By Adam Kushner 

Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, who has this year displayed enthusiasm for the candidacy of his friend John McCain, muddled through his GOP convention speech tonight like a reluctant accomplice. Those who expected to see shades of Democrat Zell Miller, who delivered a fiery attack on John Kerry and the Democrats in 2004, were surely disappointed.

Lieberman explained in brief why he thought the Democrats were too partisan for this moment in history. But his argument was largely about John McCain’s character, his record, and his suitability for the job. “I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.” Lieberman defended McCain against Democratic attacks, urging voters, “Don’t be fooled by some of these political statements and advertisements. God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man. … If John McCain is just another partisan Republican, then I’m Michael Moore’s favorite Democrat. And I think you know that I’m not.”

But throughout the speech, Lieberman’s tone was pleading, not indignant—placid, not animated. Contrast the way he frowned while waiting out applause lines with the way Miller egged on the delighted GOP crowd in 2004.

Lieberman: “Senator Barack Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who I think can do great things for our country in the years ahead, but, my friends, eloquence is no substitute for a record, not in these tough times for America.”

Miller: “John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak, more wobbly than any other national figure.”

The crowd at the Xcel Center was polite. It applauded at the right lines. But there wasn’t much red meat for Republican delegates in Lieberman’s earnest paean to bipartisanship. Lieberman may be right that Democrats have not often reached across the aisle, but then neither have Republicans. Bipartisanship is little desired during an election, and even this cycle, which Lieberman called “no ordinary election,” is no different. The energy inside the hall paled next to Fred Thompson’s speech, which itself had only a few truly feisty lines.

The strangest part of the speech was Lieberman’s hasty endorsement of Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate, even though she strays far from his politics and the security credentials he says draw him to McCain. The conventioneers seemed to know he was reaching and rewarded him more gratefully here than at other moments. He said that “the bureaucrats and power brokers are not going to be able to build a pin to keep in these two mavericks”—and, in doing so, may have signed his own death warrant from Democratic Caucus membership in the Senate, where his colleagues could strip him of seniority and committee posts in the event of an Obama victory.