Lieberman Aide: Booting Him Would Be Putting Politics Ahead Of Nation's Safety

[EV_Ares]

Can you believe Lieberman's crap? Reid should end this now by stripping him of that post and boot his ass out & let him caucus with the republicans.

By: Greg Sargant @ TPM Post:

Lots of people have already chewed over this article in the Hartford Courant, which reports that Chris Dodd is, disappointingly, suggesting that Barack Obama doesn't want a fight over Joe Lieberman's fate.

But get this little snip buried in the article, in which the Lieberman camp makes a rather startling argument in favor of his being allowed to hang on to his Homeland Security committee slot:

"Sen. Lieberman prefers to remain in the Democratic caucus," the aide said. "However, he believes he should remain as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. ... He thinks that political retribution should not go ahead of homeland security."
Can the Lieberman camp really be arguing that stripping Lieberman of his committee slot is tantamount to putting politics ahead of our safety, because we're so defenseless without him there to protect us?

Never mind that Lieberman's performance as chair of the committee was just awful. Lieberman's camp is now sounding a kind of hollow echo of the same silly scare-mongering tactics that he used against Obama on the GOP's behalf during the campaign, only this time in service of holding onto whatever vestiges of influence he has left. It's a coda to this whole affair that's perfect in its desperation and unintentional self-parody.

Separately, in reference to Dodd's point that President Obama won't want to be distracted from governing by a messy fight over Lieberman's fate, one could argue that this is all the more reason to get this wrapped up now. Senator Reid?

entire article w/comments: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/lieberman_aide_booting_him_wou.php

[chelsea0011]

1. Isn't that what he did?

[tularetom]

2. It ain't Obama's problem but he needs to know he can depend on Senate Dems

And so far Harry Reid hasn't made a very good impression with his eunuch like handling of the Loserman mess.

[HereSince1628]

3. What hubris EVERYONE can be replaced...including Lieberworm

[vanderBeth]

4. *head explodes*

Isn't that what Lieberman is doing if he's kicked out? Join the other party because we were mean to him? :banghead:

[spanone]

5. lieberman sided with the party that called the president elect a traitor & terrorist

he stinks up the entire congress

[cliffordu]

15. Beat me to it. He ought to be drawn and quartered. or just fed to Rahm....

[Doctor_J]

6. Typical RepubliCON threatening everyone if he doesn't get his way

Good-bye, Holy Joe

[Hamlette]

7. Remember, Lieberman heads committee to do Presidential oversight

he did NONE under Bush. He would be worse than a fox in the hen house if he kept it under Obama. I fear he would use his position to undermine Obama at every turn. He would also be in a position for confidential briefings and potentially a bad source of leaks.

I don't think Lieberman is to be trusted, at least not on issues like Iraq.

[Honeycombe8]

13. Traitors cannot be trusted. Cut the bastard loose! I don't give a rat's ass what votes...

he blackmails them with! Cut him loose, and let him go to the Repub side and see if he get re-elected.

Give the chair of the committee to someone who has EARNED it, and someone you can TRUST.

[TexasObserver]

8. No Committee Chair. Period. End of story. Like it or leave, Joe.

[libnnc]

9. Elections have consequences, Joe

suck it

[indepat]

10. To infer our nation's safety rests with LIEberman is ludicrous in concept

when considering the harm he has already inflicted. Boot his ass forevermore with gusto and relish. :P

[Honeycombe8]

11. That's a lie. (so what else is new?) LIEberman will vote however best suits...

himself and his constituents.

Question is...do you keep a Benedict Arnold around as head of a key committee 'cause he's blackmailing you by saying he won't vote for your bills in the future? What if he'd tell you that instead of keeping him as chair of that committee, that you'd have to, say, lick his balls instead? Or shine his shoes? Or personally wax his car every month? Where do you draw the line?

Cut the traitor loose from the chair of that committee and give it to someone you can TRUST and who has EARNED it. He'll either vote however his constituents want him to (Democratic), or he'll join the Repub Party and likely not get re-elected.

CUT THE TRAITOR LOOSE, DAMMIT!

[zehnkatzen]

12. Yeah. Certainly Nobody's ever done THAT around here before!

:sarcasm: :eyes: :nopity:

[Prodigalone]

14. Judas needs to shut up

His political career is over.

[Overseas]

16. The opposite is true -- Booting Lieberman would HELP our national security.

Besides the reasons that Republicans endangered our national security and Lieberman backed them so he doesn't understand how to make our country secure,

there's the reason that if Obama kept him on it would appear as though he rewarded traitors.

[Mz Pip]

17. Oh, bullshit

Lieberman is not like the little boy who put his finger in the dike and singlehandedly kept the town from flooding. He needs to get over himself.

We'll do fine without you Joe. There are plenty of loyal senators who are more than capable of working to keep America safe.

[man4allcats]

18. Re: "stripping Lieberman of his committee ... tantamount to putting politics ahead of our safety"

One word: Rubbish!

Okay, I can't hold it to one word - Boot this little bastard now!

There. That's better.

[IndianaGreen]

19. Lieberman doesn't deserve to keep his head attached to his shoulders

so this Joementum whining about his chairmanship is fraking idiotic.