Durbin Comes Out In Favor Of Lieberman

[Bolo Boffin]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1108/Durbin_joins_Reid_Obama_in_saying_Lieberman_should_stay_a_Democrat.html

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (ID-Conn.) got another vote of support from a top Senate Democrat on Tuesday as Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the Connecticut independent should remain part of the Democratic Caucus.

According to the Associated Press, Durbin said Senate Democrats "should be 'gracious in victory' toward Lieberman."

"'Despite what Sen. Lieberman did in campaigning for Sen. McCain, speaking at the Republican convention, he has voted with the Democrats an overwhelming percentage of the time,' Durbin said after a Veteran's Day event in Illinois," the AP reported.

Durbin also said four Senate Democrats have been appointed to review the situation and "recommend possible actions" against Lieberman, but Durbin did not name those lawmakers. Lieberman currently faces a secret vote in the Democratic Caucus next week on whether he should retain his chairmanship.

And does that get accomplished, Mr. Durbin? By making sure Lieberman continues to head the committee that conducts oversight over President Obama.

This stinks. The Republicans are about to toss Ted Stevens from their caucus if he has been elected, and we can't manage to toss this guy out when he stabbed our candidate in the back over and over again.

Mark my words, if Lieberman keeps his position, Obama will be a one-term president. Lieberman will make sure of it. And all of this is Harry Reid's fault. He should have just done it instead of playing stupid little games to keep his hands clean. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Somebody needs to explain this to me. I'm very confused.

Why is this asshole being kept? Why?

[Captain Hilts]

6. The senate, in particular, is very go-along, get-along. It's like a weekly poker game...

you can't piss off your opponents too much because you have to play with them again next week.

These are the kind of compromises that happen in the senate every week. It's also why Dick Durbin and Tom Daschel advised Obama to run for prez NOW before he had a record of doing stuff like this.

Hillary Clinton said, "I live in the real world. I have to compromise sometimes." THIS is what she was talking about.

My opinion is that he wants to be a martyr, let's not accommodate him.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

25. Why hasn't he become a Republican already? nt

[Bolo Boffin]

7. Well, I can only speculate.

1. Lieberman knows where too many bodies are buried.

2. Reid and others really don't care about what Lieberman did. They have to act all mean to placate us, but really they're all cocktail weenie buddies and Lieberman's a stand-up guy to them.

3. Lieberman is threatening not only to go Republican, but to pretend that he's being ostracized because he's a Jew in strong support of Israel. Stupid, stupid, stupid of course (aren't there people on C-Span every day now talking about Rahm Emanuel and Israel?), but it would look bad.

Other than that, I don't know. The third one there is the most out there, in my opinion, and the second one is the one I lean toward most. Anybody else?

[Captain Hilts]

9. Obama campaigned for Lieberman at one point. Most senators have. nt

[Bolo Boffin]

13. Yes, and then Lieberman turned around and couldn't say for certain that Obama was a Christian

He also suggested that Obama was putting troops in danger.

He also campaigned for Obama's opponent in the general election.

Lieberman can be trusted to do what is best for Joe Lieberman. What is best for Joe Lieberman is Obama as a one-term president, and letting him keep that oversight chair is the best way Senate Democrats have of making sure what's best for Joe Lieberman happens.

[Captain Hilts]

15. Lieberman's a shit. No doubt about that. nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

24. We need to grow a pair of balls and have him go Republican nt

[Captain Hilts]

2. Lieberman hasn't the power or backing to make Obama a one-term prez. No way.

Relax.

[Bolo Boffin]

10. Lieberman is chair of the committee that conducts oversight of the executive branch.

What Waxman is doing right now and what Lieberman isn't, Lieberman will start doing once Obama is sworn in. He will hold hearings into every possible impropriety that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity can dream up. He will then show up on Fox News to give the exclusive interviews. His chairmanship is a stick he can use to browbeat Obama in stalemate.

And after four years of scandal after scandal, the moderates who voted for Obama will have had enough.

Mark my words. Lieberman keeps his seat and Obama's only a one-term president. I'll be happy to be wrong. I doubt that I am.

[azurnoir]

22. But you've already said it

"And after four years of scandal after scandal, the moderates who voted for Obama will have had enough."

That much is true, which is why Lieberman would in a back handed way be doing President Obama a favor to stalemate and scandal monger as the Republican mole in the Democratic Caucus.

