A Final Note on Lieberman

JNS -- Not for sgwhiteinfla. I don't think so.

One will get you twenty that Lieberman opens his big mouth before the inauguration. Good post.

Cheney and Gonzalez were just indicted for prisoner abuse in Texas. This is almost as good as the day Rumsfeld got fired. H/T to Sullivan for the info.

"If Lieberman is anything, as he proved with John McCain, he's loyal — and now he owes Obama a big one."

JNS - Are you sniffing glue?!?!?

If he was loyal to the Democrats, he would have accepted the primary results. If he was loyal to Obama, he would not have badmouthed him in such strong terms despite Obama campaigning for him in the primary. Jesus Christ on a Crutch, do you people think at all before you fart on your keyboards?

My thoughts are here:

Joe Lieberman has never been shy about speaking his mind./i>

That's not how I remember the VP debate of 2000.

"If Lieberman is anything, as he proved with John McCain, he's loyal — and now he owes Obama a big one."
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Exactly the kind of analysis I'd expect from JNS. Which is to say it's the dumbest f@cking thing I've heard today.

First, Lieberman already 'owed' Obama for campaigning for him in his CT race. So the loyalty argument is rather weak. If anything, Lieberman is loyal to Israel, even if he has to stand against anyone he 'owes'.
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Second, you cite the vote as 42-13. Currently, the caucus is 56, since Obama resigned. Count Bernie Sanders as a socialist out. Then Lieberman should also be out, as an independent, or was he allowed to vote? Then that means, literally every single person eligible to vote showed up today. Including Joe Biden. What did he do in the caucus today, I wonder?

If Lieberman is anything, as he proved with John McCain, he's loyal —
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Jeez. I'm gonna end up fisking this graf by graf.
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He frickin' lost a primary, and then ran against the winner. That's not loyalty. He dropped the gloves in Florida in 2000. That's not loyalty.
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He's in this, as his party of one is named, for Joe.

JNS, good story. Wouldn't have hurt to have a few more words about his lousy performance on HS. But I agree with firehawkbb that describing him as loyal is unsupported by his past behavior. Perhaps loyal to friend McCain, but not loyal to his own word. I've never seen anything in Lieberman beyond selfish obtuse sanctimonious behavior.

This article describes exactly what I thought would happen: Lieberman is completely neutralized. And Obama did it without firing a shot. Beautiful. Now, can we rise above the vengeance-tude that belongs more at The Corner?

I meant, he's loyal to his friends, to those to whom he feels indebted
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You mean like Al Gore, who put him on the national map?
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Gotta finish the thing. Not fair to comment without doing so.

I did finish it jay, the logic doesn't get much better.

I'm guessing JNS didn't do so well on certain portions of the LSAT.

JNS -- No snark intended here, are you saying that Joe's resentment and disloyalty was toward the party hierarchy with respect to 2004? And that with his Senate colleagues he has close loyal relationships?

He felt the party had already betrayed him in 2004 when he was all but ignored as a presidential candidate and he felt that as the 2000 VP he should've been heir apparent. He can feel that all day long, but he was a lousy vice presidential candidate and a lousy presidential candidate who was going nowhere. I just finished reading Team of Rivals, and Lieberman reminds me of Salmon Chase, who was convinced in his own mind that he was the best man to be President, and persistently tried to undermine Lincoln, even from within his administration. Problem was even the voters in his home state of Ohio didn't see him as presidential material.

doug2178: Lieberman is not neutralized. Quite the opposite: he's been made the most important vote in the Senate, wooed by both sides. He's also Exhibit A that going against the caucus will not engender retribution, which is a debilitating bat to the knees of the Dems' whip operation.
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At the same time, you managed to infuriate the activist base, the very rank and file who worked their hearts out for you.
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Overall, this was a terrible move.

I do repeat that I don't think this matters.
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Obama's biggest challenge in both chambers of Congress will be keeping the varying factions of his own party together, especially more liberal members and the more conservative so-called Blue Dog Democrats.
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Weird. The Blue Dogs are in the House. Lieberman doesn't have anything to do with them. The real question is whether he has promised to not use Homeland Security to harass the administration. And whether he will keep that promise.
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Also, I still think we will find that the filibuster is not as super powerful or as easy to implement in the next sessions. I may be wrong, but I continue to believe that Reid and Schumer were perfectly happy with republicans blocking popular legislation by voting in a bloc.
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And that some republican senators, with head of the party, will rediscover the benefits of crossing the aisle. And the Dems only need a couple of them to do so, even in the event of a filibuster.
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Going to look up who is up in '10. My recollection is that it looks sucky for the republicans then, too.

Jayackroyd I think you meant "without" a head of the party? Now I've beaten up on you twice today. Over my limit.

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Yep. some of them can be had. Sweetest will be McCain's seat.

thanks andy. You're almost as good a friend as preview.

Lieberman is completely neutralized. And Obama did it without firing a shot.
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Really? We'll know that soon, but his problem is that he lies a lot. Just like he lied to the voters of his home state when he took pains to portray himself as a critic of the war toward the end of the 2006 race.

Jay:

I think this is a fine article. But...

Lieberman has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that his not loyal, but instead a rank opportunist, shallow and petty to boot. He can be counted on to do only what is in his best interest. But I think that's what you are actually saying. The Dems have played this such that Joe being Joe will benefit them, in stead of the opposition. In other words, there is no justice in this decision, just naked politics.

I can live with that.

JNS
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Maybe you didnt get this part from firehawk up thread so I am going to repeat it in all caps
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re Lieberman's loyalty
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AFTER JOE LIEBERMAN LOST THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY BARACK OBAMA WAS ONE OF ONLY A FEW DEMS WHO STILL BACKED HIM AND CAMPAIGNED FOR HIM AS AN INDEPENDENT AND HELPED HIM WIN HIS GENERAL ELECTION IN CT. FOR THAT LIEBERMAN INFERRED HE WAS A MARXIST, WOULD PUT THE COUNTRY IN PERIL, PUT HIMSELF ABOVE HE COUNTRY, PUT OUR TROOPS IN HARMS WAY BY DEFUNDING THEM AND THAT OBAMA WAS ALL TALK.
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Maybe now you will understand why everyone is either laughing at you or hitting you with scorn for suggesting he was motivated by loyalty when he endorsed John McCain. Need further proof? Take what is reported he said today when asking to keep his chairmanship. He supposedly said he was "bitter" because so many Democrats turned against him after his primary and endorsed the other guy. And THATS why he started going all neocon on them. By the way that was total bullsh!t but it worked on those schmucks!
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