I respect Lieberman for doing the right thing on national security, but his post-election posturing shows how even honorable Democratic politicians are willing to pander in a desperate effort to avoid permanent ostracism by liberals.

Let's keep our eyes on the big ball. This isn't about Lieberman, but the Democrats' steadfast refusal to support the good guys against the bad guys in the War on Terror and their excommunication of anyone in their ranks who dares to buck their thought police.

While Republicans are pointing to the Democrats' purging of Lieberman as proof they've marginalized themselves as the party of Cindy Sheehan, Democratic operatives and leaders are boasting about the development and what it portends for 2006 and 2008.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he is more confident than before Lieberman's defeat that Democrats can recapture control of the Senate. Sen. Chuck Schumer joined read in saying, "The results bode well for Democratic victories in November." Sen. Kennedy called the election a "clarion call for change."

But these Democrats, perhaps unwittingly, are just reinforcing what we've been saying about them: They have no constructive solutions and no policy agenda other than to oppose and trash President Bush and "his war." Reid and Schumer admitted as much when they essentially dismissed Lamont's role in the election, saying it was "a referendum on the president more than anything else."

Liberal Slate magazine confirmed this Democratic mindset in an article following the July debate between Lieberman and Lamont by conceding that "Lamont is less a candidate than he is a conduit" for the expression of displeasure against Lieberman for supporting Bush on the war.

Hopefully, Democrats will continue to glean the wrong message from this election and believe they can rely exclusively on an anti-Bush wave to carry them to victory instead of resuming their long lost role as a credible party offering an alternative agenda. Such ill-begotten and delusional smugness is exactly where we want them to be going into 2006.