[spanone]

3. i don't care who backs lieberman....he should G O

[ellacott]

4. There was a reporter who said because Durbin is still grieving his daughter

and because Obama doesn't want him punished that it has caused Durbin to be more charitable. They said before his daughter died he was very upset with Lieberman and wanted him stripped of his chairmanship.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

5. I Don't Mind His Statement. He Only Condoned His Caucusing, Not Remaining Chairman.

It is the chairman position I'm most concerned with, and want to see him ousted from.

[Bolo Boffin]

11. But that's the price of keeping Lieberman in the caucus.

Lieberman has spelled it out. Keeping the chairmanship is the ransom.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

16. That's His Choice. Durbin Is Talking About Us Actually Kicking Him Out.

Big difference.

[cali]

8. bzzzt. Durbin and Schumer are both on record as opposing Lieberman

retaining his chairmanship- and that's the real biggie. You won't find a single dem senator- including bernie who will advocate joe being kicked out of the caucus.

Oh and you forgot to link to your story.

[Bolo Boffin]

12. The link is in the story.

[cali]

14. and again, Durbin is on record as opposing Lieberman's retention of the chaimanship.

[ellacott]

18. That was before his daughter died and Obama is against any punishment

[annabanana]

23. Obama just want him to continue to caucus with Dems...

he has said nothing about the chairs

[ellacott]

26. Either way, it still was a factor in Durbin's revised position

[Bolo Boffin]

28. That's no longer true according to Greg Sargent

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/fineman_obama_and_durbin_want.php

[Bolo Boffin]

20. If Lieberman doesn't keep his chairmanship, he's outa. He couldn't be more clear.

If A = B --

"I am only staying in the caucus if I keep my chair."

And Durbin says A --

"I want Lieberman to stay in the caucus."

Then B is what Durbin has to do to keep Lieberman in the caucus.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. Nobody gets nuthin' for nuthin' in Washington.

They must have Lieberman's itty-bitty seeds in quite the vise, with quite the non-negotiable secret laundry list of requirements for The Silly Little Man® for him to have gotten this far.

Washington is a town where payback is the air they breathe, their strong meat and drink. Somewhere, somehow, Joe is promising to pay a terrible, terrible price to maintain the veneer of his status. If one is lucky enough to drill below that thin veneer, you can bet it is gonna really suck to be The Silly Little Man®.

[Bolo Boffin]

19. Well, that would be good if it's that direction.

How they would enforce it, I don't know. Maybe they have a way. Joe is safe until 2012 in his seat. If he gets a guaranteed seat of such power until 2010, who knows what effect he could have on midterms and then the general in 2012?

This is just bad all around, and I hope it's what you say.

[FSogol]

21. I agree. They should be nice to Lieberman. Nice while they strip him

of his chairmenships.

[Bolo Boffin]

29. The only one I care about is the ...Government Affairs one.

That's the one that gives him oversight authority over virtually anything Obama does.

[Bolo Boffin]

27. Jane Hamscher on why this is important

This is not only about what Lieberman is going to do, but also what his inaction during the Bush Administration allowed to happen:

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/12/obama-wants-lieberman-to-stay-but-at-what-price/

Well, the House has a Committee on Homeland Security too, and its Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight recently found $15 billion worth of waste in 11 Department of Homeland Security programs -- for "projects ranging from airport baggage-screening to trailers for Hurricane Katrina evacuees."

Lieberman, many will recall, was responsible for holding hearings into the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. But after winning his 2006 election with the help of the GOP, he decided it would be too "divisive" and refused to do so.

Good governance is going to be about more than passing new legislation, it's going to be about cleaning up the mess that has been made over the past 8 years. It's going to be about weeding out the graft and greed and corruption that has caused American taxpayers to foot the bill for outrageous deficits. The military industrial complex has been bilking the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security with no-bid contracts for things nobody needs that we're not allowed to know about for years now. The only way we're going to find out about these abuses, and right then, is if our elected officials accept that responsibility.

Not only is Joe Lieberman not doing that job, as Chairman of the Department of Homeland Security Committee he's keeping anyone else from doing it. He happily allowed a seat on the Homeland Security Advisory Council to be doled out as political patronage to a corrupt Bush Pioneer. He has no interest in cleaning up the mess he helped to make.

Got to go. Got to go.

Except as Jane points out, Obama has now also signed onto Joe keeping the seat as well.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/fineman_obama_and_durbin_want.php

AAAAAHHHHHHAHHAHAHAHGGGHGHGHGHGHGHG!!!!