ISTR his loyalty and patriotism were questioned and he was vilified in the press and ostracized, to the point that he was kicked out of the Singing Senators barbershop group. Interestingly, the one Republican to publicly support Mr. Jeffords’ decision was John McCain.
He did not run as an independant. He ran as a pub, took pub money for his campaign, and then switched afterwards.
And if you have any cite for his patriotism being questioned by any serious person, I’d like to see it. And no, him saying people did it doesn’t count. I’m getting really tired of people whining that their patriotism is questioned every time they’re attacked.
Didn’t he also run on a promise to use his Chairmanship to lead a strong investigation into the failures of the response and clean up of Hurricane Katrina, only to say ‘bugger all’ and do literally nothing about it after he got elected?
He needs the boot faster than Homer’s car in NYC.
Reid? What a mealy mouth waste of space. Forget the sign on his back Steve MB, he has that as a permanent tramp stamp tatoo, which the Republicans aim for every time.
Bush/McCain= Zap Brannigan; Lieberman= Kif Kroker; Reid= Tinny Tim?
Does Lieberman have any actual convictions? He had to twist his “beliefs” into a pretzel to be Gore’s running mate. He supported McCain, but why? Just the war? That leaves a whole helluva lot in it’s wake, from economic issues to health care to education etc., etc.
Fuck Joe. Cut him loose with no regrets.
Obama want’s Lieberman to stay in the Democratic Caucus
Wow, just wow. Obama’s taking care of business. I’m not sure I agree, but theres no question this is his house.
By several you mean 3?
MA has Kennedy and Kerry, both Dems.
CT has Dodd and Lieberman, one Dem.
VT has Leahy and Sanders, one Dem and one Dem-leaning Indie.
NH has Gregg and Shaheen replacing Sununu, one Dem and one Rep.
ME has Snowe and Collins, both Reps.
RI has Reed and Whitehouse, both Dems.
That looks overwhelmingly Democratic to me.
As a political maneuver, it makes sense. The situation calls for a face-saving solution, so that all the monkeys stop beating their chests and hooting. Pressure from Obama may provide it. The Senate Dems get to say “Well, we were gonna, but Obama stopped us.” And if Figthin’ Joe misbehaves, Obama gets to say “I tried to help you, but you wouldn’t listen.”
Either way, Obama and the Senate Dems both get a lien on Joe’s butt.
Plus Obama racks up magnanimity points, healing gestures, all that good stuff.
And, as well, its good to remember that Obama dislikes and will avoid confrontational drama. And I’m ready for a heaping helping of that, you’d best believe.
Quoth Sitnam:
I disagree with this move… But that doesn’t matter, because President-Elect Obama has rather conclusively proven that he’s a heck of a lot better at this politics thing than I am. If he thinks that playing nice to Lieberman is the right move, I’m willing to accept that he’s probably correct.
Nope. There’s no need to kick out Lieberman. Has he voted against the Dems sometimes? Yes. Did he openly campaign against the Democratic nominee? Yes. Fuck it. We’ve got other problems to fix.
Doesn’t really answer the question of whether he gets to keep his committee seat though, even if he claims he’ll bolt if he doesn’t get to. Given that Reid already said Lieberman could stay if he gave up the seat, I’m not sure Obama’s statement really adds anything.
I’m not sure what your point is. I was responding to Syntropy’s mistaken belief that Jeffords leaving the changing party’s was the reason there would be no remaining House GOP members from New England, which was incorrect since 1) Jeffords in the senate, 2) there are still GOP senators from New England. I never said anything about New England being overwelmingly Republican in its Senators.
- No quibble with that.
- Whuh? The existence of New England GOP Senators has nothing to do with the existence of New England GOP Representatives. Case in point: NH and ME are at the moment entirely represented by Republicans in the Senate, but there’s only one Republican in the House from CT, NH, VT, ME, RI, and MA combined, and he was defeated last week.
- My point was that there are not, in fact, ‘several’ Republican Senators from New England, there are three. (Or there will be three in January, and might be two if Collins weren’t so popular and Allen hadn’t run such a shitty campaign.)
I think the Democratic Party should expel any member who doesn’t follow the party line in every detail. There is no place for independent thought in modern politics.
Getting out of Iraq is a major goal for the Party, and the chair of the Homeland Defense Committee with a possible leadership in the Armed Forces Committee doesn’t want it to happen. How can you not see that as problematic from our perspective? He’s not even a member of the Democratic Party; the discussion is whether he should be kicked out of the Democratic caucus, not the Party… If he acts like an outsider, he can be an outsider, as far as I’m concerned.
Yes, the Democrats should boot him out, and maybe throw turnips at him as he leaves the caucus. Because when you get a majority, the first order of business is to settle scores and make sure you punish everyone who you think has not been ideologically pure over the years. Everyone knows that’s the best way to create a governing coalition and get the moderates and centrists on your side.
They are the centrists and the moderates, Sam. And they are on their side. Its the extremists who just had their asses handed to them.
He actively campaigned for McCain. He traveled with him and helped the old goat out as he fumbled in front of the press. He appeared and spoke at the repub convention. These are not things to be taken lightly. He stepped well over the line.
And he insulted Barack Obama at the RNC, by the way.
Honestly, not booting Lieberman is probably a good way to mend bridges with McCain. Which is probably an important thing for Obama to do.
in 2012 Obama will be campaigning for his own re-election, and would be expected to help down ticket. The democratic nominee stands to get some decent coattail regardless, and Joe should be thinking of how much he’s already pissed of Obama, and how much he can mitigate that in the next four years.
Well, I suppose it depends on who you consider “serious.” Does Trent Lott count? I have a hard time taking someone like Lott seriously, but he was extremely influential at the time.
And I didn’t say there were no House Republicans. Frostillicus said, and I quote: “There is not a single Republican congressman in New England.” It WAS my mistake for inferring Senate, and not including House, but please don’t accuse me of saying something I did not say.