October 29, 2008 01:58 PM
Good Riddance: Lieberman likely to lose committee chairmanship
Perhaps this is why HolyJoe is now trying to make nice?
Democratic leaders are discussing a major reshuffling of Senate committee chairmanships, according to multiple sources, and the proposed changes include ousting Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) from his coveted chairmanship.
Lieberman, a former Democrat who supports Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president, is likely to lose his gavel on the Homeland Security Committee he has chaired since January 2007, say the sources who see him being replaced by Sen. Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), the committee’s third-ranking Democrat.
Memo to Harry Reid and the rest of the Democratic caucus: We may be a big tent, but traitors are not welcome in it. Period.
You know if we had 70 democratic senators, then i'd be the first guy to say F*** Joe Liberman
Yes, it looks like we will get the 60 vote majority we need but burning bridges before we have a solid 60 is not a good idea
He burned those bridges himself a long time ago. Majority or no, he should have been removed then.
Allowing a WcCain campaign adviser to do that was silly or rather clever...
I can't stand Senator Lieberman. However, in the unlikely event that the Democrats get 60 Senate seats (and the current projections I've seen fall short of that), not all Democratic Senators vote in a block.
How many commenters complain about DINO Senators? To overcome GOP obstruction, President Obama will either need the support of conservative Democrats, liberals Republicans or Senator Lieberman (or all three).
After this election the political winds of change will have blown hard enough to sway the moderate republicans IMO.
He burned those bridges himself with his own tomfoolery. Now he wants to kiss up? If he loses his seat, he knows why.
NOBODY 2012
It doesn't matter, honestly. Lieberman's completely shameless. Once the Republicans lose power he's going to be sucking up to the Democratic Party for fear of being left out in the cold by everyone.
Anyway, even if that wasn't the case, good governance demands that we remove a corrupt politician like Lieberman from a committee chairmanship and replace him with someone trustworthy to the American public.
I'm quite confident that Joe Lieberman will not just caucus with the Republicans, but make the jump to become a full on Republican in the near future. We should take advantage of him as long as possible, but not be held hostage.
have they been waiting for?!!!
Dump the jerk NOW
There's absolutely no need for a "fillibuster proof majority" to kick Holy Joe out. Anything over 51 Dems and he should be on the fast track to obscurityville.
The man has already lost his integrity. Losing a committee chairmanship is nothing compared to that.
Get the fuck out of the committee, the caucus and the Senate.
Get the fuck out of my political world.
Get the fuck out of my memory.
You lost a primary and kept LaMont from his rightful seat.
Get the fuck out and stay the fuck out!
Punk!
Lieberman is Israel's favorite American son and before the Dems strip Lieberman of ANYTHING they'll have to check their AIPAC handlers to make sure it's a-okay.
Just sayin'.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Be sure to check with Pastor John Hagee, McCain's best bud and founder of CUFI-Christians United For Israel. Joe the Schmoe gave the opening address for them in DC this summer,AFTER McCain allegedly cut ties with Hagee.BTW
BTW, Sarah Pain's Wasilla church is qa sister affiliate of Hagee's Assembly of God congregation in SanAntonio,Texas AND Rod Parsley's congregation in OHIo,and its Third Wave Pentecostalism.
they were the ones that picked her!
One assumes it was for the money and the power base, it beggared the mind to think Joe L. who has a wife from a holocaust survivor family would willingly choose to keep company with the Rev. Hagee and his anti-semetic views language.
Hagee: "Hitler was good for the Jews"
Hagee: "Jews dont have human souls"
from one of Hagee's hate filled fundie books from the 90s
And of course Palin and her fundie Alaskan AoG spawn are of the Hagee mindset.
The AoG removed the detailed webpage of pastor Khalin's many Israeli sermons, something not very PC about the content no doubt.
Google cache still had it tho, very revealing in the titles of the sermons.
old enough to remember Howdy Doody??!! Doesn't Joe LIEberman's mouth just remind you of the semi-articulated jaw of Howdy as he spewed his idiocy??!!
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
He reminds me more of Phineas T. Bluster, one of the other characters....or does Bluster remind me more of McCain?Actually, I think McCain LOOKS like Jiminy Cricket,Pinocchios conscience.Oops, wrong again.[Spinocchio?] But McCain May be GREEN with envy,like Jiminy Cricket,after the election!
I'd respect Howdy, not Joe the Ho.
Gives new meaning to HOJO!
