He agrees with the premise of my light fisking of Richard A. Clarke's assertions against the Bush administration.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said Sunday he doesn't believe Clarke's charge that the Bush administration — which defeated him and former Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 election — was focused more on Iraq than al-Qaida during the days after the terror attacks.

"I see no basis for it," Lieberman said on Fox News Sunday. "I think we've got to be careful to speak facts and not rhetoric."

Something is pretty obvious about Clarke's rhetoric and the timing of these accusations. Contrast Lieberman's rationality with Jimmy Carter's increasing investment in outlandish charges:

The 2002 Nobel peace prize winner said Mr Blair had allowed his better judgement to be swayed by Mr Bush's desire to finish a war that his father had started.

An ex-President repeating the charge that Bush sent troops into Iraq on the basis of some family grudge? Depressing and scary.

UPDATE: Condi fires back at Clarke.