So what does Lieberman have on the Democrats?

[Stoic]

No, really. What kind of evidence does Lieberman have over the Dems that keeps him in the Caucus. As predictable as sunrise, he comes along at the 11th hour and spits in the Dems stew and they wring their hands once again and don't do anything about it. Also predictable are the protestations of support from the usual Dem suspects when asked to criticize Fighting Joe over his traditional Stab-The-Dems-IN-The-Back behavior. The only thing I can figure is Joe has the goods on too many of them and threatens to rat them out if they don't put up with his bullshit. Any respectable political party would have punished the lying little shit a long time ago (or, heaven forbid, work against his re-election. Yeah, that's you Obama.) and throw him out of the Caucus. Someday, I hope before I die, someone will unearth the dynamic that keeps the Dems from actually becoming an effective political force in Congress and not the spineless wimps we've all come to know and loathe.

This Halloween season, could some please dig LBJ up out of his grave and re-animate him and put him back in the Senate. Now there was a man who took no prisoners when it came to effective leadership. Harry Reid you spineless cocksucker.

[T Wolf]

1. You are looking for the cause in the wrong place. It is not LIEbershit's strength or power

over the Party.

The problem is the Party itself and its complicity in the wrong done by the Bushistas. Their actions over the previous eight years showed that their priority is to keep their seats and keep the corporate money flowing in.

They use him to justify selling us out.

[Stoic]

3. I thought that was implied

Lieberman is a member-in-good-standing of the Washington Inside-The-Beltway Club as are too many fake progressive Democrats.

[ixion]

5. exactly

spot on.

[tekisui]

7. Yep. Lieberman is not the problem, he is a sympton of a greater

disease.

[Ganja Ninja]

8. Yup. He may be the one lying in front of the bus holding it up but

if he was pushed aside don't think there wouldn't be a dozen more in line willing to serve their masters.

[saigon68]

2. He is an oily disgusting little man

And a serial Viet-Nam draft dodger.

[napi21]

4. I don't think they CAN throw his out. I read on DU last night

that they CAN'T remove him as chair of the Homeland Security Committee because it would require 60 votes which they'd nhever get. (It's not an appointment but part of the organization plan submitted to congress when a new congress convenes.) I can't imagine someone could be a committee chair and not be part of the caucus.

[flyarm]

6. maybe Obama?????? maybe a dog and pony show?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x803434

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://crooksandliars.com/2008/08/31/lieberman-2006-i-will-help-obama-reach-to-the-stars/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJTJbqKuDDM&feature=player_embedded
Here's Joe Lieberman praising Obama back in '06. This is more evidence that Joe has attached himself to McCain out of fear of being 'left behind' in the Senate and not because he believes McCain is the right choice for President. (h/t Scarce)

"As far as I'm concerned is a 'Baruch,' which means a blessing. He is a blessing to the United States Senate, to America, and to our shared hopes for better, safer tomorrows for all our families. The gifts that God has given to Barack Obama are as enormous as his future is unlimited. As his mentor, as his colleague, as his friend, I look forward to helping him reach to the stars and realize not just the dreams he has for himself, but the dreams we all have for him and our blessed country."

Joe proclaims that Obama will make America safer and said he would help Obama realize all the dreams for our country.Will he say this with pride during the RNC convention? Let's see if the media brings this up when they cover his speech.



xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/011470.php

11. Joe Lieberman
At the outset, let me make it clear that the voting records of both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton are very similar and much more progressive than Sen. Lieberman's. Yet, according to the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary Rulebook, Sen. Clinton is the one who gets compared to Sen. Lieberman at the drop of a hat ("Lieberman Democrat") and Sen. Obama is an almost saintly figure who is nothing like Lieberman. One way to look at the (un)fairness of this comparison is to examine how Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton handled Ned Lamont's challenge to Sen. Lieberman in the 2006 CT-Sen race.

Before the CT-Sen Democratic primary, Sen. Clinton put out what, in political circles, is known as a "tepid" endorsement of Lieberman:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), a longtime supporter of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, said Tuesday that she will not back the Connecticut Democrat's bid for reelection if he loses their party's primary.

"I've known Joe Lieberman for more than 30 years. I have been pleased to support him in his campaign for reelection, and hope that he is our party's nominee," the former first lady said in a statement issued by aides.

"But I want to be clear that I will support the nominee chosen by Connecticut Democrats in their primary," Clinton added. "I believe in the Democratic Party, and I believe we must honor the decisions made by Democratic primary voters."

In contrast, here's what allegedly anti-Iraq-war Sen. Obama said and did for Sen. Lieberman:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama rallied Connecticut Democrats at their annual dinner Thursday night, throwing his support behind mentor and Senate colleague Joe Lieberman.

Obama, an Illinois Democrat who is considered a rising star in the party, was the keynote speaker at the annual Jefferson Jackson Bailey Dinner.

Lieberman, Connecticut's junior senator, is under fire from some liberal Democrats for his support of the Iraq War. He was key in booking Obama, who routinely receives more than 200 speaking invitations each week.

Some at Thursday's dinner said that while they were pleased with Lieberman's success in bringing Obama to Connecticut, they still consider Lieberman uncomfortably tolerant of the Bush administration.

Obama wasted little time getting to that point, calling it the "elephant in the room" but praising Lieberman's intellect, character and qualifications.

"The fact of the matter is, I know some in the party have differences with Joe. I'm going to go ahead and say it," Obama told the 1,700-plus party members who gathered in a ballroom at the Connecticut Convention Center for the $175-per-head fundraiser.

"I am absolutely certain Connecticut is going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the U.S. Senate so he can continue to serve on our behalf," he said.
...
Lieberman became Obama's mentor when Obama was sworn into the Senate in 2005. They stayed close at Thursday night's event, too, entering the room together and working the crowd in tandem.

Wow, here was one of the prime triangulators against Democrats - Joe Lieberman - also one of Bush's biggest enablers on the war - and Sen. Obama put out a full court press to unconditionally extol his character, intellect and qualifications! Imagine if Sen. Clinton did anything remotely close to this - she would have been torn to bits by her critics.

The story gets more interesting after Lieberman lost the Democratic primary race to Lamont.

Sen. Obama then donated $5000 to Lamont's campaign and wrote a letter to his CT supporters asking them to support Ned Lamont. In contrast, Sen. Clinton did much more:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont over for coffee Friday, discussing campaign strategy and offering to host a fundraiser, a spokesman for the senator said.

"It was a great meeting. Senator Clinton thinks Ned Lamont did a fabulous job in Connecticut," spokesman Howard Wolfson said, referring to Lamont's upset victory over Sen. Joe Lieberman in the state's Democratic primary.

Lieberman is running as an independent in November, and Republicans have attempted to cast his primary loss as a sign that the Democratic Party has been taken over by its extreme left wing.

At Clinton's Westchester County home, she and Lamont "talked about what Mr. Lamont can expect from the George Bush-Karl Rove attack machine," Wolfson said. "She told him Republicans were invested in defeating him."

Clinton has contributed $5,000 from her political action committee to Lamont's campaign and will do "whatever works for the campaign," Wolfson said. Wolfson, one of Clinton's senior political strategists, also said he will join the Lamont campaign as an adviser.

Clinton had offered tepid support to Lieberman, but moved quickly after the Aug. 8 primary to endorse Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who heavily criticized Lieberman's support of the Iraq war

The net result? Sen. Obama continues to be portrayed as a saint and Sen. Clinton is the one continuously and falsely compared to Sen. Lieberman. Quite some calculated triangulation principled courage on the part of the Obama campaign, huh?