Sorry. All I see is Droopy :-D
NOBODY 2012
I agree that Joe should lose his chairmanship, that goes without saying. However, the comment, "We may be a big tent, but traitors are not welcome in it. Period." smacks with the same type of hypocrisy that been a colossal problem on the right for far too long. This "If you're not with us, you're against us" mentality has to lessen so whether or not the dems pick up over 60, progress can move forward.
This is not, "if your not with us, you're against us." It is you're against us and you fought against us in all standards of morality, you are no longer welcome to represent your position.
Wow, this is real touchy-feely crap. How is this hypocritical: "We may be a big tent, but traitors are not welcome in it. Period."? How? This is NOT a with us or against us thing in any way shape or form. This is a "You said you'd investigate 9/11 but you never did.", "You said you'd caucus with us; however, your voting record has not shown that since your return as an Independent", "You have openly supported McCain and openly lied about Obama" sort of thing. So how is Reid being a hypocrit.
Sometimes it's OK to kick someone out. Sometimes it's OK to say bad things when those bad things are indeed the truth.
Lieberman bucked the decision of his own party's candidate and should expect no favors now that he's no longer a Democrat.
"adlight" has it about right, here. Yes, sometimes it is OK to dump someone, as most here are advocating, but I honestly doubt that the Dems get 60 – it's possible, but doubtful. Plus the landscape, though more favorable, is not as clearcut as you are thinking.
Most of the Republicans left standing, mostly deep Southerners and Mountain Westers, will be the reddest of the red, hyper-partisan and probably unwilling to compromise on much of anything (Lincoln Chaffee ain't around no more). The Dems, on the other hand, reflecting the many regions they inhabit will vary from the mostly progressive in say much of the Northeast to the downright conservative in the South with the Mid-West and West falling mostly in-between.
Also, sorry, but Dems have never been the lock-step, militants of their counter-parts and they are going to need all the bridges to compromise they can get. Some issues will be easier than others. I imagine the so-called moderate Republicans (all two or three of them) will be able to break away sufficiently and compromise with the Dems on some issues, but they might need Holy Joe to be the bridge whether you like it or not. This is politics, boys and girls, and it is the art of compromise that wins the day.
Republicans lost sight of compromise, moderation and, well, sanity during the past 16 years and it finally caught up with them (it took longer than I'd have liked, but the emotional impact of 9/11 gave them a few extra years that I doubt they would have had otherwise). The leadership of the Dems probably recognize this (which is why, for political reasons, they chose not to pursue impeachment and to "compromise"/give-in on some Republican legislation that I and many others thought should be defeated) and probably won't over-react.
Lieberman will probably loose his chairmanship. Actions have consequences. But, like it or not, he could help pull in the Susan Collins and the Arlen Specter and, on occasion, maybe even Ron Paul and, yep, the "great compromiser," John McCain (who hopefully will be forced to stay in the Senate after the election), because, as I stated earlier, most Republicans, with Sarah Palin as the new "ideal," will be in no mood to compromise.
Think about it.
Sorry, the same reasoning was used right after 2006 - "we need him for 51." But he screwed us every chance he got. And we got a Congress that did next to nothing.
No matter whether we get 60 or not, Holy Joe needs a swift kick in the ass out that door. He CAMPAIGNED AGAINST the Democratic candidate, fer Chrissakes.
Fuck Lieberman. Good riddance to a worthless human being.
Go Joe,"Joe the Schmoe"! Good bye,good luck, good riddance-and don't let the door hit you on the way out.Mazel Tov,motherf-----!
KerryNow, Different Anon, and Leadership.
Fuck Joe Lieberman.
Get him gone!
Let us adhere to our higher road and instead ask those who are hopelessly obstructionist to please stand aside for the good of the Nation.
SENATE Dems: Uhhm yeah, Joe, we're gonna need to go ahead and move you downstairs into storage B. We have some new people coming in, and we need all the space we can get. So if you could just go ahead and pack up your stuff and move it down there, that would be terrific, OK?
JOE LIEBERMAN: Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler...
"Fuck the deficit. People got no jobs. People got no money." –Charlie Pierce
the original joe the plumber of new depths.
Joe Lieberman should be the second Senate Democrat to lose his job.
I apologize for yelling, but there is no way I can emphasize this enough:
HARRY REID SHOULD BE THE FIRST SENATE DEMOCRAT TO LOSE HIS JOB
Democrats will continue to flounder as long as they retain the same horrible leaders they've had for the last two years. I know it is too much to ask (because the party is corrupt, inept, and nearly worthless), but Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer, and Emanuel should all be dumped.
