In what seems to be a PR move to augment his speech on Saturday, the White House told The Advocate the Obama administration is in talks with Sen. Joseph Lieberman to come up with ways to get rid of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“On ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ this administration is talking directly to the Hill — we are in direct discussions with Senator Lieberman,” said John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management.

When President Obama spoke to the HRC this past Saturday (I’m still confused why the crowd lost its mind), he was pretty explicit about putting DADT in the dustbin of history. That’s been said many a time before, so my doubt meter is still high. However, you have to give the White House props for turning to Lieberman. He is no Obama fan and would have been happier if his friend, Sen. John McCain, was Commander-in-Chief. Republicans are  madly in love with the Nutmeg State senator (every time Fox’s Sean Hannity mentions the guy’s  name his eyes go wide with flaming love), and the chance of bipartisan support increases with Lieberman as the point person. Also, as reported by the senator’s spokesperson, Lieberman opposes the policy.

“Senator Lieberman has had discussions with representatives of the Administration and others on the best way to reverse this policy, which he has opposed since it was first proposed in 1993,” said Marshall Wittmann, Lieberman’s press secretary.

This glimmer of news is important but until DADT is no more, let there be no rest. So send a letter or two to your representatives.

PS: If you are of the praying kind, please send them to Jack Price and his family. Another victim of anti-gay violence.

In Godfather II Michael Corleone, a man whose heart is so dank he kills his older brother, utters a line that will go down in film history: Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

If Senate Democrats were asking, I would  keep Senator Joe Lieberman inside the circle. Yes he has no honor and carried water like a love-sick child for John McCain. But he’s easier to control, and watch, if he stays as head of the Senate’s Homeland Security committee.

PS: RIP Miriam Makeba.

Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent and a close friend of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, still caucuses with Democrats, which allows them to control the Senate with a 51-49 majority . A spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., indicated Thursday that Lieberman may no longer be welcome.

“Lieberman went too far when he distorted Sen. Obama’s record,” said Reid spokesman Jim Manley. “From Reid’s perspective, (Lieberman) has every right to give a partisan speech to whomever he wants. But he doesn’t have the right to distort Sen. Obama’s record like that. Sen. Reid was very disappointed in Lieberman’s speech.”

Added Manley: “The Democratic caucus will likely revisit Lieberman’s situation after the November elections.”

Asked if Reid was putting Lieberman on notice, Manley replied: “Without overplaying it, the answer is, yes.”

Manley refused to discuss what options Democrats might consider in dealing with Lieberman.

“There is no plan,” Manley said. “I assume this is something the Democratic caucus will discuss after the elections in November.”

There’s speculation that if Democrats bolster their Senate majority this fall, as many predict, they could seek retribution by ousting Lieberman from his Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairmanship, a coveted post.

Lieberman said he’s not surprised that Democrats may seek to punish him. He said electing the right person to the White House is more important to him than partisan considerations.

“I am going to try to do the best I can to get the best person elected, which is McCain, and let the politics take care of itself afterward,” Lieberman said in a telephone conference call with reporters Thursday. “I understand my Democratic colleagues are not happy because I am doing something unconventional. But that, to me, just seems to be what my priorities should be right now.”

Playing his former party’s spoiler, the Democrat-turned-Independent called McCain – not Democratic nominee Barack Obama – the best choice to lead the country forward.

“Sen. Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead,” Lieberman said in prepared remarks. “But eloquence is no substitute for a record – not in these tough times.”

The Connecticut lawmaker, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, argued that Obama has not reached across party lines to achieve anything of significance and has been unwilling to take on Democratic interest groups.

In a clear appeal for backers of Obama’s former rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lieberman said, “Contrast that to John McCain’s record, or the record of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups and worked with Republicans to get important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements, and a balanced budget.”

Lieberman was scheduled to address the second night of the Republican meeting just eight years after he stood before a cheering throng at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and accepted the nomination as Al Gore’s running mate.

He broke with his party over the war in Iraq and used his platform Tuesday to criticize Obama’s national security record and hail McCain’s. Lieberman, one of the strongest backers of the war, said that while Sen. Obama was voting to cut off funds for troops in Iraq, McCain took the unpopular position to support a surge in troops.

“Because of that, today, our troops are at last beginning to come home, not in failure, but in honor,” Lieberman said.

Seeking to reach beyond the GOP faithful gathered here, Lieberman said anyone who’s ever contemplated voting Republican should do it this year.

“Tonight, I ask you, whether you are an independent, a Reagan Democrat or a Clinton Democrat, or just a Democrat: This year, when you vote for president, vote for the person you believe is best for the country, not for the party you happen to belong to,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman also sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, but lost badly to John Kerry. Two years later, he lost a Democratic nomination for another term in Connecticut in 2006, then recovered quickly to win re-election as an independent.

His vote in the Senate gives the Democrats a narrow majority, but these days, he often calls himself an independent.

Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean said Lieberman’s speech would be the most interesting of the night, and shows tremendous courage.

“He’s going to be punished by the Democratic Party and he knows it. But he wants to do it because he thinks he’s the best candidate for president,” Kean said.

