Harry Reid: We're Watching Lieberman's Conduct In Prez Race "Very Closely"

[Ichingcarpenter]

Is there anything at all Joe Lieberman could do in the presidential race to get Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to take punitive action against him?

Or will Lieberman, who supports McCain, be free to lodge all the gutter attacks against Obama he pleases, without facing any consequences in terms of his committee chairmanships?

The question is one that many Dems are asking right now -- particularly in light of attacks such as this one from Lieberman in which he claimed that Obama's alleged endorsement by Hamas reveals a "difference" with McCain.

It turns out that Harry Reid himself answered this question the other day: He claimed that, yes, Lieberman could go too far. Reid was asked by Keith Olbermann late Friday night whether there's anything Lieberman could do to get his Homeland Security committee chairmanship stripped. His answer (via Nexis):
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SEN. REID: Yeah, of course. Understand, Keith, that our margin of being a majority has been pretty slim....Our majority is 50 to 49. And with Joe voting with the Republicans on the war, we didn't have a majority...

But I think the facts are that we're going to watch very closely.
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We trust Reid will forgive us in advance for being skeptical of this.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/harry_reid_were_watching_liebe.php

[orleans]

1. my opinion on reid: grrrrr n/t

[NJmaverick]

2. Once Obama wins the the Dems getting a working majority in the Senate

Traitor Joe is toast

[NightWatcher]

3. he tags along with McWarPig all the time and has acted like a little disciple

He has tried to hold the Dems hostage with his "independence" in exchange for his chair seat. I say "screw him" more Dems will ride the nominee's coattails into office in November and we wont need him at all. Take his chairs, Harry

[Old and In the Way]

4. Harry, how about stripping him of the chairmanship of DHS?

Not like he's actually doing anything with this chair. Might even send a signal to the media that we don't condone ex-Democrats who are really carrying water for the Republican candidate. Let him caucus with the Republican...its not going to change the organization rules for this Congress and, after November, he'll become as irrelevant as he really is.

[Catch22Dem]

5. He should have never been slowed to keep his chair in the first place

I say strip it now. Why wait?

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Today Lieberman Parrots Obama Hamas Smear

It was only a matter of time, really. If you ever doubted that Joe Lieberman would be using what's left of his "Independent Democrat" credentials to legitimize the GOP's bogus "Hamas endorsed Obama" attack, here he is on CNN doing just that...

When Wolf Blitzer pointed out that Obama also labels Hamas a terrorist organization, making his position the same as McCain's, Lieberman said, "that's true," adding that Obama "clearly doesn't support any of the values and goals of Hamas."

Then, with depressing predictability, came the inevitable caveat:
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" But the fact that the spokesperson for Hamas would say they would welcome the election of Senator Obama really does raise the question, "Why?"

And it suggests the difference between these two candidates."
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Lieberman is clearly emerging as a chief attack-dog for McCain on foreign policy, and here he is echoing McCain's talking points with unerring precision: While we all know that Obama doesn't in any way support Hamas or its goals, it's okay to use the group to tar the Illinois Senator anyway, merely because McCain and the Republicans want to.

One wonders whether Harry Reid will keep this sort of stuff in mind when considering committee chairmanships in 2009.


http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/lieberman_obamas_alleged_endor.php

[MercutioATC]

7. If Harry had any testicles,Lieberman would have been stripped of his committee appointments long ago

Harry isn't going to do shit.

[GoesTo11]

8. Time's running out for Joe and Dems

After the election, assuming a larger Democratic majority (larger than 1), and we hope a Democratic president, Joe will have no chairmanship. He will become a Republican but they won't have much use for him either. 6 months until the election, and Joe no doubt hears the clock ticking. His only hope now is for McCain to win. Hence his behavior. If there's a Dem sweep, expect Joe to try quickly to make nice with Dems, retire and sell his services as a lobbyist.

[izquierdista]

9. Harry has been under the gun...

But after November, all Joe is going to have is a novelty gun.

[Gman]

10. So you would hand the chairmanship of Homeland Security over to the GOP?

Lieberman's not a Democrat. What's the problem?

THis won't be an issue after November when the Democrats will likely pick up as many as 5 Senate seats while Obama loses 40 states.

[Bucky]

11. Lieberman has the Sen Caucus over a barrel. But he's clearly preparing an exit anyway

There's a really high bar on what Lieberman can get away with right now. There's a whale of a lot that Democrats can do because he's keeping our guys in committee chairs. Reid knows this, so he's putting up with a lot more shit from Lieberman than he would from any Democrat. Lieberman himself seems to be going through a sort of tribal identity change on par with what, say, Ariana Huffington did six years ago--only Joe's going from sane to insane.

Still, he ain't chugging the koolaid on Bush, so he prefers keeping the Dems oversighting the Bush bunch (which is why he isn't switching sides--he certainly would be able to negotiate a committee chair if he really wanted to re-caucus with the Republicans.

Joe used up his last lifeline with his 2006 reelection. With the McCain endorsement--and now with some of the more cockamamie quotes he's putting out on Obama--he's clearly running out of options with the Democratic caucus. I'm sure at some point in the last 18 months he's figured out that he's living on borrowed time with his current chairmanship. With the Dems poised to definitely take a strong lead in the Senate in 2009 (at least 52 seats and probably closer to 55 seats in Democratic hooves) his overplayed leverage of caucus jumping will be exhausted.

Had he kissed Reid's ass, he might have hung onto his chair; but with his continuing distance from others in the caucus, he must realize he couldn't survive a challenge to a second term chairing that committee. That leaves one option for him to exit the Senate with any power--John McCain. By making himself invaluable to the Republican presidential effort (still a long shot, but not so long a shot as being the critical vote for Senate control has been), Lieberman is setting himself up for a dicey slot in the McCain administration. If McCain actually wins (God help us) certainly Joe can deservedly take some of the credit for that.

He's wanted SecDef for some time, but UN Ambassador is probably a more likely spot for him. Whatever he gets, his senate bridges are burnt. I'd lay 1 shot in 3 that he won't fill out his whole Senate term.

[leftofcool]

12. Sure, Harry, sure you are