McConnell and Lieberman

Isikoff and Hosenball tell us what we already know–McConnell is a liar (only the crack headline artists at Newsweek call this "an error"). But here’s an odd detail in their story about McConnell’s petulant confession.

After questions about his testimony were raised, McConnell calledLieberman to clarify his statements to the Senate Committee on HomelandSecurity and Governmental Affairs, an official said. (A spokeswoman forLieberman confirmed that McConnell called the senator Tuesday but couldnot immediately confirm what they spoke about.)

Usually, when someone lies to Congress and "realizes" it, the process for clarifying testimony is simple. You write a written clarification. But that’s not what McConnell did. He talked to Lieberman personally, on the phone, leaving no public record of their conversation.

Now here’s the original exchange:

MCCONNELL: [The new FISA law] was passed, as you well know, andwe’re very pleased with that. And we’re better prepared now to continueour mission; specifically Germany, significant contributions. Itallowed us to see and understand all the connections with –

LIEBERMAN: The newly adopted law facilitated that during August?

MCCONNELL: Yes, sir, it did.

Maybe I just have lost all trust in Lieberman, but the original exchange sure seems like a set-up to me. "Hey Joey," McConnell says, "Why don’t you throw me a softball on the FISA program?" And then later, "Um, Joey, that softball your threw me? Well, I hit a foul ball. How do you want to handle it? I don’t want to lose the benefit of the erroneous claim. But what cab I do to protect myself, legally?"