Lieberman to head pro-McCain ‘organization,’ distances himself from ‘Democrat Party’

June 5, 2008

It’s hard not to get the sense that Joe Lieberman is just taunting Dems at this point. Lieberman doesn’t want to just burn the bridge to the ground, he wants to pour salt in the earth around the wreckage.

Yesterday, Lieberman joined a conference call coordinated by a right-wing House member to bash Barack Obama. Today, he announced the creation of what he calls a “new grassroots organization,” called, “Citizens for McCain.” From the letter the McCain campaign distributed today (no link available):

Citizens for McCain is an organization within the McCain campaign for people who put country before political party and support the candidate for President who has a proven record of bipartisanship.

As you know, I caucus with the Democrats as a United States Senator and was the Democrat Party’s nominee for Vice-President of the United States against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

But first and foremost, I am an American. I have an obligation to do what I think is best for our nation regardless of political party.

A couple of things. First, how far gone is Lieberman? In his letter to “fellow McCain supporters,” he uses the far-right, grammatically-wrong construction: “Democrat Party.” Pathetic.

Second, Lieberman calls Citizens for McCain a “new grassroots organization.” It isn’t. In fact, by all appearances, it’s not an organization at all — it’s just a gimmick of the McCain campaign, cooked up to collect money and addresses. Campaigns come up with these gimmicks all the time, but for a sitting senator to announce that he’s the “chair” of a “new grassroots organization,” when there is no actual organization, is pretty ridiculous.

Maybe Obama needs to back him up against another wall.

On a related note, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid conceded that he’s had to take Lieberman aside.

“I’ve had conversations with Lieberman at some length. I’m not going to discuss the conversations here. But I think the discussions he had with Obama yesterday and the discussions he had with me yesterday were fruitful. We’ll let the future decide what it’s going to be, but I’m not about to threaten anybody.”

I’m not blaming Reid in the slightest, but the discussions were obviously not “fruitful.” The day after the chats, Lieberman is talking about the “Democrat Party” and announcing that he’s the head of fake fundraising group for the Republican presidential candidate.

Lieberman has to see the writing on the wall, but he clearly doesn’t care. He has seven and a half months before the next Congress, with a larger Senate majority, convenes, at which point Lieberman will have lost just about everything — his role in the party, his committee chairmanship, the respect of his constituents, and his ability to be a key player on the Hill.

I wonder if he’ll think it was worth it.

Does Lieberman know his days as a Dem are numbered, and is just wreaking as much havoc as he can before switching to the GOP next year (when it’ll be too late to do him any good whatsoever)?

What in the hell is wrong with him? It’s like he’s powered solely by festering resentment over his primary loss in 2006.

  • “I caucus with the Democrats as a United States Senator and was the Democrat Party’s nominee for Vice-President…”

    Joe is indeed one sad little man. When does he run again?

  • We still need him for 6 more months. After that we should take him out in the woods and _______!!!!!!!!(fill in the blank)

  • Here’s an interesting question to speculate on, and I think an important one when Obama wins the presidency.

    I know the Democrats are pushing hard to get a 60 seat majority in the Senate, to get over the fillibuster threat from Republican do-nothings. What I’ve read so far makes that goal unlikely at the moment. And with a possible Lieberman defection (or a more satisfying kick-out) that 60 number will be even harder to attain.

    Do you think Obama would support or even lean on Reid to use the republican so-called “nuclear option”. To force republicans to actually spend the time fillerbustering?

    I’m just thinking about the future and the obstructionist republicans getting in the way of some (or all) of the reforms on the agenda….

  • Do you think Obama would support or even lean on Reid to use the republican so-called “nuclear option”. To force republicans to actually spend the time fillerbustering?

    That isn’t the Nuclear Option. The N-O is declaring the fillibuster to be illegitimate and changing the rules to forbid it.

    What you’re referring to is just a matter of going back to the days when a fillibuster wasn’t simply a refusal to vote for cloture, it required continuing debate. I don’t have any idea why that isn’t the standard being used today, but it isn’t the nuclear option.

