Lieberman Congratulates Obama

[Lazie]

From NBC's Mark Murray
Earlier this morning, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-D) -- who vigorously campaigned for McCain and sometimes criticized Obama during the general election -- released a statement congratulating the new president-elect.
"I sincerely congratulate President-elect Obama for his historic and impressive victory. America remains a nation of extraordinary opportunity and the American people are a people of extraordinary fairness. Now that the election is over, it is time to put partisan considerations aside and come together as a nation to solve the difficult challenges we face and make our blessed land stronger and safer. I pledge to work with President-elect Obama and his incoming Administration in their efforts to reinvigorate our economy and keep our nation secure and free."
One of the more interesting stories to follow over the next few weeks will be whether Lieberman continues to caucus with the Democrats and whether he retains his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

[Lazie]

Hortical, what unuh intend fi duh with Joe come next election? The voters in Connecticut need fi correct this error.

[Hortical]

That mudafocker needs to be kicked out of office. Pity we can not recall a politician like Cali, but his days are numbered in CT.

[Assasin]

Joe needs to go, the problem is he has 4 more years left in his term.
He moved from been a respected democrat to Republican tool, now them lose he want to play boaty?

[Exile]

First take away all his Chairs and leave him out in the cold for awhile...Lieberman was just trying to get a big job from McCain, he should be made irrelevant.

[Westman]

I agree fully. Start by taking away his chairs.

[Lazie]

Lieberman to discuss fate with Reid




Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), a former Democrat who backed John McCain for president, is expected to meet with Majority Leader Harry Reid later this week to discuss Lieberman’s fate in the Senate Democratic Caucus. A senior Democratic aide said that Lieberman’s chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hangs in the balance.

“I can’t see how he keeps the chairmanship for that committee, but they will talk and part of the discussion will focus on Lieberman’s actions during the presidential campaign,” the aide said. “In fact, a large portion of the conversation will” focus on that.

Lieberman spent election night in Arizona with McCain, his close friend, and is expected back in Washington on Thursday.

For his part, Lieberman is looking to smooth things over.

“Now that the election is over, it is time to put partisan considerations aside,” he said in a statement, “and come together as a nation to solve the difficult challenges we face and make our blessed land stronger and safer. I pledge to work with President-elect Obama and his incoming Administration in their efforts to reinvigorate our economy and keep our nation secure and free.”

Neither Reid nor Lieberman’s offices would comment on their forthcoming talks, other than to say that they are “likely” to meet Thursday.

Reid has come under heavy pressure from some Democrats to strip Lieberman of his chairmanship. Lieberman’s active support for McCain and tough criticism of Barack Obama, including a speech at the Republican National Convention, have infuriated many rank-and-file Democrats, who want Reid to act decisively against Lieberman.

Considered a traitor by many critics for supporting the Iraq war and running as an Independent in 2006 after losing the Democratic primary for his seat, Lieberman has been the bane of the liberal blogosphere for years. But blogger Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos said that he's not looking for a scalp--just the chairmanship.

"As long as he's stripped of his committee chairmanship, I don't care what he does,” Moulitas said in an e-mail. “He can be an irrelevant backbencher in our caucus if he so decides, or he can quit, or he can switch parties. Whatever. It'll have little practical impact on anything, so I'm ready to move on.”

But Reid may not be as free to deal firmly with Lieberman as the party leadership had hoped. Democrats picked up five seats on Tuesday night, and four races remain undecided, but Republicans lead in all of those contests. Booting Lieberman from the Democratic ranks would mean losing a loyal vote for Democratic priorities on most issues, and Reid may not want to do that at this point.

Another important factor is the Senate committee ratios for the 111th Congress. Since Senate Democrats probably will not end up with the six to seven seats that many political experts forecast, they won’t have the big margin of control on panels that they were hoping for over the last several weeks. For instance, if Democrats had gotten to 57 or 58 seats without counting Lieberman, they would have had a three-vote margin on the powerful Appropriations Committee. But if Lieberman joined the Senate GOP Conference, Democrats would have only 55 votes in the chamber, giving them less room to flex their muscle on Appropriations and other Senate panels.

Senior Senate Democratic aides said privately that they did not know Reid’s intentions going into the talks with Lieberman. Reid was asked about the issue on Election Night by the Las Vegas Sun, a home-state paper, but gave no hint about his plans.

Some Democratic leadership aides hoped Lieberman would leave the Democratic Caucus on his own and spare Reid from having to act. Lieberman has not attended a Democratic Caucus meeting in months, and if it were not for Reid’s direction intervention, some Democrats would have moved to boot him already.

“It’s really unclear what [Reid] is going to do,” said a source close to the majority leader. “This is all being handled at the member-to-member level.”

Republicans, for their part, would be delighted to count Lieberman as one of their own.

“I’ve said all along, ‘Joe, these are welcoming arms. C’mon, Joe,’” Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, joked on Tuesday night.

“We love Joe Lieberman, and if the Democrats don’t want you, Joe, c’mon, we’ll give you a big bear hug.”