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Whatever
The proposed defenestration of Joe Leiberman is at hand.
Senator Says Secret-Ballot in Private Meeting to Determine Whether Democrats Punish Lieberman
Senate Democrats will vote by secret ballot on Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman ’s fate this week, according to North Dakota Sen. Byron L. Dorgan.
The caucus is due to meet Tuesday to decide whether Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut, should be punished for his aggressive support of Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., for president.
...Lieberman, then, will be able to know how many of his colleagues stood with him but will not know their identities.
Apparently the Democrats believe that secret ballots are good things. Unless, of course, they're for union organization drives.
UPDATE: Leiberman keeps his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, gets symbolic slap on wrist with minor subcommittee chair loss. Vote was 42-13. Bernie Sanders (Socialist-Vt) is annoyed.
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I hear knives sharpening...Mr. Obama, it's time to step in now.
I said it before, and I'll say it again, that the Lieberman issue is the first test of Obama's bipartisan commitments.
Oh wow, the use of the secret ballot is ironic, huh?
"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
Go Obama!
as a Lieberman fan, I'm glad he did this :)
Rachel
I brew the beer I drink
What exactly are you happy Obama did?
Obama didn't do anything, he's in Chicago planning his presidency. Quite frankly, I don't think he deserves praise or criticism for how the Senate treats Lieberman.
--Fern
Because it could have gone the other way
Because it could have gone the other way - a purge - and he could have spearheaded that with no condemnation except from us bloggers.
Rachel
I brew the beer I drink
most of 'em
Well, presumedly he knows or can easily guess most of those who'll support him, right?
I am going to go ahead and guess that because the people making this vote are fellow politicians and not wingy rank-and-filers, there will be enough sympathizers to keep the wagons circled. Guess it depends on the power of the ambitious folks eying Lieberman's plummest slots, though.
__________
I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy for those who think, and a tragedy for those who feel. -Horace Walpole
Understand that the reason
Understand that the reason for the secret ballot is obviously not to protect his fellow Democrat Senators from each other or from Leiberman, but to protect them from their own constituents should they vote (or not) to toss Leiberman out the caucus window.
HopeChange®!
I think it is more to
I think it is more to protect themselves for the Kossacks who seem to want Leiberman's head on a platter if they don't toss him out. I suspect the secret vote makes it easier for them not to kick him out.
Jim, those Kossacks only
Jim, those Kossacks only count insofar as they can swing votes in the respective Senators' districts. Which votes can (technically, ACORN notwithstanding) only be cast by said Senators' constituents.
I was never talking votes.
I was never talking votes. I was talking about money raising power they have been developing. That is a group that will turn and cannibalize one of its own without a second thought. They will probably be on a crusade to find the infidels after this vote and try to run other, more aligned with their insane view, in their place. Granted, they have been after Lieberman for sometime and I may be giving them more credit than they deserve. However, I suspect there may be Democrats that fear them.
I also suspect that the vast majority of voters could not care less on this issue.
I was always talking
I was always talking votes.... ;-)
They will probably be on a crusade to find the infidels after this vote and try to run other, more aligned with their insane view, in their place.
No doubt (the very theme of my ongoing "Cannibal" series here) though the more astute may notice the vote total and calculate the "benefit" to be derived from that before acting precipitously.
Or maybe not. They are, after all, the Cognitive Elite!
I think I will go with maybe
I think I will go with maybe not. This is an amusing thread(in a perverse way) where the Kossacks are getting the pots ready for some cannibal stew. Even when they win, they try to take themselves out.
Oh, they always have at
Oh, they always have at least one pot on the fire, ready for new offerings.....
Dems do the right thing, amd Lieberman keeps his spot.
I'll consider this first test passed. The Kossacks are indeed in a general uproar.
"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
Woo-hooo
Rachel
I brew the beer I drink