Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Carter's Concern

Jimmy Carter says he's concerned that Arab hatred of the United States will only continue to grow given the Bush administration's support for what he calls Israel's "unjustified attack" on Lebanese civilians.

Carter tells Germany's Der Spiegel: "I don't think Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon."

He adds: "What happened is that Israel is holding almost 10,000 prisoners, so when the militants in Lebanon or in Gaza take one or two soldiers, Israel looks upon this as a justification for an attack on the civilian population of Lebanon and Gaza."

Tables Turned?

Connecticut Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman — who's now running for re-election as an independent — now leads the man who beat him in the Democratic primary by 12 points in a poll of likely voters of both parties.

Lieberman tops liberal Democrat Ned Lamont 53 percent to 41 percent in a new Quinnipiac poll, winning the support of 75 percent of Republicans.

Meanwhile, Lamont is working hard to recast himself as a more moderate Democrat for the general election. In a Wall Street Journal article, Lamont says he believes in employer-based universal health care, which would "[provide] tax benefits to small businesses so they can provide insurance without risking bankruptcy."

But Lamont blasted Lieberman for the same tax benefit plan three months ago saying, "He generally has not embraced a lot of the Democratic goals."

Iraq War Flip-Flop

The White House is pointing the finger at commentator Joe Klein of TIME magazine, saying the critic has completely reversed himself on the war in Iraq.

In this week's issue, Klein writes that the president's "disastrous decision to go to war transformed Iraq into a terrorist Valhalla."

But just before the war, White House official Pete Wehner notes that Klein told NBC's Tim Russert that war was "the right decision," saying: "Saddam Hussein has to be taken out."

Klein argued that: "The message has to be sent because if it isn't sent now it empowers every would-be Saddam out there and every would-be terrorist out there."

Scandalous Past?

The judge who ruled against the NSA secret surveillance program was accused of "judge shopping" a suit against the University of Michigan Law school in 2002 to preserve the school's affirmative action admissions process.

The Wall Street Journal reports Judge Anna Diggs Taylor tried to take the case away from Judge Bernard Freedman — who was suspected of being critical of affirmative action — and replace him with someone more favorable to the school's position.

She dropped that attempt only after Freedman publicly condemned her "highly irregular" efforts.

—FOX News Channel's Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.