Democrats to debate kicking McCain fan Lieberman out of party

[WI_DEM]

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Democrats are considering a bid to force U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman out of the party for speaking at the Republican convention and backing Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

The party scheduled a debate Wednesday night on a resolution that would censure Lieberman and ask the veteran politician to resign from the Democratic party.

Lieberman was re-elected to the Senate as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in 2006 but while he calls himself an "independent Democrat" in the Senate he remains a registered Democrat and has said he has no plans to change his affiliation. The four-term senator nearly became vice-president in 2000 as Al Gore's running mate.

One of several Democrats pushing for the resolution, 30-year party veteran Audrey Blondin, said Lieberman's very public support of McCain over Democratic nominee Barack Obama is hurting the state party.

"If you have someone who says they're a Democrat, who is registered as a Democrat and is a national figure supporting a candidate who is opposed to all the ideals and beliefs and positions that we hold as Democrats, he's diluting - in my opinion - the meaning of our party," she said.

Lieberman's staff did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Wednesday.

Blondin said Lieberman's speech at the Republican National Convention, in which he praised McCain and criticized Obama, convinced her the state's Democrats need to take a stand.

"Our point is not that Joe should in some way be prohibited from supporting McCain or speaking at the National Republican Convention. That's not the issue," Blondin said.

"The issue is, he's a Democrat. And Joe, in our opinion, needs to reconsider membership in our party."

The resolution says Lieberman's actions exhibited "extraordinary disloyalty to countless Connecticut Democrats without whom his career as an elected official would never have been possible."

It calls on the party to "publicly censure and repudiate" Lieberman's words and actions and ask him to resign.

There was no immediate indication if the Democratic State Central Committee would vote after the debate. Blondin has received mixed reactions to the resolution and said any action could be delayed until after November's election.

State party chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said she's only heard from a handful of people who want to pass such a resolution now. There are 72 committee members.

"From the calls that I have been getting, people on state central want to be focused on this upcoming election and do not want to be discussing Joe Lieberman now," DiNardo said.

In an opinion piece published Wednesday in the Hartford Courant newspaper, Democratic committee member James Diamond questioned why Democrats would want to impose such a public rebuke.

"The most effective, tried and true American remedy for speech that makes your blood boil is more speech, not censorship," Diamond wrote.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gVpDWBxLeRC-nZRSf0pPs4XK8lDw

[TlalocW]

1. They shouldn't be asking him to leave

They should just strip him of all his chairmanships and other powers. If he wants to stay in the party, fine. Sit in the corner like the class dunce that you are. If he doesn't, no big loss there either.

TlalocW

[olkaz]

2. Sounds like this is a state, not federal thing.

Unless I read it wrong.

[JBoy]

3. To the right, to the right. Everything you own in the box to the right.