Harry Reid: What Lieberman Did Was "Wrong"

Harry Reid told CNN Friday that he is unhappy with Joe Lieberman's passionate support of John McCain for president.

"Joe Lieberman has done something that I think was improper, wrong, and I'd like if we weren't on television, I'd use a stronger word of describing what he did," Reid told CNN's John King. "But Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators. He didn't support us on military stuff and he didn't support us on Iraq stuff. You look at his record, it's pretty good."

Reid, the AP has reported, "is considering yanking Lieberman's chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as punishment."

Meanwhile the AP also reported today that GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has reached out to Lieberman about joining the Republican party.

Comments

[blimie]

Harry Reid has been weak and ineffectual. I hope he will actually follow his words with actions and yank Lieberman from the chairmanship of the homeland committee. Democrats no longer have an excuse now that they are the majority.

[RickMcd85]

I think that Lieberman went too far by speaking at the Republican convention and actively campaigning for McCain, but I think some people might be overreacting.

Look at it this way, how many of us are fans of Chuck Hagel? I know I am. However, he has done essentially the same thing that Lieberman has. Hagel is a Republican but he has broke with his party on the Iraq war issue and foreign policy, and it seems likely he may become a part of the Obama administration. I think this is fantastic, but I'm sure it probably irritates some Republicans.

Isn't it a bit hypocritical of us to make Lieberman an outcast for doing something that we simultaneously praise Hagel for?

At the same time, as somebody who favors a progressive agenda, I'd be happy to see Lieberman having a smaller influence in the Senate. I just don't know if the rage towards him for having dissenting views is justifiable.

[SoldDowntheRiver]

Grown up adults need to be held accountable for their actions. Lieberman made his bed as they say, now he has to lay down in it. If he'd had his way, Obama would now be a footnote and we'd be on the way to invading Iran. Joe Lieberman must be exiled from the democratic caucus.

[RickMcd85]

I am not comfortable with the idea of a politician being forced to "tow the party line", as they say. In a Democracy, divergent ideas and independent thought should be encouraged, not suppressed.

Now, I disagree with Lieberman's views and stances completely, but would you really have preferred that he campaigned for a cause he didn't believe in? We should want our politicians to be honest about their viewpoints, not lying for the sake of their own career. Although I would prefer that Lieberman has less power in the Senate and is ultimately replaced by a Democrat when his next election comes up, you have to admit that he stood up for his own convictions, and that's something to be admired, not shunned.

Again I refer to Chuck Hagel. Most Democrats and liberals, including myself, praise Chuch Hagel for going against his own party on foreign policy issues. He stood up for his convictions, even though it got him into some hot water with his fellow Republicans. This is quite admirable, in my opinion. Joe Lieberman did the same exact thing, he just happened to do it for views we disagree with.

Joe Lieberman is still a Senator, and the Democrats unfortunately didn't make it to the 60 mark. This man needs to be worked with, despite our disagreements. You never know when one vote will make the difference on some major issue.

[NWBrunette]

If we're going to make progress on a progressive agenda we need people on the team who aren't aggressively campaigning for the opposition. It strikes most of us, even our children, as really simple and basic. The idea that some find this over-reacting blows me away - it just strikes me as the same old Democratic tendency to play kissy-face with everyone so nobody feels bad and oops, there goes our power...

[ctman47]

You miss the issue. I do not remember Hagel impugning the integrity and patriotism of McCain and the Republican Party. LIeberman can support whoever he wants but he went way over the line.

[RonNYC]

Ned Lamont ran a terrible campaign against Lieberman. Too bad Joe got in in the first place.

[CarmenCameron]

Mitch McConnel can have Joe Lieberman. They deserve each other. That's a match made in a political Dante's Inferno - they'll just take turns stabbing each other in the back.

[dphilip]

Harry Reid passing judgement on Joe Lieberman? That's rich.

[greatlardini]

JOE AND JOE, PLUMBERS. NOT LICENSED, NOT BONDED, NOT WELCOME.

