Demagogue

NewsMax.com, the conservative, popup-ad-ridden website, is posting a four-question, online poll on other websites to assess support for wingnuts’ favorite Democrat, none other than Sen. Joe Lieberman. It’s amazing the sudden affection that the far right has for the man they once mocked as “Loserman.”

Online polls are, of course, totally unscientific, but this poll does remind us just how obsessed conservatives remain with Hillary Clinton. One of the four Lieberman poll questions was this:

3) Does Senator Lieberman's loss in the Democratic primary help or hurt Hillary Clinton?

This is a silly question given the fact that Sen. Clinton (unlike her husband) never played a visible role in Lieberman’s primary campaign. Yes, she issued a very low-key, pro forma endorsement, but that was it.

She’s running for re-election herself this year, and probably trying to connect with big donors who can help fund her likely presidential campaign in ’08. And the rest of the time she is preparing for interviews and going over news clips with her press person. Trust me -- what Joe Lieberman is doing or thinking is not at the top of her list of concerns.

Conservatives’ obsession with the Clintons encourages them to see virtually any event through the Hillary filter. This leads me to propose some other questions for conservatives to waste their time pondering:

* Does the Emmy award that Julia Louis-Dreyfus won for best actress in a drama series help or hurt Hillary Clinton?

* Does the decision of prosecutors not to charge John Mark Karr with murder in the JonBenet Ramsey case help or hurt Hillary Clinton?

* Does the New York Yankees’ ability to hold onto first place in their division help or hurt Hillary Clinton?

These 3 questions are only slightly more silly than the one that NewsMax.com came up with.