Lieberman: Criticism of McCain comment ‘outrageous’

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) leaped to the defense of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) Wednesday after Democrats pounced on McCain for saying it is “not too important” how long U.S. troops are in Iraq.

{mosads}On a conference call with reporters arranged by the McCain campaign, Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, called the Democratic response to McCain’s remarks “another partisan attempt to distort John McCain’s words.”

“To put it mildly, I’m disappointed by these reflexive attacks on what Sen. McCain said on the 'Today Show' this morning,” Lieberman said. He added: “I regret these comments made today, and I hope we can get back to the facts.”

Lieberman was joined by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) on the call, and both men accused Democrats of blowing the comment out of proportion to distract from Obama’s anti-war stance “because they don’t want to talk about the success of the surge,” Thune said.

The McCain camp responded after Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said on a conference call arranged by the Obama campaign that McCain’s comments show that he is “confused” and out of touch.

Lieberman said he finds it “most outrageous” to suggest McCain is out of touch.