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

[oldbiker]

Joe must lose his post. Joe is a smart man,he rolled the dice and they came up snake eyes.

[rwe2late]

Lieberman's support of McCain, and implicitly,
his support for ALL of McCain's foreign and domestic, economic and social positions,
should be MORE than enough to warrant denying Lieberman a chairmanship.

It is disingenuous to claim that Lieberman "supports" a basic Democrat platform for social justice:
a) Neo-CON militarism, which Lieberman endorses, is a direct cause of the current economic malaise and foreign relations debacle, and is an obstacle to change.
b) As chair of "Homeland" defense, Lieberman supports legislation which is undemocratic, with both a small "d" and a capital "D".

AWARDING a chairmanship to Lieberman ALSO means DENYING a chairmanship to a more deserving actual Democrat like Daniel Akaka of Hawaii.

[Big0725]

Harry Reid needs to do something drastic here or his time as the leader of the Senate may be coming to an end soon. Last check I see about 10 new Democratic senators that don't have a long history with him so no allegiances need to be observed.

[LAcarlito]

It is one thing to support McCain, it is another thing to question Obama's patriotism and to campaign positively for Palin. LIEberman went way over the line. Reid has to grow a pair and take away Joe's chairmanships. If little Joey runs to the Rethugs, so be it. It will guarantee that he gets voted out of office the next time his seat comes up. Bottom line, whether the Dems have 56-57-58 seats won't matter. The Dems don't have a veto proof 60.

Toss LIEberman's butt to the curb as he went well beyond campaigning for McCain. The guy is a jerk. And he did this after Obama went to CT and campaigned for LIEberman when he had his run-off election two years ago. The man (mouse) has a short memory. Adios, Joe!

[JakeRedd]

Endorsing McCain was one thing. Criticising Obama the way he did and imploring voters to vote for McCain at the Republican Convention was quite another. It smacked of betrayal. Why should betrayers be trusted? Yes, it's about trust, not punishment.

[ckfan]

The Dems need LIeberman's vote; so, they"ll b***h slap him and rough him up, take away his chairmanship. But, in the end, they won't totally alienate him.

[springsm]

Well lets see if Reid and the dems have the guts to do even that much. One thing for sure..Lieb­erman does not need to continue to be rewarded with a chairmenship of an important committee.­..not after what he did. ..and the way he did it. Joe Lieberman is a whiney little spoiled brat. He not only wants and seeks attention, he will swim from side to side to where he thinks he will get the most attention.

[old lady]

We do not need to punish anybody's exercise of their constitutional right to support the candidate of their choice, no matter how two-faced it seems. CT elected him and CT will render the ultimate judgment on Mr. Lie berman's record and actions. 53% of this country has relegated him to super-irrelevancy and joke status. The remaining fundamentalists can have him.

[Jesster]

I agree that Lieberman should not be punished - but neither should he be rewarded. I doubt that the voters in CT ever imagined that he would make the choices he's made. Now they are stuck for four more years with a Senator who has made himself both irrelevant AND a national joke.

[ThankGodforAtheists]

Why should someone who endorses the other party's candidate and speaks and campaigns against their own candidate be rewarded with continuing a chairmanship? Yes, he has First Amendment right to say what he wants and the party has a right to call him on hist actions.

[JayJonson]

Connecticut elected him as an Independent. They rejected him in the Democratic primary. He should be expelled from the Democratic Caucus and certainly removed from the Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee.

[rwe2late]

JayJonson
"Connecticut elected him as an Independent. They rejected him in the Democratic primary."

100% CORRECT !

[Big0725]

I think you need to change your handle to naive_old_lady.

What Lieberman did was tantamount to a GM executive making a commercial for Ford because he didn't think that the GM cars were as good as the Fords.

You tell me, is GM going to welcome him back with open arms?

I don't think so!

[reliant1]

The GM exec was not voted into office. Lieberman is the product of the state of CT. They will deal with him as they choose to.

In the meantime, the President will decide whether he thinks he may need that vote in the future and what it may be worth to him...

and then Sen Reid will do as he is told.

[dagdavid]

You're missing the point. We currently have a two party system. The democratic party has a shared set of principles that sets them apart from the republican party. Lieberman ha every right to express himself, just let him do it on the other side of the aisle.

