Lieberman to endorse McCain

December 16, 2007

Marc Ambinder and Mike Allen are both reporting this afternoon that Joe Lieberman will appear in New Hampshire to endorse John McCain’s presidential campaign.

A source familiar with the endorsement said that the two will appear of NBC’s Today Show tomorrow morning and at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.

The endorsement could help McCain with independents in the state…. The move will heighten speculation that McCain might ask Lieberman to join his ticket.

A few thoughts. First, this news hardly comes as a surprise. As far back as January, Lieberman said he would consider backing the Republican nominee in ’08. Obviously, given that McCain and Lieberman have been joined at the hip in support of Bush’s Iraq policy for five years, I would have been more surprised if he didn’t endorse McCain.

Second, McCain’s campaign is certain to score points with the David Broders of the world, but this endorsement may not deliver much in the way of primary votes. Indeed, Lieberman’s support in New Hampshire is hardly impressive — remember the classic “three way tie for third place“?

And third, on the possibility of a McCain-Lieberman ticket, this has been touted of late by everyone from The Weekly Standard’s William Kristol to National Review’s Peter Wehner, though it seems terribly far-fetched given Lieberman’s support of abortion and gay rights.

This is the natural evolution of an embarrassing senator who lost his way quite a while ago. It’s unlikely, in a 51-49 Senate, that the Democratic leadership will punish Lieberman for this (by, say, reevaluating the decision to give him a committee chairman’s gavel he never uses), but it’s hardly an unreasonable move given the circumstances.

Good – maybe now we can all officially acknowledge what we tried to get across when Lieberman selfishly ran as the Connecticut for Lieberman candidate – that Lieberman was all about himself, that he would sell out the Dems in a heartbeat if there was something in it for him – and now, the ensemble, as they say, is complete. Anyone who thinks Lieberman isn’t campaigning to be on the McCain ticket hasn’t been paying attention.

I hope it’s the kiss of death for McCain, and if it were up to me, Monday morning Joe Lieberman would find himself without a committee.

  • The Democratic leadership should punish Lieberman and give the Republicans their Cheney tiebreaker back. After all, it’s not like Senate Democrats are accomplishing anything that makes Democrats proud!

  • Apparently this is the thanks the Clintons get for supporting Lieberman over Lamont in the primary. Swell guy.

  • Lieberman’s going to find himself entirely wiithout a party in 2009. The Republicans aren’t going to want him, and even the Dems should be willing to strip him of all seniority and kick him out of the caucus after this and after picking up a handful of Senate seats. This may mean that Lieberman is planning to retire after the 2008 elections and let Rell make an appointment.

  • I was not a fan of punishing JoeLie because of the bigger picture issues, but at some point party affiliation has to be more than just a selection of convenience – there have to be some actions that actually validate it. The concept of a political “party” cannot be infinitely malleable and still have any meaning. Big Tent is great and necessary to winning majorities, but even the biggest tent has walls and a door somewhere. Endorsing the other party’s candidate for the highest office surely is beyond the walls of even the largest tent. Kick him out and deal with the short-run consequences: as lyn5 suggests, the gridlock really cant get any worse.

  • And so we have a one issue Lieberman…war on the middle east.

    Whether he thinks it will help Israel or his corporte donors or himself most, I’m not sure.

    Personally I think it is a world destructive view. Not good for anybody.

  • I don’t know why the senate dems would not remove Lieberman from being chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee now because this certainly gives them good reason. Lieberman has not helped break any ties and sides with repukes most of the time. Dems can always threaten filibuster to anything Lieberman’s vote might decide and who knows, perhaps with a different chairperson this committee might actually start to do more than protect Bush’s butt.

    Oh now I remember why senate dems will not bother to remove Liberman from his chair position (since he is essentially a republican anyway and makes sure his committee does no oversight or reform). The reason…Harry Reid, Joe might yell at Harry forcing him to cower under his desk or yell back using his loudest whisper…”Is it enough money or do you need more?”.
    McCain is the kiss of death already and Liberman is irrelevant and will be gone when reelection comes around. When it comes to Lieberman there are two things to hate about him…his face.

  • Good ol’ John McCain,” Mr. Straight Talk,” except that’s all the senile old moron does anymore. This past week, the attempt to kill the filibuster over the stripping-away of tax breaks for Big Oil in the energy bill failed by ONE VOTE. Guess who had “other priorities” that day????