Lieberman was also believed to be among those on McCain’s vice presidential shortlist before the candidate selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last week. Bedrock Republicans reacted strongly against the political moderate.

Lieberman’s speech also echoed the McCain campaign story line about Palin: That she is a Washington outsider who courageously took on fellow Republicans in Alaska.

He painted McCain in a similar light, saying he’s not “just another go-along partisan.” Instead, he took on corrupt Republican lobbyists, big corporations and powerful colleagues in Congress.

“That’s why the McCain-Palin ticket is the real ticket for change this year,” he said.

What in the world has happened to Joe Lieberman? Sure he’s been a little bit of a scold over the years and his appeals for bipartisanship ring hollow considering how partisan he is (remember when he opined that asking if Barack Obama is a Marxist is a “good question”); however, it’s fair now to announce the junior Connecticut senator has set up shop on the dark side. Last night Lieberman spoke to a group called Christians United for Israel. The organization is run by the Rev. John C. Hagee, a guy who has made a history saying nutty things. Hagee is such a loon John McCain had to quickly back peddle from the good reverend when he first agreed to endorse the Arizona senator. McCain eventually broke all ties when it was released Hagee once said this:

“Hitler and the Nazis were sent by God, to chase Jews back to the land of Israel.”

Put your eyes back in the sockets. You read right. But Lieberman didn’t allow any of Hagee’s toxic reasoning to keep him from calling the reverend his brother.

The four-term Connecticut senator, who came tantalizingly close to being Al Gore’s vice president in 2000, not only has been campaigning for his pal, presumed Republican nominee John McCain, now he’s publicly criticizing the Democrats’ standard-bearer, Barack Obama. Lieberman has strayed before, most notably switching from Democrat to independent in 2006 to hold onto his Senate seat after a Democratic primary loss.

But the latest betrayal has upset Democrats, who often answer in clipped but polite tones when asked about Lieberman. The reason: The independent still caucuses with the Democrats on most issues except the Iraq war, and he holds their slim political majority in his hands.

“There’s a commonly held hope that he’s not going to be transformed into an attack dog for Republicans,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., an Obama supporter.

Lieberman has wasted no time in questioning Obama’s positions on Iran and Israel, two topics on which Lieberman and McCain agree. Just one day after Obama clinched his party’s nomination, Lieberman joined Republicans on a McCain campaign teleconference call assailing Obama following his foreign policy address to a leading Jewish group.

Lieberman accused Obama of blaming U.S. policies for “essentially sort of strengthening” Iran.

“If Israel is in danger today, it’s not because of American foreign policy, which has been strongly supportive of Israel in every way,” he said. “It is not because of what we have done in Iraq. It is because Iran is a fanatical terrorist, expansionist state.”

Later that day, during a budget vote in the Senate, Obama led Lieberman to a corner of the Senate floor for a pointed private conversation. Without elaborating, Obama told reporters the chat was about politics. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had a similar private conversation with Lieberman.

For his part, Lieberman said he assured Obama he would avoid personal attacks.

“I said, and we agreed, that any time I get out there mostly I’m going to be talking positively about John McCain – and anytime I would take issue with Barack Obama, it would never be personal because I have the highest regard for him personally,” he said.

Still, Democrats were irked. Lieberman seemed to be breaking new ground – shifting gears from simply promoting McCain to taking shots at Obama.

“I’m glad that Barack Obama had a direct conversation with Joe,” Sen. Dick Durbin, Obama’s fellow Illinois senator, told reporters. “I hope that Joe will realize that even though he’s a friend of John McCain’s and feels differently on the war, there are so many other issues Barack stands for that have been a part of Joe’s career.”

Lieberman’s Connecticut colleague, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, said he’s heard McCain talk about keeping a civil tone to the campaign.

“It might be a good message for him to convey to his supporters,” said Dodd, also an Obama supporter.

Obama had backed Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut. After he lost to Ned Lamont, an anti-war candidate, Lieberman defied party leaders and ran as an independent in the general election. Leading Democrats – Obama, Dodd and Kerry among them – then backed Lamont. Lieberman was re-elected with support from the GOP, including praise from the White House and fundraising help from prominent Republicans.

Oddly, Lieberman befriended and dispensed advice to Obama when the Illinois senator arrived in Washington in 2005.

“We have established a very good relationship,” Lieberman says. “I have a lot of affection for him.”

Call it Lieberman’s version of tough love.

The Connecticut lawmaker is willing to speak at the Republican convention this summer if McCain asks. He also has been mentioned as a potential McCain running mate.

Democrats have reason to tolerate Lieberman’s actions. If he were to caucus with the GOP, the balance of power in the narrowly divided Senate would slip away, especially with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., battling brain cancer. Democrats need Lieberman to maintain their 51-49 Senate majority.

Beyond Iraq, Lieberman tends to vote with Democrats on major issues.

“Joe and I have known each other 40 years,” said Dodd. “On almost every issue, Joe is a mainstream Democrat.”

There is speculation that if Democrats bolster their Senate majority this fall, they could seek payback by stripping Lieberman of his Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairmanship.

While there’s no serious talk afoot about punishing Lieberman, Kerry said, “I can’t tell you what happens next year.”