Lieberman Meets With Reid, Tries To Cling To Senate Chairmanship

UPDATE at 8:19 PM EST:

The Associated Press is reporting that Reid is looking to remove Lieberman from his post as chairman of a powerful Senate committee:

Reid, in a sternly worded statement after the 45-minute meeting, said no official decisions have been made. But an aide to the Nevada Democrat said Reid was leaning toward removing Lieberman as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.

Bolstered by a newly expanded majority, Harry Reid met with Joe Lieberman on Thursday to sketch out the conditions by which the Connecticut independent could continue to caucus with Senate Democrats. But Lieberman did not accept Reid's initial offers, leaving his future in the caucus uncertain, and potentially setting off a campaign to pressure the Democratic steering committee to decide Lieberman's fate.

Reid offered Lieberman a deal to step down as chairman of the homeland security committee but take over the reins of another subcommittee, likely overseeing economic or small business issues, officials said.

Immediately after his meeting with Reid, Lieberman told reporters that he had not made a decision about his future in the caucus, and appeared to launch his first public appeal to members of the Democratic steering committee, whose members decide committee chair assignments.

"I completely agree with President-elect Obama that we must now unite to get our economy going again and to keep the American people safe. that is exactly what I intend to do with my colleagues here in the Senate in support of our new president, and those are the standards I will use in considering the options that I have before me," Lieberman told reporters.

Likewise, Reid said in a written statement that negotiations will continue.

"Today Senator Lieberman and I had the first of what I expect to be several conversations. No decisions have been made," he said. "While I understand that Senator Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our Caucus. I expect there to be additional discussions in the days to come, and Senator Lieberman and I will speak to our Caucus in two weeks to discuss further steps."

At this point, Lieberman's only shot at retaining his committee chairmanship appears to be lobbying members of the Senate Democratic Leadership besides Reid. One key target would be the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, a group of nearly two dozen Democratic Senators who play a role in deciding committee seats.

Unfortunately for the Connecticut Senator, it is highly unlikely that Democrats would act against the wishes of Majority Leader Reid, who wants Lieberman to give up his chairmanship. Moreover, progressive activists have been anticipating this move for months, and have organized efforts to pressure steering committee members to strip Lieberman of his perks.

Comments

[nolalily]

Lean a little further, Harry.

[HoracePManure]

lieberman is a cancer - cut him out before he poisons the party AGAIN

[realistic2008]

Liver...man, has a very serious decease the man needs to be given the silent treatment and/or send him to wonder the dessert for 80 days with McCain's intelligence report where to find find and bang bang Bin Laden.

[GemNY]

Strip him of that and then dump him out of the caucus. He did not support another view point, he deliberately set out to damage the democratic nominee and then made a damaging statement about a democratically run congress. Get him out of there!

[BluePrideSMW]

Benedict needs to GO...

The Obamas are Moving On UP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf3uGsMxsoQ

A sublime Moms Mabley version of Abraham, Martin & John:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge32xtm23rQ

[Beka13]

Hopefully Connecticut will solve the problem by voting the traitor out.

[FCorey]

Please, THIS MAN WAS NEARLY CHOSEN AS MCCAINS RUNNING MATE!!!

Get rid of this traitorous dead weight NOW!!!

[shelobo]

Lieberman should be removed from the homeland security committee,he can't be trusted to be LOYAL ,but leave him in OTHER postions where Lieberman has very little influence for the rest of his senate career.If Ried removes Lieberman from anything other than the homeland seurity committee,it will damage the democratic party,make them look like they are POWER mongers.Ried can get a handle on HIS anger and THINK whats best for the rest of the party ,something Liberman didn't do.Ried needs to be very carefull which ever way he goes ,the GOP sharks are waiting for a fresh 'kill'...

[TNFarmer]

Strip both Reid and Lieberman of their current positions. One's ineffective and the other, well.... he's just a waste of space on the planet.

[ggorilla]

Ried is a waste of space. Well put.

[neverbeenfooled]

Lieberman did not play a passive role in the Presidential campaign. He made a key address at the Republican National Convention and took an active part in McCain's campaign. He took an active part in making the Republican case that Obama was a "socialist", 'terrorist sympathizer", and 'communist". He had opporunities to condemn the tactics used by the Republicans, but he chose to play it coy and feed the frenzy at the expense of whatever integrity he might have had. Stripping him of his chairmanship is not revenge for the role he played; it is the just consequence of his actions. Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Sub Committee is too important a post to be held by someone whose motives cannot be trusted.

[DodgeCounty]

Now is not the time to dump him. Wait until the very first time he does not vote as directed by the Dem majority, his puppeteer. Until then, we can use him. One less Repub we need to sway.

[who38]

Now is exactly the time to dump him from Homeland Security.

[who38]

Joe is counting on that; it gives him leverae. Then if the Dems try to dump him, you get a thread like this one.

[MadDog]

Lieberman changes sides whenever it suits his own ambitions. Don't forget, he only became an "Independent" after he got rejected in the last Democratic primary in CT in order to get elected. Likwise, I'm sure he supported McCain because he saw some gain for himself if McCain won.

Reid needs to throw the turncoat out. Joe, don't let the door hit you in the @ss on the way out.

[trollsbwild]

I blame Joe Lieberman for the misery of the last eight years almost more than Bush. If Joe were not such a liability to Gore in 2000, that election would have turned out differently. With a Gore presidency, we may have been able to avoid 9/11 since Al would have taken more decisive action after reading the PDB of 8/6/01 We would have never invaded Iraq, would have been more fiscally responsible and would not have bankrupted our treasury.
If that were not bad enough, Ol' Joe then pulls his support for Obama and supports not just the JM ticket, but other Republican campaigns. The man is a mush, pure and simple.
Let him twist in the wind for a few days, then dump his sorry a**. WTF were the people in Ct. thinking in 2004?

[who38]

Connecticut in 2004 was Joe at his best. Bring out the worst in everyonem call in his chits, and he would come out the winner. It worked!

[xmw]

Once again Lie-ber-? There was a Bradley effect I'm sure to a degree. But O beat the @ss you were kissing so badley that it never registered. Go find Joe the plumber and maybe you can do a duet together, Loser Joes Blues.

[aztekclub]

This is a bit off topic, but I think we should make a drive to Get Rush Limbaugh off of American Forces Radio and Television. The primary mission of AFRTS is to diseminate the message of the Commander, The secondary is the Entertainment. Limbaugh willspend the next 4 years Trashing the Commander in Chief.. In my opinion that would hurt Morale.. Any ideas?

[TexasLovesUBlue]

Gitmo!?

[aztekclub]

This is something we could honestly do. Limbaugh Trashed Clinton all through his presidency, telling a captive audience (our troops) that their president was a traitor. Isn't that what Tokyo Rose did>