Hey Joe, don't let that door hit you in the ass on the way out, mmkay?

Joe Lieberman went on TV recently to insist that there really were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.

...or er, at least, that Iraq was "developing" them.

Now this is, in itself, no surprise. Joe Lieberman is a boob, and a two-faced one besides. We've long known that. So it's no shock, just kind of saddening in a wholly expected way, to see him trot out this old chestnut in a Q & A with Arianna Huffington (and others):

I'm basing it on the so-called Duelfer Report. Charles D-U-E-L-F-E-R conducted the most comprehensive report on behalf of our government. And it was, nobody thought it was partisan. I want to be very clear: he didn't find big caches of weapons of mass destruction. But he found, and proved I think, that Saddam had every intention, and particularly to develop nuclear weapons, was developing chemical and biological weapons, and had a structure in place including nuclear scientists that he was prepared to support if he broke out of the sanctions, which he was inclined to do.

God in Heaven, Joe. I have every intention of developing my own TARDIS so I can have Cameron Diaz, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Natalie Portman and Laura Prepon when they were good. Which I am inclined to do. Doesn't mean I can be sued for child support as the father of Natalie Portman's baby.

Another thing: Here is an item about the report he cites from the AP:

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004; 5:53 PM
Contradicting the main argument for a war that has cost more than 1,000 American lives, the top U.S. arms inspector said Wednesday he found no evidence that Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991.

Y'get that there, Joe? "No evidence."

Also, from a related Washington Post article on the same report:

Duelfer's report said that no chemical weapons existed and that there is no evidence of attempts to make such weapons over the past 12 years

As I say, all this, like the fact that Lieberman is a two-faced boob, is what we already knew. But what we didn't know, or at least I didn't, is just how patronizing he could be to a woman...who just happens to have better information than he.

Because when Ms. Huffington quiered his assertion, the following exchange took place:

LIEBERMAN: ... these are not unfounded. Go read the Duelfer Report.

HUFFINGTON: There is nothing in the report that proves anything that you have said.


Dripping with condescension, Lieberman retorted, "I don't think you've read it, sweetheart."

(emphasis mine)

Ooh-boy...