Reports: Lieberman Likely To Keep His Chair

The entire Democratic Senate caucus will gather tomorrow to vote on whether Joe Lieberman should keep his position as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Sources tell MSNBC the vote will go his way:

According to sources familiar with negotiations, Democrats are expected to vote in favor of letting the Connecticut senator keep his chairmanship and seniority, but give up the gavel on a subcommittee he chairs. The vote happens tomorrow morning by secret ballot.

The tide turned in Lieberman's favor, sources say, after two events in recent weeks. First, President-elect Obama told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he wanted Lieberman to stay in the Democratic caucus. Later, in a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Lieberman told him it would be "unacceptable" for him to give up his gavel. That was considered by some as a veiled threat that Lieberman would jump to caucus with Republicans if he was forced to give up the gavel.

Obama tipped the scales in Lieberman's favor, one source said. The source essentially explained it like this: If the wrath was directed at Obama and got over it, shouldn't the Democratic caucus do the same?

CQ Politics adds:

Despite campaigning for the Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman has "significant support" from the caucus, ally Ken Salazar said Monday.

"I think he will be a force of good in supporting an Obama administration," said Salazar, D-Colo. He is part of a four-member whip team tasked with talking to other members of the caucus to find out what, if any, punishment Lieberman deserves for supporting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and campaigning against President-elect Barack Obama.

...

Some senators say they will defer to their party leaders.

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"I'll follow the leadership position and President-elect Obama's recommendation," said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md. "Send a message, but don't pick a big fight within the family."

On the other hand, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), a close ally of Lieberman's, says the Senator should pay consequences:

"There need to be consequences, and they cannot be insignificant," Carper said in a Monday interview with The Hill.

...

Carper said he and three other Senate Democrats have been making phone calls to "take the temperature of our caucus." He said the purpose of the calls was not to lobby senators for any particular action for or against Lieberman, but "just to see where people's hearts and their minds are."

Carper said that "many of my colleagues ... are very angry with his criticism of Sen. Obama," but he would not say which sanctions he prefers.

Comments

[mcfried]

The fact that Joe the traitor can strong arm the Democratic party is riddiculous, I called Reid and gave his voicemail a piece of my mind. The Democratic leadership is a complete joke. The fact that they think the voters of CT would allow Joe to fillerbuster or join the GOP. Makes them both stupid and spineless - Reid needs to resign as senate majority leader - we need a harda$$ not pansy

[nibblybits]

I'm absolutely disgusted. Congressional Dems are spineless.

[ajax2]

If true, this is a defeat not only for progressives and Democrats, but for the entire nation. Joe Lieberman based on his record should not be chairing Homeland Security. His political positions on torture, aggressive wars, and domestic spying threaten both our state and constitution.

[Beninn]

We knew with Obama's FISA vote that he wasn't a lefty. We knew when he voted to fund the war despite Democrats' promises to end the war if they got into the majority in 2006 that he wasn't a lefty.

Hope and Change? We hoped Obama would change if he got into the White House. It doesn't look like it's going to happen. Why would he when we are as spineless as those in Congress we complain about. Why would he when we give him and Democrats the benefit of the doubt. By telling ourselves that Obama is "keeping his friends close and his enemies closer". We lie to ourselves continually. We tell ourselves that we're his friends, but the truth is we're not invited to this administration.

"Your friends make me feel like I'm invited for drinks and everyone else is staying for supper." - Katy, The Way We Were

[nibblybits]

This isn't Obama's fight; this should be Reid's and the Senate leadership. If he can't keep members in line, then why bother having him there? Why bother having a whip?

I'm ready to make hate calls in the morning to Dodd, Salazar, and Nelson. I'm furious.

[Beninn]

Then Obama should not have told Reid that he wanted him in the caucus.

[MuchMadness]

Maybe President-Elect Obama was just testing his fellow Democratic senators to see if they really were as wimpy as he suspected. Senator Obama was very wise to give up his senate seat so that he would not have to deal with all this foolishness.

[Graywolf48]

No party discipline. No party leadership. No accountability. Some things never change. If Lieberman stays, Reid should go. Lieberman is treacherous and has scared the Democrats into submission to his will.

[nibblybits]

Reid's re-election is in 2 short years, and he's vulnerable. He can follow Daschle out the door as a sitting Majority Leader losing his seat. I'm ready to campaign against him if he can't take a stand against this.

[SCG]

Has Senator Lieberman acknowledge doing anything which requires being forgiven?

[suemag]

Not that I've seen or heard.

[ponderingmuch]

I keep looking for information that would explain, really, why anybody would want Lieberman to continue to be involved in foreign policy at all, let alone in a position of leadership.

Got links?

[msjimmied]

No, there is no good reason. And this is why I am perturbed. Please, someone, show me why I should not be spazzing here...I am beginning to feel a chill.

[freebeer]

pondering, all you have to do is think the unthinkable, then it all makes sense.

Democrats are not dumb, cowardly or inept. They are very skilled at manipulating their base, just as Bush and Rove do a real number on all of the poor Jesus freaks who trust them to "do God's will".

