Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee) who dares to challenge the Bush-Cheney doctrine will, in effect, be a vote for the terrorists. It must be nice to view the world in such monochromatic hues. In any regard, here is an excerpt of the Vice President’s comments:

Good afternoon. It’s suggested I chat with you a bit just for a couple of minutes here about the Connecticut Democratic primary yesterday, and then I guess, we’ll then be happy to respond to a couple of questions.

I was — obviously, we’re all interested in this year’s election campaign. I know Joe Lieberman and have a good deal of respect for him given that we were opponents in the 2000 campaign; and of course, spent a fair amount of time watching the man and studying him over the years, especially in connection with our debate in 2000. And as I look at what happened yesterday, it strikes me that it’s a perhaps unfortunate and significant development from the standpoint of the Democratic Party, that what it says about the direction the party appears to be heading in when they, in effect, purge a man like Joe Lieberman, who was just six years ago their nominee for Vice President, is of concern, especially over the issue of Joe’s support with respect to national efforts in the global war on terror.

The thing that’s partly disturbing about it is the fact that, the standpoint of our adversaries, if you will, in this conflict, and the al Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task. And when we see the Democratic Party reject one of its own, a man they selected to be their vice presidential nominee just a few short years ago, it would seem to say a lot about the state the party is in today if that’s becoming the dominant view of the Democratic Party, the basic, fundamental notion that somehow we can retreat behind our oceans and not be actively engaged in this conflict and be safe here at home, which clearly we know we won’t — we can’t be. So we have to be actively engaged not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but on a global basis if we’re going to succeed in prevailing in this long-term conflict.

So it’s an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy. [full text]