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As predicted by many, Joe Lieberman's speech endorsing McCain didn't sit well with a lot of Democrats, and the leadership has practically prepared his excommunication:
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said that Lieberman's status within the Democratic caucus is in jeopardy.
"Senator Reid was very disappointed in Senator Lieberman's speech, especially when he appeared to go out of his way to distort Senator Obama's record of bipartisan achievements in the Senate," said Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley. "The Democratic caucus will likely revisit the situation with Senator Lieberman after the elections in November."
Uh-huh. Consider this:
"He clearly went too far," Manley said of Lieberman.
Democratic leaders have considered stripping him of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The strongest reprimand would be to strip him of all his committee assignments, which would effectively be a banishment from the Democratic caucus.
Simon brought this up earlier, and I posted on my own blog about the fallout from Lieberman's speech, but I'll just say this again: It is purely by Lieberman's will that the Democrats have maintained a majority in the Senate, and considering the way he was first sold out by the Party leadership (although to be fair, Obama did campaign for him in 2006), he's given the Party a lot more than they deserve. As to him supporting McCain, besides he and McCain being close friends, I suspect Obama's opposition to the surge, his support of a premature withdrawal from Iraq, as well as his prevarications on Iran no doubt affected his choice.
I will say that I was a bit surprised that he went out of his way to praise Palin, though, and considering the attitude about Palin amongst many lefties and Democrats, it's no wonder that pissed them off, not that the left-wing base wasn't gunning for him already Let it never be said that opposing your Party is without consequences, not that putting principle above Party wasn't the right thing to do.
UPDATE: I modified this post somewhat, in order to dispel any doubt that I stand with Lieberman. I kinda felt I might not have been clear enough at first.
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Cannibal Feast, extra boiling pot
They threw Leiberman under the bus, and he climbed out from under it and won the election anyway. Then they used him because they needed him. Now they're gonna throw him back under the bus because he didn't kiss their butts in appreciation when they made it clear they were going to throw him BACK under that bus, and run over him with it a few dozen times just to be sure.
He didn't sign on as a speaker at the convention until his party made it VERY clear to him that they WERE going to throw him back under that bus, no matter what he did. Those in control of the DNC are those who threw him under the first time--the Howard Dean crowd that backed Obama over Clinton--and they repudiate Big Tent with a vengeance. Had Clinton won the nomination, Leiberman would have been kept in the fold. She didn't, so he's being ejected with prejudice--and they telegaphed it to him repeatedly. You can bet the DLC faction is taking notes for future reference.
Dumb. This is no Zell Miller Blue Dog, but a lifelong party stalwart, and they've given him the boot out of sheer ideological spite. This is exactly the kind of party cannibalism I've been talking about for years.
The GOP is vocally laying claim to the Big Tent mantle this cycle, and rightfully so. Same old cycle. Party gets majority, party gets to Little Tent Inner Circle power-trippin', other party goes Big Tent....
Yep.
Dumb. This is no Zell Miller Blue Dog, but a lifelong party stalwart, and they've given him the boot out of sheer ideological spite
Exactly. Lieberman was thrown out. He didn't walk out like Miller did.
Had Clinton won the nomination, Leiberman would have been kept in the fold. She didn't, so he's being ejected with prejudice--and they telegaphed it to him repeatedly. You can bet the DLC faction is taking notes for future reference.
I'm note-taking even now. Leaning ever closer to McCain...closer, closer...
The GOP is vocally laying claim to the Big Tent mantle this cycle, and rightfully so. Same old cycle. Party gets majority, party gets to Little Tent Inner Circle power-trippin', other party goes Big Tent....
It sure seems that way.
"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
Just to be clear, Rafique,
Just to be clear, Rafique, Leiberman's excommunication has been in the works for quite some time--if Obama were nominated it WAS going to occur whether or not he spoke at the RNC, and regardless of whom the GOP candidate was. The wheels for that have been turning ever since it became obvious they would not likely need him to maintain that single-vote superiority in the Senate. (The pressure wwas there before that, but until they knew they could get past that margin, it wasn't a done deal.)
Had Clinton won the nomination, she would have brought Leiberman back into the fold. Instead Obama won, the Dean left still has the reins, and Leiberman was scheduled for enthusiastic post-election bus-tossing.
Blaming it on his appearance at the RNC is just wrong. It was inevitable from the moment Obama got the nomination, regardless of the GOP nominee. The only "opposing the party" that Leiberman did was on the war, and on not lying down and letting the first bus mulch him into the pavement. That was enough.
Yeah, I think you're right Tully.
It's clear tat they've (the Deaniac wing) only kept him around while he was useful to them, and have been waiting for an excuse. Obama could do what Hillary would've done (and what he did in 2006), but he mostly likely won't this time, as it would upset the base.
And yeah, they sold him out over the war, no matter how much the antiwar base says otherwise.
"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
John 16:33