Democrats also lie to their base. They do not oppose the war, corruption and Bush policies that have made the rich richer and the poor poorer....as for our civil liberties, check their voting records rather than their smooth words.

Joe is exactly what we think he is. He is a war loving Washington insider who does not care about the people of America.
Where people go way wrong is in thinking todays Democrats actually differ from Lieberman on the big issues. They do not.

[BillZBubb]

This is another example of why the Democrats are always the most fragmented party in history. They don't have the gonads or party discipline to remove a traitor like Lieberman from a position of power.

Pathetic.

[anachoret]

I would love to know what percent of the Democratic Party actually supports Joe keeping this chairmanship.

It has to be a very small "fragment" of the party. In fact, I wonder if it is even a fragment, 'cause, considering Joe's affiliation, I am betting it's more of figment than a fragment.

[EmmaG]

Unacceptable. If the harsh attacks on our President-Elect and support for the campaigns of Republican Senators weren't enough, lets look at his record as Chairman. Hearings into the failures that deprived thousands of Americans aid and assistance after Hurricane Katrina? No. Investigation into the companies enriching themselves while New Orleans is not rebuilt? Pass. Questioning the patriotism of any Democrat who supports examining a responsible close to the War in Iraq? Yes, yes, yes.

Democrats - Many worked hard to elect you. You do have a mandate. Stop apologizing for being in positions of leadership and demonstrate you are serious about your responsibilities.

No to Joe Lieberman keeping his Chair on Homeland Security.

[msjimmied]

You go Emma!

[Alaskan1970]

AMEN, Emma. Send Liberman packing. I can not stand to even look at him.

Learn to live without his vote. Can you trust him anyway?????

[Bluedog12]

It's 8:52 PM and Joe Lieberman still sucks.

[NWBrunette]

Seems to me the only reason this is happening is because Obama wants it. Which makes you wonder why? Maybe as cover for not moving so fast on untangling us from Middle East wars? Or?

[eden4barack08]

I think everyone's jumping too quick to say Obama "wants this". So far, the only thing we know officially from his camp, is about staying in the caucus and not holding grudges. Of course he's got to say that! We don't expect him to run around screaming revenge, do we? He has to appear neutral, diplomatic, and magnanimous. Besides, I think nobody has a problem with JoeTheTraitor staying in the caucus. The issue is the chairmanship, about which, there's no official word from the Obama camp. So why is everybody assuming that to mean support for Joe? To me, the fact that Obama has still not spoken to, or seen Joe, says more than his silence on the chairmanship. If at all we were to read anything that hasn't been said in all this, it is that there doesn't seem to be good blood flowing between them, but of course O's never going to say this. However, I do believe that the other coward Senators, the "friends of Joe the Judas", who want to keep him in both chair AND caucus, are using Obama's magnanimity, to cover their inexplicable defense of Joe, by laying it on Obama, after they all vote in his favor tomorrow. I just wish I could understand what the heck Joe has on these Senators, that they keep sticking up for him, over and over. WHY??

[Beninn]

Obama informed party officials that he wants Lieberman to stay.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/obama-wants-lieberman-to_n_142731.html

[leeman79]

Just make sure this idiot doesn't have any input on Iraq.

[msjimmied]

That's the problem crystallized. The Democrats cannot understand the rules of the game. That's just a saying. When someone has turned their back to you, and lobbied for the other side, they are not your loyal friend. They are in it for themselves or them. Not you. I do not care how important they may seem at the moment, but trust me, it is all a mirage. There is nobody important enough to allow this. They will turn the tide when their time comes. Have we not have experienced that in some degree or the other in our own lives?

So what is it? That he was a Democrat once? Or is it just inertia that makes us not want to deal with change? I have tremendous respect for inertia, has has a death like grip on most peoples b*tts.

[Beninn]

They LIKE him.

The heated partisan rhetoric? That's for show. When the cameras are gone, they are all friends, neighbors and roomies.

[Beninn]

There's more to this than punishing Lieberman. This is about having meaningful investigations into what Bush did these past 8 years. Lieberman has been an accomplice towards covering up Bush's trail. With him in charge of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Lieberman is free to block inquiries into the secret no-bid contracts that went to corporations like Halliburton. Halliburton just got another huge contract out of the $700 billion bailout six weeks ago.

We can't possibly turn this nation around with these same people sitting at the gates.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/11/schumer-and-durbin-want-lieberman-stripped-of-homeland-security-chair/

[eden4barack08]

I don't know about Schumer, they won't tell me when I call, but Durbin has since changed and now fully supports Joe. Shameless!

[eden4barack08]

The O' Team didn't deliberately go out to defend Joe, the question was asked, and they simply answered that there were no grudges for Joe to keep caucusing as he always had. The Chairmanship was the issue here. And in fact nothing was said about it!

[Beninn]

That's not true.

"President-elect Barack Obama has informed party officials that he wants Joe Lieberman to continue caucusing with the Democrats in the 111th Congress, Senate aides tell the Huffington Post."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/obama-wants-lieberman-to_n_142731.html

Lieberman told Reid that if he was stripped of his chairmanship, he would leave the Democratic caucus. When Obama informed Reid that he wanted Lieberman to remain in the caucus, it's implicit that he means the chairmanship.