[ThePublicRecord]

http://www.pubrecord.org/politics/474-e-voting-machines-used-in-disputed-franken-coleman-race-failed-tests.html

E-Voting Machines Used in Disputed Franken, Coleman Race Failed Tests

Electronic voting machines that a Michigan election official said last week incorrectly tabulated vote counts during pre-election tests in the state were used in Minnesota where the senate race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken is in dispute.

According to an Oct. 24 letter sent to the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC), Ruth Johnson, the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds, warned that tabulating software in Election Systems & Software M-100 optical scan voting machines recorded “conflicting” vote counts during testing in her state.

[mlaiuppa]

Wonder if the same machines were used in Alaska where there is a *lot* of funny business going on.

[PacificOcean]

Judas , erhh I meant Liberman, is a liberal (apart from his stance on the war) and so I doubt that the GOP is head-over-heel for this guy. The GOP also has nothing to offer lieberman, there are no chairmanship or anything important position available in the GOP right now .. the best that Lieberman can do is some sort of small token leadership position if he joins the GOP

With the way Obama changed the electoral map *almost blue* the DEM do not need liberman as they can easily pursuade a couple of left leaning republican to vote their way to get whatever they need

Time for Reid to grow some baalls and boot lieberman to the gutter. Then soon after that, the DEM needs to do the same to Reid. We need new leadership in that area as well.

[Ping]

The deal was that Joe give up his chairmanship and the matter would not go to the Democratic Caucus. The Democratic Caucus could choose to expel Joe Lieberman. However if the Dems win the contested Senate seats in Minnesota and in Georgia, Joe's bargaining power could increase substantially with both the Democrats and Republicans.

[westcoastsc]

The only reason I can think of for Lieberman to do what he did by allying himself with the thoroughly corrupt McCain campaign is because he is in league with them, probably in the military industrial complex seeing that he is in charge of that committee. His ties, I believe, are similar to the convicted felon Cunningham whose investigation was still continuing and leading to other politicians before it was shut down by the Bush administration.

[Ministerbruce]

Lieberman, is a grown man and he knows he crossed the line, several times and when Joe crossed and question Obama's Patriotism, he burn a bridge, not a bridge that would deny he's human, or worth forgiveness, but one were leadership, is not a right, in the Party, or even a right between men.

Yes I said between men, if Joe believes what he did was right, then stand there and hold your ground, but the Party, the Senators who felt and know he crossed the line, have every right to deny him, the Leadership ground as chair.

Joe can be Joe, but not in leadership in a Democratic Chair, in Homeland Security, he can no longer run interference, aiding the Right.

If he wants to move to the Republican Party, let him, they will not think much of him for doing it. And the Right will not expect him to keep voting on issues where Joe has agreed with the Democratic Party for decades, so let call Joe's cards and force him to put up, or move on. Joe, take your lashes and come back strong, or wimp out and move on.

[JimLarkin]

let him vote against his conscience FOR THE OTHER GUYS

[rjbIowa]

Harry Reid does not have the guts to put Joe Lieberman in his place and pull any chairperson status Lieberman might have. Mending fences is important, but what Lieberman did was over the top and he should be held accountable. Whether Reid thinks Lieberman votes properly or not, he should be show the seat at the end of the table and told to be quiet. What he stood for and ardently supported during this past election goes against everything that the people who voted Obama into office stand for. Lieberman has demonstrated over the past year he does not want to be part of that, so let him cool his jets somewhere else besides in a leadership - chairperson role in the Senate.

[pizzmoe]

Joe must go, no question about it. If the Dems are worried about a 60 seat majority, it seems that there are enough moderate Republicans that they can get the 60 votes without LIEberman.

[Fight4Freedom2008]

We are gonna boot him here in CT. next time around, we just missed last time after he put on a new mask... Whats wrong with Reid, skeletons in the closet? Look up the word, "integrity" :-)