Entitlement Alert: Lieberman. (I-AIPAC)

[SirNitram]

Link

[quote]Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has reached out to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) about the prospect of joining the Republican Conference, but Lieberman is still bargaining with Democratic leaders to keep his chairmanship, according to Senate aides in both parties.

“Sen. Lieberman’s preference is to stay in the caucus, but he’s going to keep all his options open,â€

[The Minx]

I hear Reid has finally nixed his return to the chairmanship of the National Security Committee:

Link

[quote]It seems Joe Lieberman is going to pay for his support of John McCain.
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There’s a good chance Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman will lose his only committee chairmanship next year, according to Democratic aides.

Members of the majority party’s leadership have discussed taking away Lieberman’s gavel on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, perhaps replacing it with a subcommittee gavel, aides said Wednesday.

Such a move would require the assent of the caucus, which won’t get together until after the election.

“No decisions have been made,â€

[SirNitram]

It seems obvious, at least to me, why he's throwing a childish fit over THAT CHAIRMANSHIP, and not accepting any other in exchange.

It's the one that has the authority to conduct investigations of the White House and present Administration.

[frigidmagi]

Well he's being tossed out now, let him go hang with the GOP and see how he lasts then.

[SirNitram]

Unless your marine recon squirrels have info no one else does, it's not decided yet. Here's the rundown of what is known, as of tonight.

1) Rumors of Bill Clinton coldcalling Dem Senators to get support for Lieberman. A spokesman contacted TPM-Muckraker and firmly denied this.

2) Obama has made a terse comment on the matter, thinking Joe should not be thrown out of the caucus. No statement was made regarding his committee post.

Remember: Reid has not made any overtures about throwing Joe out. He simply is planning a vote on the committee chairmanship(Incidentally, the chairmanship that grants the power to investigate the executive branch. Lieberman has never called a session of his committee under Bush. Who thinks this will actually persist, given the venom this guy vomitted out?). Lieberman is conflating this into a 'THROW 'EM OUT' choice, and also threatening to leave if no one lets him keep that specific chairmanship.

3) Lieberman continues to lend his face and name to the rabid right wing. I mean rabid. Needs to see a doctor kind. Both Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West. and The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision For America, ridiculous screeds drummed up to promote racism, feature him. It should be noted Obsession was mass-mailed out in battleground states.



As for Obama: I'm reading this as a 'Good Cop' move. Obama is the unity, post-partisan, no-red-or-blue states guy. He will make nice with Lieberman but likely not go further than his remark here. The key to Obama playing Good Cop, of course, is having a small busload of Bad Cops behind him.

Smile. Yield. Take a nice chairmanship somewhere relaxing. I'd hate to leave all you gentlemen when there's so clearly tension in the room...

[frigidmagi]

I can neither confirm or deny the existence or deployment of any so called marine recon squirrels.

From what I understand Reid must have gotten hit by a piece of flying spine or something during the election because as of last I heard (haven't read the paper today so no idea) he's being very firm on the idea of no chair for Lieberman, or at least not that chair.

Lieberman on the flip side has made it clear that it's chair or walk.

Given that, adios asshole.

[The Minx]

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman managed to keep his Senate committee chairmanship in part because President-elect Barack Obama didn't want to punish him for supporting Sen. John McCain, Lieberman said Tuesday.

The Senate Democratic caucus, following a lengthy and often heated debate, voted 42-13 Tuesday to let Lieberman continue chairing the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The caucus did, however, strip Lieberman of his spot on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

A Democrat in the Senate for 18 years before going independent, Lieberman criticized Obama, the Democratic nominee, during the race for the White House.

"I know that my colleagues in the Senate Democratic caucus were moved not only that Sen. [Harry] Reid said about my longtime record, but by the appeal from President-elect Obama himself that the nation unite now to confront our very serious problems," Lieberman said in the Capitol as those colleagues nodded in agreement behind him. Video Watch Lieberman express regrets over past statements »

Democrats were angered by Lieberman's speech to the Republican National Convention, where he praised his longtime friend McCain and criticized Obama for not reaching across the aisle to work with Republicans during his time in the Senate.

Reid, the Senate majority leader, said Lieberman's criticism of the Democratic nominee had angered him.

"I would defy anyone to be more angry than I was," he said Tuesday. "But I also believe that if you look at the problems we face as a nation, is this a time we walk out of here saying, 'Boy did we get even'?"
Don't Miss

* Sources: Lieberman likely to keep top Democratic post

Obama urged Reid privately to let bygones be bygones, sources said.

Reid dismissed vehement criticism of the decision from elements of the party's more liberal base, which insisted Lieberman be punished.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the Senate's other independent who regularly caucuses with the Democrats, told CNN's Dana Bash he was one of the 13 who voted against Lieberman because while millions of people worked hard for Obama, Lieberman actively worked for four more years of President Bush's policies.

But Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, one of four Democrats who proposed the motion to allow Lieberman to keep his chairmanship, said the caucus decided that it could forgive if Obama could.

"If Barack can move on, so can we," Carper said.

Lieberman, of Connecticut, and Sanders consistently vote on most issues with the Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate including them.

Democrats picked up six more seats in the election two weeks ago. Three more still are being contested in Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota.

Winning those three seats and counting Lieberman and Sanders could give Democrats a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority, which would allow them to advance legislation at will and prevent Republicans from blocking it from getting to the floor.