I've always felt that Pelosi put impeachment off the table, because she knew that Bush was guilty of impeachable offenses AND that she and other Democratic leaders were culpable as well.
Political parties clean house after major defeats. In this case the Democrats need to clean house after a major victory that will have been won by default, not because of any achievements of their own.
Boot Pelosi from the Speaker's post.
Make Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) Speaker of the House!
both Reid and Pelosi.
Worse than weak. Worse than cowardly. Beyond, far beyond, worthless.
Worthless---------pricesless!
Lieberman, Pelosi and Reid should all get their walking papers. They didn't do their jobs and should be ashamed of themselves.
GO CINDY!
NOBODY 2012
the very good people of San Francisco give Nancy the boot and elect Sheehan.
GO CINDY!
be a GOP enabler.
Every vote for Sheehan is not a vote against the GOP.
absofuckinglutely. I consider them traitors. They duped us in 2006. Well, there's an old saying in Texas, probably here too, 'fool me once, shame on you. fool me..fool..me...won't get fooled again!'
I'll be glad to never hear his whiney, half baked voice again.
What a whimp. Can we trade him to Al Queda for something??
The audacity of hope-----------no more chimp and no more wimp!
Lieberman is a traitor to the democratic party - always has been and it's time to give him one swift kick out the door. Good riddance is right!
Lieberman must go -- not because he's a "traitor" (let's leave that kind of nonsense to the Wingers), but because he has worked specifically and aggressively to defeat the Democratic presidential candidate, as well as wider Democratic interests.
Joe's behavior over the past decade has shown that he is simply not a valuable asset to the Democratic Party. His post-election behavior in 2000 was grotesque and was materially helpful to the Republican's theft of Florida and the election. The results of that disaster are plain for all to see. Principle to Joe is not a core value, but a kind of fetish, that he plays with when it suits his fancy.
Since then he has repeatedly undermined Democratic interests at key times, culminating in his endorsement of John McCain. Now, if McCain were actually a man of intelligence, integrity, and judgment, Lieberman might be forgiven for supporting him as a matter of principle. But by all reasonable measures, McCain is a dishonest hack, with no integrity, horrendous judgment, and precious little intelligence. If Joe were acting on principle, he would have abandoned McCain when he chose Palin to be his running mate.
Joe's gotta go.
Gee, what a shame....yuk,yuk,yuk!
So long, Leeb, don't let the door hit ya where the Lord split ya....
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
I hope he get the forgivness he seeks from his Lord -- but I doubt it
Couldn't happen to a bigger ass-holier than thou.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
he must lose all of his committee memberships
he can sit in the senate...he has won that right
he has lost the right to represent himself on any committee
he isnt a traitor...he is a liar...
http://wvgazette.com/News/200810180251
Unfortunately the media will sell it as both parties losing their moderate centers.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
they didn't do this two years ago. Holy Joe should have had his chairmanships stripped the day he was inaugurated as the INDEPENDENT senator from Connecticut.
He's an a$$, couldn't happen to a nicer guy. He should be ostracized and ridicules every chance we get.
Why is this even an issue? Dems need to take away every chair he holds and ban him from caucuses and meetings. People in Connecticut need to replace him as well in the next election - Bu-By Shlomo
Joe! If the door hits you in the ass on the way out... all the better.
Poor Joe the loser, hitched his wagon to another loser.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Can we put a dunce cap on him and sit him in the back of the senate as an example of what happens to turncoats?
This is great news, Lie-man's not only been a traitor to the Dems, he's been a traitor to America in supporting the unAmerican neocon's violence in the ME.
Is it the 21st century yet?
I agree that we need to be mindful of the political considerations---but first and foremost, we need to respect political integrity and loyalty. The Democratic party needs to stand for more than the ease of political compromise over the riskier path of political courage.
Lieberman needs to go irregardless of what happens in the election as a lesson on what happens when you willingly sell out your party for your personal ambition. Foregiveness my ass--in this case they would be enabling a traitor. So long Joe, and good riddance. You took the risk---and lost.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
"bmw 528" makes an interesting point, but I'm not sure I agree (and not just because "political integrity" might be an oxymoron). There is a point where political considerations can be disastrous. Case in point, former Rep. Sen. Lincoln Chaffee.
