Rahm: Lieberman May Face "Consequences" For Speaking At GOP Convention
We now have a second Democratic leader who's willing to whisper that Joe Lieberman just may -- may -- face consequences for using whatever Dem credentials he still has left to try his best to legitimize GOP smears of Obama.
Last week Nancy Pelosi said that Senate Dems wouldn't need Lieberman after the election. Now, in the wake of the news that Lieberman will speak at the GOP convention, Politico's Glenn Thrush got Rahm Emanuel to say the following:
"What you can't do anymore is just roll your eyes and say, 'Oh, that's just Joe.' Lieberman knows what he's doing and there are consequences."
We've still heard nothing remotely like this from Senate Dem leaders, of course. Prediction: The threats towards Lieberman -- public and private alike -- will continue coming exclusively from Dem leaders who have exactly zero direct influence over what actually happens to him.
Late Update: Sam Stein of The Huffington Post quotes a well-connected Hill aide saying that Senate Dem leader Harry Reid is still "non-committal" about Lieberman and will take a look at things after the election.
I sure Joe is soooooooooooo scared.
August 20, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dammit, you stole my thunder. Like traitor joe gives a shit at this point based on all the garbage he has strewn already. He is banking on mcbush winning and the dems begging him to help them out dealing with mcbush.
August 20, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I stole my own thunder by missing the 'm in I'm.
August 20, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
he should be
August 20, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am sorry, but this is ridiculous. Lieberman has the Dems where he wants them. Lieberman knows -- and has known for a long time -- that he has no future if Obama wins. If McCain wins, by contrast, he goes into the Cabinet. So of course he will push McCain all the way, with no holds barred.
The only thing that would matter would be if they stripped him NOW of his chairmanship and told him he is no longer a Democrat in their eyes. But Reid would have to be willing to give up procedural control of the Senate. And of course he won't -- not even to send the loud message that Lieberman cannot speak as a Democrat against the party's presidential nominee.
The rest is all useless bluster.
August 20, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
we really believe he'll be stripped of committee slots if obama wins? I think that's not certain.
August 20, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Regardless of what happens in the presidential race, Lieberman will, come January 3, no longer be the fifty-first vote on organizing the chamber. Reid will be hard-pressed not to do something.
August 20, 2008 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It Depends™.
NC Steve commented earlier today he thought the Senate's organizing resolution remains in force if Holy Joe quits the caucus, but not if he's thrown out. Anybody know for sure if that's true?
If it is, stripping him of his committee chairs could be a freebie. If that pisses him off enough to quit the caucus, tough noogies.
But again, the devil is in the details of the organizing resolution adopted by the Senate in 2007 January. I wish I knew how to research that question on-line.
August 20, 2008 9:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are absolutely correct! The time is now(actually past overdue!) to stand up and count for something. As we approach the anniversity of Katrina, it is now the time to send the message to Joe that he failed the country and the democratic party! This isn't politics; it is the only right thing to do!
August 20, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, the time to do this was the moment Lieberman announced that he would run against the Democratic Party's nominee, Ned Lamont, in the summer of 2006.
Nothing he has done--or could possibly do--would be any worse than that.
The contempt that the Senate Democratic leadership showed to voters in Connecticut by failing to boot him from the caucus at that point is entirely typical.
Reid and his leadership team helped create this monster. They deserve everything they get. American progressives, however, deserve better.
August 21, 2008 12:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I understand the reasons against cutting this guy loose, but holy crap - just once in my life...just once....I'd like to see the Dems do something bold - ANYTHING that requires them to show a little backbone - consequences be damned. It's not like this "cowering in the corner while weighing the political fallout" strategy is doing them any good.
August 20, 2008 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would say that he should be gone automatically if he gives a negative speech... not just of the Zell Miller level but anything that hits Obama. If he wants to go to Minneapolis and just join Larry Craig in giving McCain a knob job... well, it's hard to say I don't care... but it's somehow less offensive / less of an affront to the collective honor of the caucus. Of course, waiting to check the tenor of the speech deprives us the catharsis and spin of kicking him out beforehand.
Here's another take on the whole reorganization: even if he flips and the Rs try to take over, the Ds probably have enough tricks in the parliamentary bag to prevent that. They can argue CT would never have elected a R... and the country elected a D senate in 2006. And there's the precedent of whatever took place in the 1950s (I think one party actually had more seats but remained the minority). Bottom line, they can probably just filibuster the reorg... or, at least, anything substantive the Rs want to do. If the Rs get cute with trying to work around the filibuster, that just sets the precedent for the Ds to get rid of it in 2009. Which would be fine by me... it's a relic, undemocratic, and yet another veto point in a government choked with them.
