Just go. Any Democratic leadership with any guts would kick Lieberman out of the caucus for this latest stunt.
“I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I’m going to call them as I see them,” Lieberman said in an ABC News “Subway Series” interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System. […]
Jim Manley, the spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Talking Points Memo’s Eric Kleefeld that his boss is more concerned about the health care push then Lieberman’s latest quips.
“Senator Lieberman may call them as he see’s them, but for Senator Reid, the only thing that he is focused on right now is delivering on the president’s promise of comprehensive health care reform,” Manley said.
Connecticut is a blue state. We don’t need to appease Lieberman in the same way we need to understand and work around the concerns of Democrats elected in traditionally conservative states. In 2012 a progressive candidate will be the Democratic nominee, no matter what Joe says or does. He isn’t voting for health care reform no matter what the Democrats offer him because he’s been bought by the Insurance Industry, and he’s an obstructionist as a chairperson on the committees he does head up in the Senate, so what’s the purpose for paying footsie with the guy who always kicks you in the shins? Where’s the benefit to letting Harry Reid play Curly to Joe’s Moe? Really. Kick him out now.
Slightly off topic, but John Boehner is still less popular than a case of the clap.
for arguments sake, what if the dems kicked lieberman out of the caucus and stripped him of his seniority, committee chairs and membership, and the RATs didn’t take him in…not an unlikely circumstance given the purity purge by the reichwing loonies…what happens?
does he just become a back bencher with no “official standing” other than his senate seat?
does he, by default, get committee assignments?
whatever the consequence, it seems to me, that’s a pretty big stick that harry…who’s rapidly closing in on boehner btw… and the d‘s have.
a serious question…l haven’t any real understanding of this particular bit of senate minutiae.
William Jefferson went without any committee assignments (I believe) after they found $25,000 in his freezer. I don’t think you are entitled to any party’s assigned seats.
but that was the house……are the rules the same?
and l think it was $90k of cold cash they found.
whatever the amount of $$$, it was cold cash.
I don’t think it makes any difference what chamber we’re talking about. And it’s especially true for a pol that isn’t even a member of your party.
aha… essentially he’d be relegated to limbo…ergo, he would become, in effect, totally ineffectual as a representative of CT.
regardless his plans for the future it’d make the present damned unpleasant for him…harry, you paying attention?
l like the potential of that scenario.
Now is not the time. It would be gratifying to see him gone, but keeping him around for now is real leverage. I believe he’ll end up not filibustering against healthcare reform because there’s no real upside to being the lone No-On-Healthcare asshole. If he does join the filibuster, that’s the time to bring down the hammer.
But he gives cover to Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, et cetera. They can claim they didn’t kill Health Care,because it couldn’t get cloture so their votes didn’t matter.
Right now, Joe is just at the talk stage, getting his maverick on.
If he actually follows through, I think there will be consequences. But probably not until January of 2011, when the new Congress sets up its committees. They’ll wait for him to actually make good on his pledge to campaign for Republicans before they kick him out of the caucus.
I don’t know when the appropriate time for him to lose his chair is. Don’t know whether it will be healthcare or some additional issue that will do it. But given the fact of his wife’s employment, some ethics investigation might precede his losing his chair.
But he has made Tom Harkin and some other Democrats furious.
I think joining any GOP filibuster on a major bill is the time to kick him out. There’s no defense for opposing the party on a procedural issue. He can vote however he wants on the bill, but letting it come to a vote defines whether he’s a member of the caucus or not.
To me, campaigning for Reps is far less deserving of expulsion than filibustering with them.
I was not saying what I think; I was predicting what the Democratic caucus might do, why, and when.
For a party caucus, campaigning for the opposition is the unforgiveable sin. They broke this rule by allowing him back into the caucus in the first place.
Has any Senator ever been less grateful that Lieberman? What’s up with this guy? Why the constant need to play lightning rod even when there’s no political upside?
Martyr complex.
Is Obama still protecting him? That’s what saved him the last time.
This is the problem. The other person who announced he may filibuster is Bayh, who Obama almost made Veep (in the final 3 according to the new book). It is harder to trust Obama when he goes out of his way to defend the likes of Joe and Bayh, and hammers the progressive caucus over Afghanistan, but hasn’t even spoken to Joe about the filibuster, according to Axelrod. There are very good reasons to wonder what Obama’s agenda actually is.
Exactly. Not 11th dimensional chess but just down home Illinois political calculus. Try this:
Trust me. It’s very Illinois.
and l thought l was a cynic…that’s a scary scenario.
who knows? the backroom deal with big pharma, and the subsequent death of the medicare+5 robust public option without a vote certainly give one pause.
Sounds as if maybe the wheel has turned full circle once more.
All you old DFHs out there will remember this from the last round.
Thanks for the video! Oh,yes, the Who knew!
As much as I agree with throwing this weasel out on his miserable ass, think of the fallout. AIPAC will be royally pissed, as will the DLC crowd and all of the Clintonistas. Correct me if I don’t recall things properly, but after Lamont won the Dem primary in ’06 didn’t Hillary LOAN Mark Pence to his campaign? With the result being his campaign all but disappeared. The Dems have good reason to fear his allies.