Defense industry says Sen. Lieberman will be ‘hard to replace’

[kpete]

Source: The Hill

Defense industry says Sen. Lieberman will be ‘hard to replace’
By John T. Bennett - 01/20/11 06:37 AM ET

The retirement of Independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman will remove from Capitol Hill a powerful proponent for robust Pentagon spending and weapons programs.

Lieberman, a hawk on foreign policy, has long been considered a friend of defense contractors, both in Connecticut and across the country. With his retirement still two years away, the senator will still have a chance to shape a number of critical foreign-policy debates, including over withdrawal from Afghanistan, analysts say.

“He is a giant of the Senate, to me just as important on national security as Kennedy was on health or Bradley on finance or Domenici on the deficit,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a national security analyst at the Brookings Institution. “In that regard he is very, very hard to replace. With luck we will be through the worst of the Afghanistan experience before he leaves, but other challenges where his wise counsel would help the nation surely loom ahead.”

The Democrat-turned-Independent’s retirement announcement comes about one year after another powerful Connecticut senator, Chris Dodd (D), announced he would leave the chamber. Those departures will leave some defense firms looking for new champions in the Senate.

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/138979-defense-industry-lieberman-will-be-hard-to-replace-

[HereSince1628]

1. Oh, I am just CERTAIN that Senator Petraeus will fill the bill.

and if he doesn't there is always Senator Mullen

[Roland99]

2. Boo fucking hoo

[freshwest]

12. Yeh-yuh! And don't let the door hit you on the way out, Joe! Scat!

May he be replaced the anti-war Democrat who beat him in the primatry last time!

[Kolesar]

3. “Taxpayers expect their members of Congress to provide aggressive oversight of defense spending, but

... Sen. Lieberman more often played the role of caddy to the defense industry, rather than watchdog”, Brian said. (Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.)

Lieberman has at times teamed up with conservative Republicans like Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and former Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri in fights to maintain weapon programs that the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama wanted to terminate or overhaul.

Pratt does engine work in Connecticut, while another UTC unit builds Black Hawk helicopters. General Dynamics designs and builds submarines for the U.S. Navy at its Electric Boat shipyard. And firearms-manufacturer Colt Inc. leads the list of smaller defense firms that have a presence in the state.
===
The Project on Government Oversight sounds like a good group.

[yellowcanine]

4. I guess it never occured to them that some people don't need replacing, One moves on and is better

for it. Did we "replace" George W. Bush? No, we elected Obama. That's what I'm talking about.

[DCKit]

5. They've had how many years with him, and they STILL can't build their own Gollum?

Jeebus.

[ProudDad]

6. Hell, no...

there are hundreds of war lovers lining up to take his place...

[CTyankee]

7. Well, now we know where Joe's next job will come from...

how much you wanna bet he finds a nice, safe, well paying job with them, to no one's surprise...

[Enrique]

8. here's what they mean by hard to replace

Defense: Top Recipients

Top 20 Senators

Rank Candidate Amount
1 Lieberman, Joe (I-CT) $270,650
2 Talent, James M (R-MO) $228,100
3 Nelson, Bill (D-FL) $188,700
4 Santorum, Rick (R-PA) $131,700
5 Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $125,740
6 Allen, George (R-VA) $124,790
7 Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA) $119,350
8 Burns, Conrad (R-MT) $116,450
9 DeWine, Mike (R-OH) $112,700
10 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) $103,700
11 Kennedy, Edward M (D-MA) $95,550
12 Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R-TX) $92,175
13 Kyl, Jon (R-AZ) $88,500
14 Byrd, Robert C (D-WV) $81,000
15 Akaka, Daniel K (D-HI) $76,100
16 Stevens, Ted (R-AK) $72,900
17 Nelson, Ben (D-NE) $71,725
18 Sessions, Jeff (R-AL) $71,000
19 Cantwell, Maria (D-WA) $66,251
20 Ensign, John (R-NV) $62,650

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=D&cycle=2006&recipdetail=S&mem=Y&sortorder=U

[freshwest]

13. Wow, thanks for the facts on the link.

We desperately need to move away from producing weaponry to doiong something of value to all of us.

Some of those on the list are there because their districts have been promised jobs, and they couldn't think of another source no doubt.

What jobs did CT get from Lieberman's support? Or are we talking just plain militarism on his part?

[MilesColtrane]

9. "Defense industry says Sen. Lieberman will be ‘hard to replace’"

"We've never known another Senator who could fit all of our balls in his mouth at the same time."

[Nihil]

16. DUzy!

:rofl:

[DenverDad]

10. God, I hope so!

[harvey007]

11. It's not too late to clone him

:hide:

[formercia]

14. No he won't

There will always be some scum-sucking politico ready to sell out the taxpayer for his 20 bits of Silver.

[Thor_MN]

15. Don't worry Defense Industry, he's just going to go live on a farm...

[dipsydoodle]

17. Great loss to the garden compost industry too.

Shit is in short supply.

[Javaman]

18. Defense water carriers are a dime a dozen these days. nt

[fascisthunter]

19. We know... he worked for you and not the people

and he will be remembered as a prostitute for the military industrial complex, helping to create wars so you will need to sell more guns, bombs, etc. He's a very sick , shallow man, and I hope he lives in hell from here on out.