Yes, the Senate would degenerate into a shitshow... but who cares? It's not like Ds were going to save the world with their September agenda. Also -- more bonus points -- it would keep the vulnerable Rs in Washington... which prevents them from campaigning and further ties them to the national Republican brand. Shit, it might be worth kicking Lieberman out now just to bring about this scenario.
August 21, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can't wait to read that strongly worded letter the Democratic leadership pens to Lieberman. That will show him!
August 20, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like in "Team America" where Hans Blix said to Kim Jong-Il that if he didn't comply with the UN, they will be mad at him and they will write a letter to tell him how angry they are. A carbon copy of that, I expect to happen with Lieberman.
PD: It's kind of dull to used a puppet movie to compare with the political current, but reality is stranger than fiction and sometimes, it fits perfectly.
August 20, 2008 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Consequences? WTF? The guy is begging for a beatin'.
PD: I'm not asking for anyone to literally beat Joe Lieberman, even if a part of me want to punch him constantly in the face. Still, I'm a civilized guy, there's others who deserved the beating more (Rush, Corsi, Hannity, etc.) and I don't think that Joe will stop what he's doing, even with a beatin'.
Enough said. I'm gone.
August 20, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Harry Reid is no different than Lieberman. Both should be held accountable for Lieberman's mouth.
August 20, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Harry Reid is different from Liarman (for one, Harry's not pushing McSame for Preznit).
BUT Harry is not different enough from Liarman to be Senate Leader.
In fact, he stinks, and to Hell with Harry.
~
August 20, 2008 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Voters in Connecticut need to get their act together and start a recall or impeachment petition on Lieberman - like what they did in California back in 2003 when Schwarznegger came into office when Gray Davis was recalled. I'm not sure what the laws are in CT, but do not understand how they can put up with him for for four more years - He was re-elected in 2006. How can his family put up with him even? Harry Reid is a wimp and will not do anything.
August 20, 2008 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
For what it is worth, at CNN the third most viewed article is the one about the uproar around Joe and Ridge being considered as VP. And McCain is compelled today to say he will pick a VP that shares "my principles, my values."
Maybe just maybe Joe might end up being a little problem trigger-happy McCain has to spend his talking points on.
August 20, 2008 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rahm is the one who ought to face consequences for his role in leading the coward caucus.
August 20, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
seeing as how lieberman is no longer a democrat, and seeing as how congress is on recess till god knows when,
why not wait till after the election?
does anyone really think stripping lieberman of his chair now will change his behavior?
so really...why NOT wait till after the election when the dems have a more solid majority in the senate?
i really don't see what good it does to kick him out of the caucus now.
August 20, 2008 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure that Harry will give him a very strong lecture, send him to his room, and then just let him keep his Chair. The Senate leadership has proven over and over again that they are just a bunch of spineless clowns.
August 20, 2008 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Harry Reid is a worm. I know there is a long line ahead of her, but I'd gladly accept Hillary Clinton replacing him if that's what it took.
Sen. Clinton would be a terror on party discipline.
August 20, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately one of the clowns in front of her is my other Senator Chucky Schumer - who blessed us with Mike Mukasey.
August 20, 2008 6:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Schumer is calling for Obama to hit back. I don't think Schumer would have put up with Lieberman nearly this long.
August 20, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh give me a break. I will be willing to bet a steak dinner with all the trimmings that at most -- at most - Lieberman will lose his committee chair and it won't be till around April or May of next year. He will never be kicked out of the caucus. We have the biggest pussyloser as our party leader in the Senate. My 81 year-old Grandma has more balls than Harry Reid.
The one thing I admire about Republicans is they keep their dogs in line. Remember Frist taking away all of Jim Jefford's pork projects because he said some negative stuff about Bush's tax cuts on CNN? Those people don't fuck around.
August 20, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know that Harry Reid thinks he's in a tough spot given the balance in the Senate but he's really embarrassing himself and the party by not committing to any repercussions for Lieberman. Obviously, Lieberman is encouraged by this laxity because he keeps pushing the envelope further and further to the right, to Republicans, and to John McCain. It further reinforces the Republican storyline that Democrats are weak and can't defend America because we can't defend ourselves. Enough!
