Fredo, You're Nothing To Me Now
Joe Lieberman wants to make friends again. Not sure how Sen. Reid will handle it, but my first course of business come January would be to kick his traitorous ass out of the Democratic caucus. He'll be gone from the Senate in two years anyway, and there's unlikely to be anything substantive that can be accomplished with him that couldn't be accomplished without him.
posted by QueensGuy @ 6:02 PM
10 Comments:
That would be the kind of arrogant, crazy thing the Democrats might do to guarantee their failure. It looks like there are already 44 Republicans who can filibuster if they can stay in line. The last thing Harry Reid needs to do is give another Senator a reason to go against him.
Furthermore, it would make Reid an ingrate. The crazy Dems tried to oust Lieberman, so he ran as in independment, and beat the crazy Dem candidate by 10%. Lieberman then decided to caucus with the Dems. Please note if he had gone with the Repubs, they would have run the Senate!
Also, you're math is off. He's got four more years (long enough to last out a whole Presidential term) and I don't know why anyone would think he's leaving.
Liberman's not going anywhere.
Sigh. Fine, use your "facts" and your "reason" to shoot down my rant. Be like that. See if I care.
Thanks for the sanity check, anon. I'm just a really big proponent of loyalty, and seeing him smiling behind McCain on that plane on Tuesday really pissed me off.
QG, you seem to feel the same way about Lieberman as I feel about "Jeezum" Jim Jeffords, the VT Senator who famously switched his party affiliation out of "conscience" when Bush was elected, costing the Republicans the majority.
Except Lieberman didn't do that. Lieberman, primarily because of his support of President Bush, was ostracized by the party and its supporters, some of whom went so far as to picture him in blackface on their sites.
After winning as an Independent, I'm amazed Lieberman still caucuses with them. How you can remain loyal to a party that would backstab you at the drop of a hat is beyond my thinking.
You're right about one thing, though. There's definitely a Mob mentality with the Dems right now. Anyone with the courage to break ranks shouldn't be surprised at the treatment he/she gets.
Politics, at least successful politics, is not about friendship and loyalty. Lieberman caucused with the Dems because they gave him a good deal and more influence than he would have had woith the other party (don't know if that is still true) and the Dems took him because they needed him for the numbers. While his vote is less valuable with 56-58 votes in the senate, it can still be valuable on certain issues on occasion.
Don't burn bridges unless you are cutting off your own retreat and willing to fight to the death. See an awkward, unpleasant but continuing relationship between Lieberman and the Dem leadership.
By being big here, Obama and the Democrats would make Lieberman seem smaller (and vice versa). I say keep him in and get what you can from him. They will need his vote on many occasions.
Considering the post title is about The Godfather, how can we forget to immortal advice to keep our friends close and our enemies closer?
Good points, all. I think we'll see which way the wind is blowing when we learn whether Lieberman keeps his Homeland Security committee chairmanship.
I think all this talk of "60 people needed for a supermajority" is silly. Whether Lieberman would vote for or against a filibuster when Amy Carter is nominated to the SCOTUS depends entirely on whether Lieberman supports Volokh, and not on party affiliation.
The liberals might achieve 60 votes to break a conservative filibuster, or they might not. But this vote would be liberal vs conservative, not republican vs democrat.
There is exactly one vote, taken every two years, that is a party-line vote: the vote on who will be the majority leaders. If Lieberman votes for Harry Reid as majority leader, he is by definition a Senate Democrat. On every other vote, they can vote however they like without their party affiliation being in jeopardy.
But if Lieberman is pissed off, he may not go along with the Dems when they need him.
And I have detected a touch of personal pique in his recent actions.
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