    You’re right if you said “Mr. Republican Environmentalist” John McCain.

    How appropriate that the two biggest nitwits in the Senate – they even outdo Inhofe since he’s just someone who was born a dumb hillbilly and these two had to work to get there – would be ass-patting each other. Just like Holy Joe’s other “bipartisan comrqde” in the fight to save the planet – John Warner, co-author of the “Climate Security Act” – was one of the “Nay” votes for the filibuster. Warner and McCain prove why “the only ‘good Republicans’ are pushing up daisies.”

  • They should totally demote Lieberman from his committee chair. Even if ol’ Joe finally came out and admitted he is a Republican it would not give Republicans control of the Senate, nor would it substantially change the balance of power in the Senate. It’s certainly not the case that Lieberman is a reliable Democratic vote now.

  • I’m beginning to believe that there is a Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party and that Hillary and Reid are part of it.

  • I’m with lyn5 and Zeitgeist; kick Lieberman out of the party and deal with the fact that the Dems are in the minority in the Senate for another session, til the 2008 election.

    Party loyalty must MEAN something. I also agree with bicmon.

  • agree with others, break party ties with lieberman — it takes a stick out of the MSM’s hands when they beat up majority dems over congress having less of an approval rating than bush. and of course for anyone watching, lieberman hasn’t been about america’s best interests for quite some time.

  • An endorsement for government office from Holy Joe is like the local sex offender endorsing you for playground supervisor. I can’t believe there’s a political candidate that would allow himself to be photographed standing next to Lieberman – McCain must have a bigger pair than I gave him credit for.

    The only thing Joe respects is brute force, and that’s why he gets moist around Bush – he adores the unfettered exercise of power, even if its wielder uses it only to smash things.

  • The very moment that Darth Joe officially converts to the dark side—meaning Team RampStrike and the only quasi-human life-form on the planet who could double for George Lucas’ evil emperor—Dems should mount a two-pronged offensive, removing all committee positions from LIEberman’s dossier (hey—a Senator without committee is like a luau without pig and poi), and redouble the effort to defund the Iraq Comedy Hour.

    True Democratic power resides in the House—and there’s no such thing as a Darth Joe Senator who can make them do the bidding of LIEberman’s now-obvious “new masters.” End the war? De-fund it—and leave these two dark-siders without their precious “primo Issue….”

  • Not McCain’s best weekend, is it? First the endorsement from the — left-leaning — Des Moines Register and now from Joe Lie, whom the un-clued general public still considers to be a Dem (afterall, he ran as Gore-the-green-Satan’s mate in ’00 and he seems to be listed as Independent/Democrat when he votes). For a dedicated Repuke, this should translate into two kisses of death.

    As bicmon, @3 notes, Clintons supported that prick (Joe Lie) over Lamont, in Connecticut. That says a lot about their loyalty but what does it say about their judgment? At least Edwards (my own preference this year) had more sense than that; I remember him campaigning on Lamont’s behalf.

  • F Liebermutt! Make him walk.

    What difference would it make if the Harry Reid fiasco ended & we got to toss poop at the real repug shits till the 111th is convened? NONE. A repug controlled senate could be no worse than what that disgrace Reid is providing.

  • Liebermans just being a good little jewish fella,thats what he does best,and no,I am not against the state of Israel,I am against un warranted wars.
    Next Reid will endorse McCain…heck why not,he has endorsed Bush with his war funding.

  • If he was so irrelevant, and such a disgrace why do you all care so much???

    Go ahead, kick him out…

  • Guess who had “other priorities” that day????

    Tommy Boy, what about blaming that little pig from Lousiana (in your own party) before you blame a GOP member?

  • This is the natural evolution of an embarrassing senator …

    Don’t you mean an embarrassing ‘Dem led Congress?’ Seems like one item after another these days.

  • Leiberman think McCain will choose him for VP.
    I doubt it.
    Leiberman represents himself and Israel first and Connecticut last.
    Everyone is onto his game including the Republicans.

  • Joe is such a good example of what happens when a small mind receives a tad bit of power.

    Would it be good strategy to bump Joe now and then have the Dems be able to blame the Republicans for the stalemate in the Senate? To me it makes sense.

