Cenk Uygur: Do you think Joe Lieberman is the most right-wing senator on foreign policy in America right now?

Ned Lamont: Look, he’s certainly to the right of the mainstream of the Republican party when he’s talking about bombing and ground invasions of Iran. Look at the bipartisan study group. The one thing that Jim Baker’s group said was “talk to the countries in the region. Talk to your enemies. Talk to Iran. Talk to Syria.” And my God if anything has come out that’s slightly positive of this Bush Administration in the last few months is that they have now had some beginnings of conversations with the Iranians. And this is just what Joe Lieberman is trying to squash. It’s really unfortunate.

Cenk Uygur: Do you think…and that’s a great point there Ned because do you think Joe Lieberman is taking a right-wing flank attack against the president? Because let me set it up this way: You’ve got Robert Bennett of Utah, a very conservative Republican of course. You’ve got Lamar Alexander. You’ve got Jeff Sessions of Alabama…and Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority leader all saying, “Hey in September we’re going to change direction. You’re going to have to follow the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations for withdrawal.” And the president seems to be listening to that to some degree…we can’t tell to what degree. Everyone’s trying to influence the president in a certain direction. And now here comes Lieberman to the right of all those incredibly conservative Republican senators, trying to push Bush in the opposite direction instead of, you know, bringing the troop levels down, he wants to escalate conflicts in the region by attacking Iran. Do you think that he is coming to the right of all those people to try to bring the president more to the right in foreign policy?

Ned Lamont: A lot of what Senator Lieberman does he does with the understanding of the Bush Administration. I hope he is not carrying water for the president. I hope this is not part of a concerted effort where the White House is not going to start threatening military action more and more. This is just the initial thrust to have Senator Lieberman throw this idea out into the market place and see if it gains any momentum.

Cenk Uygur: Well, you know, in the past the Neocons have floated these ideas, like you say, with a great deal of coordination. Then you’ll see all over FOX News Channel, and then you’ll see the Vice President talking about it. Do you think there’s any chance Lieberman has already, behind the scenes, talked to the Neocons, including all the way up to the Vice President to coordinate this PR effort to attack Iran?

Ned Lamont: Look, I have no idea. But I do know that during our campaign, the Republican National Party and Senator Lieberman’s campaign were closely coordinated. They were on message. They worked the campaign and they worked the issues together. So there’s no reason to think this has stopped now.