[Rockwell]

Reid is trying to cover his butt. He sounds tough on CNN but it's clear to me he still plans to cater to Judas Joe. Pathetic. Reid needs to step down because it's clear he doesn't have the stones to impose discipline on the Senate.

[Jesster]

While I look forward to a time when the Dems no longer need Lieberman's unreliable support/votes. I'd like to see both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi replaced as well. They are all decent people but not inspired or inspiring leaders. We could certainly do better.

[reno1190]

KICK THE JUDAS OUT

[Big0725]

Let's not talk about Ted Stevens just yet. :)

[riverhouse]

THere is no question that Lieberman must go. He cannot be allowed to hold the very important chairmanship on Homeland Security. (Wish they would change that nazi sounding name.) Please contact your Democratic senator(s) and ask that they urge Reid to remove Lieberman without further negotiations and if it comes to a vote to vote to remove Lieberman from that important position of power within the Democratic Party.

[escobar]

Now Liberman will have to decide how he will be remembered.
He looks like a Judas now.
He's turned against the party that chose him as V.P. candidate and threatens to become a type of extortionist.
This this will most likely be his last term in office.
Once he loses his seat as committee chairman his backers will abandon him.
He will no longer be useful, they won't waste their money.
Anyway, he'll live his days out as a very wealthy man.

[Big0725]

What do you threatened?

The only reason he's the chairman of the Homeland Security committee is because he threatened to caucus with the republicans if he didn't get what he wanted. He's played that card already.

[jfor]

Getting rid of Lieberman is not and should not be looked at as revenge. The man is a traitor who did everything in his power to make sure McCain got elected he failed. He took a huge risk and it did not work out for him as he expected. In real life when you personally make a bad decision like Lieberman did there are consequences. His vote is moot since he votes with dems most of the time anyway let him go piss off republicans.

Harry Reid show some backbone.

[Jaxy]

I think that Joe Lieberman's conduct was extremely disappointing. it would have been one thing if all he did was consort with John McCain in private, and merely stand behind him and smile in public.

However, he openly derided and demeaned President-Elect Obama in open forums, holding the gentleman up to ridicule. This conduct did not endear him to anyone in the Democratic party. For good reason.

Mr. Lieberman clearly did not think that Senator Obama was fit to win, and he gambled on the wrong horse - to his utter detriment. I would warn against either party placing too much trust in him now. The man is a veritable hazard.

[old lady]

No one would have dressed him down for publicly supporting his candidate if he had had the sense to pass on the clownish " et tu brute" act at the convention.

[indothinker]

you know, they should give JL a cabinet post. he'd give up his senate seat , we'd get another dem to replace him, and the senate would be filibuster proof. how bout secretary of homeland security? okay, maybe that's stretching it........­..........­.

[allwrite]

Clever, but I don't think we want him in cabinet level meetings.
Let him go over to the Pubs. He'll have to stay moderate to survive in Connecticut and the Pubs certainly could use as much moderation as they can get.

[riverhouse]

That is totally beyond contemplation.

[jeanwny]

He would probably be marginally less effective than Chertoff so not a bad idea at all

[Jesster]

Hey indothinker - that's an excellent idea and as far as I can see imcompetence and/or impotency seem to be pre-requisites for that job. He couldn't possibly be worse than Michael Chernoff and maybe he can some up with better ideas than (duct tape) from the hapless Tom Ridge.

Although I can't think of any off hand, there are a number of issues that JL is on the right (er progressive) side of - so there are several Cabinet posts he might be qualified for.

I think what bothers me most is his arrogant presumptuous that somehow he is still entitled to important Committee Chairmanships!

[old lady]

I suggest a new cabinet post.. Secretary of Pets - 4 years duty of dog walking and poop scooping seems appropriate.

[StanTheManic]

Harry Reid -- a modern day Flying Wallenda --

Get off the tightrope, Harry! One side or the other.

PS: to you and Nancy -- where's our "change?" Where's our war ending? Where's our impeachment?

[old lady]

Don't worry, Stan. It's coming.

[Big0725]

No impeachment will come. The senate and house leadership all were in on the information, therefore they are as culpable as Shrub in the farce that was Iraq.