After serving three terms as a Democrat, Lieberman lost Connecticut's Democratic 2006 primary to Ned Lamont, who was helped by bloggers and others angered by Lieberman's support for the Iraq war. But Lieberman ran in the general election as an independent and was re-elected.

Lieberman was the Democrats' 2000 vice presidential nominee, running with Al Gore.

Along with McCain, Lieberman co-sponsored the 2002 resolution that authorized the U.S. invasion of Iraq and has resisted removing troops. On the campaign trail with McCain this year, Lieberman strongly defended the Republican presidential nominee's call for staying the course in Iraq.

He endorsed McCain's bid in December 2007 before the first nominating contest of this year's election cycle.
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Before the convention speech, Lieberman angered Democrats when he said Obama was choosing to lose the Iraq war by planning to withdraw American combat troops.

"If Barack Obama's policy in Iraq had been implemented, he couldn't be in Iraq today," Lieberman said, referring to a trip Obama was about to make to Iraq. Lieberman added that Obama "was prepared to accept retreat and defeat."

(sigh)

There are limits to the coolness of magnanimity in victory. Being bipartisan when you don't need to be is cool. Not punishing a slimy little Judas is less so.

[frigidmagi]

The man has repeatably stabbed the democratic party in the back, I'm no big fan of party loyalty but there is a limit. Motherfucker should have been bounced.

Eh Well. Maybe next time.

[General Havoc]

Sorry guys, I have to agree with Obama on this one. Lieberman did stab the Democratic party in the back with this election, but he also backed them on quite a few things even after he broke ranks and ran as an independent. Besides, if Obama does this, then that's one more senator who owes him big time when it comes time to deal with Filibusters.

I've always sort of liked Lieberman, despite (perhaps even because of) his battles with the Democratic party and positions on the War. I think this is the smart move.

[Cynical Cat]

Lieberman is a despicable asshole, but his vote is valuable. There's a balancing act between slapping Lieberman down for his antics and looking forward to get legislation passed. In the Dem's place, I would make damn sure Lieberman understands he keeps that precious chair only as long as he's voting with the party. While he retains that chairmanship he still has something to lose.

[SirNitram]

40+ year senators who think they are invincible and beyond reproach deserve to retain their seat only at the whims of their party bosses.

Of course, since Lieberman lost the last dem primary he was in, his party boss is a gentleman also named Lieberman who noticed 'Conneticut For Lieberman' was not retained past Nov 4 of the appropriate year.

And still retains the party.

[Rogue 9]

"Party bosses" can kiss my ass. The political parties aren't written into law, and members of Congress are not obligated to vote with their political party, if any. Lieberman was voted into his Senate seat by the people of Connecticut, and the leaders of the Democratic Party have fuck all to do with whether or not he keeps it, nor should they.

[Charon]

"Party bosses" can kiss my ass. The political parties aren't written into law, and members of Congress are not obligated to vote with their political party, if any. Lieberman was voted into his Senate seat by the people of Connecticut, and the leaders of the Democratic Party have fuck all to do with whether or not he keeps it, nor should they.

I think Nitram was referring to Lieberman keeping his Homeland Security Committee seat, not his actual congressional seat.

[SirNitram]

"Party bosses" can kiss my ass. The political parties aren't written into law, and members of Congress are not obligated to vote with their political party, if any. Lieberman was voted into his Senate seat by the people of Connecticut, and the leaders of the Democratic Party have fuck all to do with whether or not he keeps it, nor should they.

Wow, you're retarded.

Who said jack shit about the Dem party bosses? Not me.

[frigidmagi]

*gasps an eyeroll smiley! YES!* Rogue this isn't about kicking Libermann out of the Senate, it's about kicking him out of a committee chair, which is assigned by the party political leadership.

I should note there's nothing about committees in the Constitution either.

[General Havoc]

Leave him there if he'll play ball. I refuse to get into a foaming lather over Lieberman's "betrayal" of the Democratic party. If he had done the same things, with the same motivations, and the same political positions, save that he had defected from the Republican party instead of the Democrat one, we would be all singing his praises right now and castigating the Republicans for maligning a fine, upstanding senator.

I take a purely pragmatic approach. If the Democrats think he can be trusted to back them on the majority of their agenda (and I think he can), then leaving him in his position only makes sense. This is the sort of snit that I do not want to see the new administration spending political capital on. If instead they think he's just going to shaft them again, then they should drop him.

Obama at least has made his opinion clear, and I have sufficient faith in the man's judgment to back him on it.

[SirNitram]

My problem with Lieberman is very, very simple: He's shitting on his constituents. Lots and lots of promises when he was campaigning against the Dem who beat him in the primary, every one broken. Naturally, politicos do this. But Lieberman is held up by the Blowhard Caucus(Party Affiliation: DC Political Media, Cocktail Parties) as a Very Serious Bipartisan Spokesperson.

[General Havoc]

Nit, which promises were those? I didn't follow Lieberman's campaign for senate against the democrat very closely, and I'm not sure what he promised.

[SirNitram]

Nit, which promises were those? I didn't follow Lieberman's campaign for senate against the democrat very closely, and I'm not sure what he promised.

The two big obvious ones are that he promised not to run more than some specific number, and it turns out the last time he ran, it was the year he promised to retire. The other is to caucus with the Dems, where we had very clear indications he was ready to toss that if they didn't give him his shiny object.

Then of course there's the implied promise to voters when you're in charge of government oversight for two years. And, oh, never call a damn meeting. Not even once.