    FWIW I would be very happy to see the fillibuster undermined, if not eliminated.

  • Joe-mentum is powered by all that is good for the Likud Party. Not israel, the Kikud party of Israel.
    I would guess that this twisted worldview is what blinds him to what is good or bad for America.

  • So is this Joe’s bid for becoming McCain’s vice-president, in the hopes of winning with a coalition of independents who love the word “maverick” and the no-blacks, no-women, no-way wings of both parties?

  • From the letter the McCain campaign distributed today (no link available)

    What’s in the parenthesis is hugely important.

    This document is not available online? Not anywhere?

    This election isn’t about right/left.

    It’s the baby boomers vs their children. It’s about the TV centric world against the internet world.

    I’d love to see polling data split on age, above say 45 vs below 45.

  • why worry about the new Congress in 6 months? boot Joe now, and then just recess until Jan 2009. it isn’t like anything meaningful is going to get done in the middle of a realigning election anyway.

  • I think all the Dems who gave Liebershit a pass should all apologize to us DFHs who supported Lamont.

    NOW.

  • Remember the story about how Joe didn’t even bother to properly organize the “Connecticut for Lieberman Party”, and so some joker took over the official organization? How sweet would it be if lightning would strike twice and a Dem took this fake org away from him, and made it another anti-Lieberman platform!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_for_Lieberman

    (Yes, I know wikipedia isn’t the most authoritative source, but it summarizes the story nicely)

  • When does he run again? — Capt. Kirk, @2

    Not till 2012. And, MsJoanne (3). I’m not sure that he can be recalled and there’s nobody to put pressure on him to retire, since he’s a party of one…

    We still need him for 6 more months. — Patrick, @4

    We could, possibly, dispense with him at this point; it’s not as if he’s doing us any good any more, since the fact that we get the chairmanships as the majority (to which he *was*, indeed, necessary) is now locked throughout the 110 Congress. Letting him dry out on the vine all by himself is more an act of mercy than a necessity.

    But he certainly is one of the reasons that we need as big a majority in the Senate as we can get and that includes stopping all the silly talk about Jim Webb or Mark Warner being suitable for Obama’s VP.They might be suitable but, until you can clone them, lay off the idea, please! (see Danp, no caps)

  • > 3.On June 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pm, MsJoanne said:
    > Screw him! Somwone tell me why the people of CT aren’t recalling him?

    CT isn’t a state with a constitution that allows recall petitions and elections. This is typically a western state innovation. Too bad.

  • What Gong said. Kick that creep to the curb and see how the Republicans treat him. They’ll piss all over Joe, and prove to any other DINO the true character of the people on the other side of the aisle.

  • The problem with recessing until January, gong! (#11), is that that would leave the Shrub free to pull the recess appointments scam and stack the judiciary with right-wing judges. We can’t let that happen.

  • I think he’s a mixture of desperate and deluded, a dangerous combination.

    He’s decided to stick with the Republicans, backing an inferior candidate, while burning bridged with the people who supported him. He CANNOT go back to being just another Democrat, there’s to much bad blood.

    So he forges on, desperately, with his new buddies, hoping to get something out of it.

    What he’ll probably get is obscurity after becoming the next Zell Miller. Democrats are sick of him, Obama is in the lead and isn’t afraid to call him on his BS, and he has nothing less.

  • I also think that Obama’s VP vetting committee should meet with Joe and tell him they’re seriously considering him. Not that they should seriously consider him, I just want to see if he buys it, and if it makes his head explode.

    (On the other hand, he’s only marginally more critical of Obama/asskissing of McCain than Hillary is!)

    Man, I cannot wait for the day when the D Caucus doesn’t need him, and pays back ALL of the humiliation he’s brought them.

  • I certainly would like to see Joe with his back to a wall, wearing a blindfold.