In 2006, Chafee, who had been both popular and moderate, had to fight and defeat Steve Laffey, a far-right mayor, for the Republican nomination of R.I. Laffey was chosen by the Club for Growth to "teach a lesson" to Republicans who "strayed" from far-right orthodoxy being pushed by Bush, Rove and Rep. leaders. When, in part, due to the party in-fighting, Chafee was defeated in the 2006 election by Sheldon Whitehouse, the party lost its Senate majority and is now looking at even bigger losses that could leave them in the minority for a decade or more.
Integrity in politics is not an oxymoron---it has been compromised by weakling panderers that value the ease of political convenience instead of the more difficult, demanding, but more worthwhile path of political courage and risk taking.
Your point has two problems---the conditions that existed in 2006 are different now and second, you reference the Republicans, who have a far different set of issues than the Democrats do today.
We need elected officials that don't buy into the cynicism that says that the values of honesty, integrity, and other centered service are inconvenient obstacles to be cast aside when necessary, but inviolable bedrock principles that always guide us.
Compromise in politics is necessary---but has limits. Lieberman crossed the line and deserves to pay for his transgressions.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
I'm glad to see Liberman go but Akaka is about the dimmest bulb in the whole of the Senate. Personally, I like to see a replacement who has the intellectual capacity to take on so serious and important responsibility.
Gee you folks really got it in for Lieberman.
Don't you even know that Barrack Obama praised Lieberman for his "big heart" and "keen intellect" and urged his reelection so that he could "continue to work in our behalf".
Yeah.
Good call, Barrack.
you guys gave up already?
We can agree to disagree unlike Rethugs who want to assimilate everyone.
has anyone seen joe lieberman and joe the plumber in the same room?
i'm just sayin...
Lieberman is like the stain in my shorts that just won't go away until I toss them out.
He's not even a Democrat anymore. He's an Independent.
Asshole.
me-oww!
they'll suck up to anyone.
Some stuff you can't make up!
It's not worth a thread if it has not happened.
Save the goddamned keystrokes.
Some stuff you can't make up!
should be ruthless and final. he should only be allowed to sulk away and disappear in the disgrace he has made of himself.
.
Connecticut,
Do America a favor and vote LIARman out...
Preemptively yours
Thanks
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Feed Americans.
Lieberman is a liar and a traitor to his country as well as his party.
Lieberman has helped cover-up the massive crimes of the Bush Administration by making sure as Chairman of the Homeland Security committee that no investigations take place exposing them.
Senator Akaka is a poor choice to replace Lieberman because he has bought into the idea of a “unitary executive” during times of crisis. While chairing one of the Iran-Contra hearings he immediately stopped the questioning of a Senator from Texas about the (COG) "continuity of government" planning that Oliver North was working on. COG is a euphemism for suspension of the Constitution nullification of the Congress and Judiciary. North thought that those dissenting to Reagan’s (more likely GHW Bush’s) campaign of terror and mass murder throughout Central and parts of South America should be imprisoned. You can still watch the disturbing You Tube video of the exchange.
We need someone who believes that the Constitution is adequate during crisis and should be defended, especially from domestic enemies within the government.
Peace,
JK
Update: I'm wrong
I sincerely apologize to Senator Akaka. I relied on my (faulty) memory and did not check it. It was Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii that was chairing the hearing referenced above. Interestingly he just reaffirmed his endorsement of convicted Sen Stevens. It is Sen. Inouye that should not be trusted and should be voted out.
Sorry again,
JK
Poor poor Lieberquisling...couldn't happen to a nicer turncoat.
I simply cannot see the new Democratic administration continuing to go with the tacky name of "Homeland Security". I think it will be promptly changed. Does anyone have any ideas as to what it will be called? This "Homeland" business is a Texas thing. I'm sure our new administration will not want to be reminded of it.
Has always smacked of "Vaterland" and "Mother Russia". It is the cute and cuddly mask for a police state.
Person or Humanland?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
suggests any kind of party loyalty. If you think that Joe would be a part of a 60 Senator Democrat majority, you have not been paying attention. Joe betrayed the party when he endorsed McCain and everyone knows he'd have been the VP candidate if McCain had really had his way.
Joe will do exactly what he has always done: use whatever leverage he thinks he has to make JOE LIEBERMAN important and the center of attention.
DUMP HIM NOW and if there were anyway to do it, DUMP HIM LAST YEAR!!!!!
What's holy-joe doing with his hands?
Describing sarah palin's jugs?
Preferably filled with Cragmont grape soda?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
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