A tale of two incumbents.

On August 8, while three-term Connecticut senator and former vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman was defeated in a Democratic primary by Ned Lamont, Republican Congressman Joe Schwarz of Michigan lost a primary to former pastor Tim Walberg.

In the last Conservative Index compiled by THE NEW AMERICAN, Rep. Schwarz compiled a score of 10 percent. After being soundly thrashed by Walberg, Schwarz--predictably described in press accounts as a "moderate"--complained that Walberg's triumph was "probably a victory for right-to-life, anti-abortion, anti-embryonic stem cell groups but it's a net loss for the Republican party because it just pushes the party farther to the right."

Apparently Schwarz--whose voting record places him to the left of most House Democrats--considered it his mission to provide "balance" to the supposedly right-leaning GOR And here's where the story gets really interesting: Schwarz, who has to be considered a socialist by any rational reckoning, was supported by President Bush in his primary against Walberg. Which is to say that it was the pro-abortion, socially liberal, deficit-loving Schwarz, rather than the Christian conservative Walberg, who was President Bush's kind of Republican.