If liberals spend a lot of time thinking things over, it's because they're always having to deal with conservatives who prefer to simplify the problem until it's black and white, jump in, shoot first, ask questions later (because the rapture is coming anyway) and then blame liberals for the mess because they didn't give 100% support to the mission to bless the world with the glory of America and halt the spread of evolution's teachings.
I can stereotype too.
Well, none of this was a surprise. Swings in Congress are always made in the center, and the leadership is always more extreme in order to give the appearance of "leading" as opposed to middling in the center. The leaders of the Republican party are now Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott, neither of whom are exactly centrist.
And yeah, I forgot about Casey, although compared to Santorum, Casey looked like a downright hippie.
I'm not sure if you were trying to get a rise out of me, but I had no stake in the race. I said after the primary that Lamont and Lieberman were in a dead heat in the polls and that I thought Lamont had a shot in the final election. It looks like he flubbed really badly (he actually went to Maine right after the primary for a few days...why?), and that's the end of that. People like to make a lot out of Lieberman's support for the Iraq war and his criticism of the entertainment industry, but his bite has been far worse than his bark on those issues. And on the environment, social security, taxes, gay rights, gun control and more, Lieberman is as liberal as they come. His "moderate" principals are largely an act, and I don't like his political showmanship at all. But legislatively, I can live with him.