In the grown up world, honorable and reasonable people may initially disagree but eventually compromise upon a collective review of empirical evidence. It was in this spirit, that the nascent Obama administration reached out to Republicans with respect to their proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which finally passed both houses of congress yesterday.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who was a vocal backer of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and was even considered a possible vice presidential candidate for the Republican ticket, will remain in the Democratic caucus and keep his committee chair in the U.S. Senate.
Lieberman's colleagues in the Democratic caucus voted 42-13 Tuesday on a resolution condemning statements made by Lieberman during the campaign but allowing him to keep the Homeland Security Committee gavel. He loses an Environment and Public Works panel subcommittee chairmanship, however.
In the short-term, there are a lot of bloggers who will be angered by this. I am too, but it's not like this is the end of the line for Lieberman. In 2012, he faces re-election and I can't see a repeat of 2006. With the right challenger, Lieberman will lose. Who knows? Maybe he will retire to avoid an embarrassment in a primary.
But the developments today shouldn't be surprising. When the leader of our party says we should let bygones be bygones, I think the Senate Democrats took that and ran with it. Letting Lieberman into the caucus is one thing. Letting him off without punishment is another. They should have stripped him of his Homeland Security chair and let him keep his subcommittee. That Homeland Security assignment is key and having Lieberman head that is not good for pushing a progressive agenda.
I want you to sit back for just a moment and relax. There's so much work to be done over the next few days and you should probably take a minute to rest. While doing so, I'd like you to imagine a US Senate in which McCain worshipping CT Senator Joe Lieberman becomes as superfluous as teats on a boar hog, as my grandma used to say. Joe's moment in the wingnut sun is almost over. He put all his chips on McCranky in hopes of fleeing the Senate for a cushy Cabinet job and now it looks increasingly likely that just isn't going to happen. Over the course of the last 6 months or so, Lieberman has told anyone who will listen how Barack Obama isn't qualified to lead the nation, isn't ready to do so, doesn't put his "country first" and even how he would "hesitate" to say Obama is a "Marxist", but couldn't really, ya know, rule it out. I mean, the man even pulled the full Zell Miller and addressed the Republican National Convention, though, in his defense, he did not challenge anyone to a duel as far as I know.
When will Democratic leaders realize that every time Joe Lieberman spouts right-wing talking points on TV as a "Democrat" or attends a Republican press conference as a "Democrat," that spites their face big-time?
So here's the plan. Immediately after Election Day, if Democrats don't need Lieberman as their 60th vote in the Senate, progressive activists in Nevada will stand in front of Harry Reid's office for hours and read your letters to Harry Reid about Joe Lieberman.
Media will be invited. It will be a grand spectacle, and Harry Reid will get the hint that in the progressive era, he needs to be bold. And the first step is to boot Joe Lieberman.
The event at Reid's office will feature folks reading these letters aloud. I'm told that if enough folks from NY write their own letters, there may even be an event at Schumer's office as well.
Holy Joe goes all in for McCain. Joe knows that his only chance at remaining relevant is a McCain victory. He'll share the stage with both Bush and President Cheney Monday night in Minnesota.
A Republican official tells The Associated Press that Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman will be speaking at the Republican National Convention.
The GOP official said Wednesday that Lieberman would deliver a speech as Republicans gathered in St. Paul to nominate John McCain for president. The official requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to make an announcement.
Lieberman was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee but is now an independent. He has been one McCain's strongest supporters and is considered a contender to be McCain's running mate.
Though this move shouldn't surprise anyone, it is ironic in as far as the fact that Republican senators are seemingly avoiding their own convention at all costs while our VP pick in 2000 is eager wallow in the bloody GOP muck.
In a significant break with his president, Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman took to the Senate floor Thursday to condemn President Bill Clinton's marital infidelity as immoral, disgraceful and damaging to the country.
Lieberman of Connecticut said he was angered and disappointed in Clinton's behavior, and what he called Clinton's "premeditated" deception.
Lieberman said Clinton "apparently had extramarital relations with an employee half his age and did so in the workplace in the vicinity of the Oval Office. Such behavior is not just inappropriate. It is immoral."
Sen. Joe Lieberman defended Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Thursday, calling a New York Times story suggesting he favored a lobbyist's clients "outrageously unfair."
Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats but has endorsed McCain's presidential bid, made his remarks during a stop at a Middletown diner.
"There's no 'there' there," Lieberman said. "I'm so far pleased with the reaction from people because they see no case there. There's nothing new in that story."
In a move that should surprise no one, Joe Lieberman (CfL-CT) will endorse fellow Iraq dead ender John McCain (R-AZ) for president. I can feel the Joementum! building already...
Democratic and Republican sources say that Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut and fierce supporter of the war in Iraq, will formally endorse Sen. John McCain tomorrow in New Hampshire.
A McCain spokesperson declined to comment.
A source familiar with the endorsement said that the two will appear of NBC's Today Show tomorrow morning and at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.
The endorsement could help McCain with independents in the state. Combine that with news that Rudy Giuliani is scaling back his advertising buy there, that the Boston Globe endorsed McCain, and that McCain's rivals are spending most of their time in Iowa.
The endorsement is further evidence of Lieberman's slow drift to the right in American politics and is bound to generate intense anger among Democrats who support him. But Lieberman and McCain have often walked in lockstep together on the prosecution of the war, have traveled to Iraq together, and have worked together on domestic issues like climate change.
The move will heighten speculation that McCain might ask Lieberman to join his ticket.
