Apparently Big Joe, like Mitt Romney, is now looking to branch out into the growth field of negative endorsements: a Connecticut paper has now apologized for its endorsement over Ned Lamont, noting that Lieberman has developed an odd predilection for “needling” rank-and-file Democrats, not to mention “taking delight in poking the leadership of the Democratic Party in the eye.” Who’d have thunk it?

In a freak dog attack earlier this year, Big Joe lost the last remnants of his Democratic face-paint

Of course, this editorial about-face is all well and good, as developments in Connecticut go, and no one wants Lieberman ridden out of town on a rail more than VDB.

Still, there’s something distinctly annoying about these sort of ideological late-adopters. Like the hard-core GOP types who now fashionably deplore the execution of The War, even as they continue to laud Bush for launching it.

They’re not only unable to make the right decision when crunch time comes, but their later attempts to bring themselves in line with facts on the ground are often so painfully self-blind. These folks at The Day, for instance, can’t quite bring themselves to state the obvious corollary: Ned Lamont would have been a better Senator for Connecticut, in almost every way.

Still, you have to take grudging and partial insight over full-bore ignorance any day of the week. You have to take it, that is, because there so rarely seems to be any other option.