I mean, Joe Lieberman is a guy who will say absolutely anything to get elected, will join any party to get elected (he'll even start his own!), and affiliate himself with anyone who will help him get elected -- a perpetual climber who has no interest in governance but is very concerned about furthering the Republican agenda. Obama was a good enough man to help Joe Lieberman when he was facing a controversial, tough re-election in Connecticut, and he's repaid the favor with his very finest act of betrayal. This is not a man who commands respect, and he shows none -- unless, of course, you are a Republican.
If you look beyond his fear- and war-mongering sideshow, Joe Lieberman has so little real credibility that the last time he ran for president as a supposed Democrat, he got upstaged by Twiggy, the water-skiing squirrel. Obviously, John McCain intends for 'independent Democrat' Lieberman to function as his beard in order to hide the ghastly conservative ideology McCain hides behind that maverick facade of his.
I say Reid should muster up some of that prize-fighter backbone of his and strip Joe Lieberman's committee assignments from him like super-glued bandages. If not for being reneging on his campaign pledge to support the Democratic nominee, but for his total incompetence at personally approving Michael D. "Brownie" Brown as head of FEMA.
Furthermore, it is my understanding that his continued presence in the Democratic caucus means that he is privvy to Democratic strategy sessions. Why? So Lieberman can find the optimum angle for stabbing Democrats in the back every time we turn around?
Republican bootlicker Grover Norquist once said that "Bipartisanship is another name for date rape"; well, pardon the employment of the expression, but Sen. Reid, you're the one getting screwed, so you could at least stop lying down and taking it with such grace and repose.
Stop rewarding Joe Lieberman.
August 20, 2008 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a brilliant move by the Democrats. Get Lieberman on McCain's ticket so if Obama loses they STILL have a Democrat in the White House. Sort of.
August 20, 2008 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm salivating.
August 20, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who cares about Lieberman. What about Russ Feingold?
Saint Russ has had his tongue up McGoo's asshole for the past month, not only dropping praise in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but showing up to toss McGoos' salad in a recent CNN fluff piece.
We already know Joe is a shitstain.
Now what about Feingold? Why is Saint Russ Protector Of All Things Liberal campaigning for McInsaneMcMurderMcMonkey?
August 20, 2008 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Put another way, is Saint Russ having another International Coffees Ashcroft Flavored moment?
August 20, 2008 11:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe he didn't appreciate being thrown under the bus on FISA. Neither did I.
August 20, 2008 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fair enough.
If that's the case, let Russ pull a Lieberman, go "independent Dem" and continue fluffing the GOP nominee. After which the people of Wisconsin will end his career quite promptly.
At least Lieberman has admitted he wants the Dem candidate to lose. I'll give him that over Saint Russ at the moment.
August 20, 2008 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
He already is Progressive Dem, which is were he always come from on every issue. He's a post-partisan in a partisan world. Too damn bad if you can't understand that one.
August 21, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why is Saint Russ Protector Of All Things Liberal campaigning for McInsaneMcMurderMcMonkey?
Just to piss you off.
August 21, 2008 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
If attacked too hard, expect Traitor Joe to whip out the antisemite card. "We were troubled to see Obama's people going to Syria, and I don't know what to make of these reports of him being a Muslim, but I don't want to believe he is actually an antisemite on top of it all as I've been hearing."
August 21, 2008 4:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
There may be an advantage to dump Lieberman now. Dump him, so when he speaks at the GOP convention, he can be painted as crazed and disgruntled.
Besides, what are the odds that there's going to a tie-breaking vote in the senate in the next few months?
August 21, 2008 4:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds good. And if not, paint him as crazed and disgruntled anyway, which he is.
August 21, 2008 6:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds good. And if not, paint him as crazed and disgruntled anyway, which he is.
August 21, 2008 6:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
John McCain's Plot to kill the U.N. -- Points out McCain's lack of knowledge regarding foreign affairs -- supposedly his strong point!
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-john-mccain-and-his-secretive-plot-to-kill-the-un-903998.html
Unfoturnately, we have to get the truth from other countries rather than our Republican-owned main stream media -- which is a derelict of duty to the American public.
August 21, 2008 8:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gee, you can just hear those brass balls clanging. Not so much.
But, you know, if Rham was talking about a liberal? Oh, he'd be Mr Tough Guy allright pushing the DLC line, allright.
August 21, 2008 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink