| While it hasn't been mentioned much here, there is quite a stir being created by Joe Lieberman (Lieberman for Lieberman-CT) with respect to his absolute trashing of Obama, Obama's patriotism, a 60 seat Democratic majority in the Senate and even the willful failure to shoot down the lies about Obama's being Muslim (not that there should be a problem even if he was).
Since Lieberman is (1) not a Democratic Senator except in his own mind when it serves his ego (2) did everything he could to make sure that there was not a Democrat in the White House, (3) spoke at the Republican National Convention against Obama and (4) failed to conduct any oversight whatsoever in his role as Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the Senate - not into the Katrina failure, not into, well, anything - he really hasn't earned the right to be in a leadership position in the Democratic Caucus. If he wants to continue caucusing with the Democrats, that is fine (and something that Obama has said he would like to see). However, caucusing and being Chairman of a Committee are two different things altogether.
This pertains to NJ in a very tangible way. When Senator Lautenberg returned to the Senate in 2002, he was rewarded for saving the Senate seat by being stripped of the 18 years of seniority he previously built up. This also held true when Hubert Humphrey returned to the Senate after serving as Vice-President under Lyndon Johnson.
Taking the actual precedent out of the mix - both Humphrey and Lautenberg returned to the Senate in order to further serve their own party. Lieberman has threatened repeatedly to leave the Democratic Caucus, has actively undermined the Democratic Party at every turn, and has now threatened to possibly caucus with the loser party er, republicans, if he doesn't keep his Chairmanships.
My initial thought is "screw him, get his ass out of the caucus". If the Democrats win all 3 outstanding Senate races, that will bring them to 60 with Holy Joe, who is certainly no guarantee to vote with the Democrats on many issues anyway. In fact, it will probably be easier to get someone like Snowe or even Voinovich or Specter to vote for cloture more often than having a Lieberman threat every time he wants something. The bottom line is that he is only out for himself and frankly, is a whiny petulant self serving ass who is certainly no friend of the progressive movement.
A vote is scheduled next week among the members of the Senate Democratic Steering Committee with respect to whether Lieberman should be stripped of his Chairmanship. And while neither of our fine Senators are on that Committee, a subsequent vote may be held with respect to Lieberman's future and seniority.
To date, I have not seen any comments by either Senator Lautenberg or Senator Menendez on Lieberman's election season antics, and would be interested to know where they stand on someone who pretends to be a lifelong Democrat but acts more like a Judas. The phone number for the Senate switchboard is (202) 224-3121, and you can be connected to either Senator's office.
If you do call and do get through, please share any comments or reactions, as it may only take a few "brave" (meaning actually doing the right thing when their party is stabbed in the back) Senators to provide enough cover for other Senators to do the same.
Also, if you want, FireDogLake has a petition that you can sign if you want to Dump Joe. |