    As for Harry, what a sorry excuse for a man/Democrat/politician/leader. He’s just a sorry excuse.

  • *laughing my f***ing ass off*

    I knew Lieby had it in him…

    I know their must be a lot of very embarrassed, smart Jews out there right now…

    All is not as it seems, my friends.

  • Joe is such a good example of what happens when a small mind receives a tad bit of power people naïvely forget that a) we have a two party political system and b) any politician who doesn’t acknowledge this is an idiot or a liar.

    Edited to reflect the real problem with the most recent Lieberman election. Small minds with power are commonplace in American politics, and, while not nothing to worry about, they are a fact of life we all have to accept, even among Democrats. There were far too many people who wanted to believe that Lieberman, even though running as a third party candidate, was in fact a good-but-misunderstood Democrat. He wasn’t; he was a warmonger and a liar entirely unsuited for representing Connecticut Democrats, and the failure to realize that lies as much with the people who voted for a man who, to anyone paying attention who was familiar with American politics, was a clear-cut liar, as with the liar himself.

  • “I know their must be a lot of very embarrassed, smart Jews out there right now”

    Uh, Swan, don’t start blaming American Jews for the lying sack of shit that is Joe Lieberman. Most of us are NOT behind the neo-cons that Lieberman jumped in bed with years ago. We don’t like, or approve, of Joe Lieberman any more than most gentiles do.

    Do yourself a favor and read “The Fall of the House of Bush”, newly published. The author does a masterful job of showing how the neo-cons (mostly right-wing Jews with Holocaust mentalities) teamed up IN EQUAL MEASURE with Christian conservatives to back George Bush and to bring their – BOTH – evil ideas into effect. The book is by Craig Unger and is must-reading for anyone attempting to see how Bush gained power.

    Believe me, Swan, most American Jews are completely embarrassed by Joe Lieberman and his smarmy manner.

  • Phoebes wrote:

    Uh, Swan, don’t start blaming American Jews for the lying sack of shit that is Joe Lieberman.

    Uh, kind of “jumping the gun,” kind of pretty definitively misattributing me there, don’t you think?

    Phoebes wrote:

    Believe me, Swan, most American Jews are completely embarrassed by Joe Lieberman and his smarmy manner.

    Whoa, didn’t I write something like that in my comment?

    But I wasn’t thinking of his smarmy manner, and I wasn’t thinking necessarily of “most” American Jews, I was thinking of good liberal Jews, intellectual Jews, being embarrassed by their and other Jews thinking (at any point) that Joe Lieberman was at least kind of alright- or at all thinking that since he was a Jew, he wouldn’t likely ever be this bad. Believe me, as an Irishman, we know the lesson just as well as people of any other ethnicity do that we sure can’t count on every member of our own group to be cool.

  • Swan, thanks for your remarks about my post. I just get a little shaken up when I see anyone trying to associate that Lieberman ass-hole with other Jews. Believe me, he may have fooled some Jews with his pious act, but most of the people that I know have loathed and despised him for many years. Believe me, I voted for Gore/Lieberman in 2000 with my nose firmly pinched closed.

    But you should read Craig Unger’s book – hell, EVERYONE should read Craig Unger’s book – because it does give the best explanation of the unholy alliance between Jewish neo-cons and the Christian right I’ve seen yet.

  • I don’t know, I don’t think Joe’s assholiness has anything to do with his being a Jew, beyond maybe it giving him (he thinks) an excuse to “understand” that the Arabs have to be dealt with, like, only with violence, force, and intimidation in all circumstances.

    I don’t think he’s a cog in some complicated “right-wing Jews of Israel/America hook up with neo-conservative-foreign-policy-thinkers for implementation of master plan” thing.

  • He’s just a foot soldier, he’s not a master-mind of some plot- I don’t think he’s a tool of Israel, and I don’t think his agenda is focused on Israel more than it is on America.

    But, that’s just my guess.

  • Let’s say if Reid revokes Joementum’s committee chairmanship (unlikely) – and let’s say Joementum caucuses with the Republicans – the Senate goes 50-50.

    Now we know this doesn’t matter for votes because (a) Reid has created a false 60 vote barrier and never forces the GOP to filibuster, and (b) Loserman votes GOP anyway.

    So will we lose all chairmanships when the Senate is 50-50? If not, I would suggest launching a campaign to revoke Joe’s chairmanship…

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