About Lieberman

[JVS]

Until we know how the pending senate seats go, there is good reason for those in charge of making decisions regarding his political future to delay in deciding whether he should be kicked out of the caucus or stripped of his committee chair.

[onenote]

1. to be clear about this: the chances that he will be "kicked out" of the caucus are zero

He may (and I hope he does) lose his HSC chairmanship.
He may choose to leave the caucus if he doesn't get what he wants.
But there is no scenario under which he would be "kicked out" of the caucus

[hfojvt]

2. not really

Stripping him of his chair is a no brainer.
It's the right thing to do, and it's the prudent thing to do. He can still chair an education committee or a technology committee, areas he has an interest in, but he should lose the security committee, because a) he deserves some penalty for his perfidity, otherwise why shouldn't anybody cross us over anything if there's never any price to pay, b) he cannot be trusted with it.

I mean if we let him keep that chair because it supposedly gives us a fillibuster-proof majority, then what is to prevent Lieberman or any other Democrat (perhaps one who doesn't have an important chair to lose) from voting AGAINST cloture? After all, there is clearly no penalty for betraying Democrats. How many times can we keep moving the Rubicon and pretend it means something to say "don't cross this line"?

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. You can't easily vote him out his chair later Bayh was wrong about that

this was pointed out by a Senate Rules Historian. The next chance to do
it is in 2010 or 2012 otherwise you are looking at filibusters and a dragged out process.


Are you ready to wait that long?

[JVS]

5. What is the deadline for that? I would think that in order to have that vote, we need all results.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. When chair assignments are voted at the beginning of the new congress

The maneuvering begins long before the vote. I don't think that Reid is so ignorant
that he would ignore what needs to be done before hand. The one thing that
was said in Sen. Reid's favor for leadership was that he was one of the best that understood the Senate
rules and processes. Don't forget the Senate goes into recess soon until the new session.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/14/bayhs-defense-of-lieberma_n_143863.html

[Warren Stupidity]

4. No no no no no.

Nobody is kicking him out of the caucus, that will be his decision. But that chair ought to go to the next in line LOYAL democratic senator. Lieberman cannot be trusted with the committee empowered to investigate the executive branch. Lieberman's vote is problematic no matter where he caucuses or what position he holds. He held that chair the last two years and voted against our party on important issues time and again. He has been an obstructionist and an agent for the neocon cartel at least since 2001. We might need his vote, but I can guarantee that no matter what we do we won't get it when it really matters. So you would be rewarding his foul behavior for no gain at all. Let him go caucus with his friends in the Republican Theocratic Fundaloon Homophobe Party.