  • This situation should have been expected from Senator Lieberman. When he lost the Democratic Primary in his own state and then ran as an independent against his own party’s candidate should have been the bell tolling a warning about Senator Lieberman. It was apparent then that his only interest was himself, and that he no longer had any loyalty to the Democratic Party.

  • Does Lieberman know his days as a Dem are numbered… -Maria

    He hasn’t been a Dem since he lost the nomination to Lamont.

  • @10: It’s the baby boomers vs their children. It’s about the TV centric world against the internet world.

    Um, maybe yes to the latter–maybe–but no to the former. As a member of that particular generation for better or worse, I don’t think that kind of divisive over-generalization is very helpful and it’s certainly not true. Though it does buy into the Corporate Media Myth that blogosphere is all 20- and 30-somethings. But thanks anyway.

    @19: I also think that Obama’s VP vetting committee should meet with Joe and tell him they’re seriously considering him.

    Actually, I think his particular delusion–probably fostered and encouraged by some delicate whisperings into his shell-like ear–is that he’s going to get the nod from McCain for Veep. Or maybe SecState or SecDef if he’s a little less batshit insane.

  • beowulf888 said: CT isn’t a state with a constitution that allows recall petitions and elections. This is typically a western state innovation. Too bad.

    I didn’t know that, and that is a damned shame. Thanks for clearing that one up.

    I am disgusted with this man. Perfect example of why these shitheads should not be in office for so long.

  • He hasn’t been a Dem since he lost the nomination to Lamont.

    Yes, I know. I meant does he know his days of pretending to caucus with us are numbered?

    So hard to tell whether he’s fully delusional and thinks he can get away with this stuff, or whether he knows his little party’s almost over and he’s trying to do as much damage to Dems as possible before he officially becomes a low-profile Republican. He can’t imagine he’ll be any use to them when he’s not Zell Millering us?

  • MsJoanne said:
    Dale, maybe Bill Clinton can do it with a Hummer? (heh…sorry, could not resist)

    If they put the images that go through your mind on youtube, MsJoanne, they’d put the other videos out of business. 🙂

    Hey with John’s script, if you put only your name in the keywords section (not the screen name section) It will mark any messages that were replies to you and mention you.

  • Cool tip, Dale! Thanks! And what can I say about my mind…it is what it is. I can be quite amusing (to myself) at times. (And yes, there are many a time I have grossed myself out so badly that brain bleach is required.)

    Oh how I love John’s script! If you’re still out there, John…you rock!

  • Dale, maybe Bill Clinton can do it with a Hummer? (heh…sorry, could not resist)

    When will you LET the UNSUBSTANTIATED EVENTS of the 1990s GO?! I saw Obama with Larry Sinclair in a limo! I saw Goody Good with the devil!

  • Conservatives clearly don’t understand what “grassroots” means. Oh, they’ll let the grass grow if it happens, but they’ll be the ones placing down the sod, water, artificial light, and most of all, lots and lots of fertilizer.

  • Maria, honey, sweetie, cookie, baby…think blue dress. ‘Nuff said. 😉

    Besides, a Hummer is a car (too). 😀 😀

  • Grassroots organization for Republicans?

    I didn’t know Republicans smoked grass. Wait! They don’t.

    Heck of a Brownie, Brownie!

  • I didn’t know Republicans smoked grass

    It’d be a hell of a lot easier to coexist with ’em if they did.

    MsJoanne, when they stop making the Hummer, will Bill Clinton stop getting blowjobs from other women? For the environment?

  • I don’t get to these postings until late, but if anyone is still chatting, a question: If the Dems stripped Lieberman of his committee chairmanship and he, in a snit, switched parties in name as well as fact, would the Senate have to reorganize because the Dems no longer had their razor thin majority, or does the organization in effect at the beginning of a Congress hold until the end of it? If reorganization is not an issue, why can’t he go? To paraphrase Henny Youngman, Please, take CT’s senator … If he actually becomes McCain’s VP (nothing would surprise me from this guy, or this election cycle) he’s going to have to go anyway. He’s literally a lie on legs.

    Also, re: #10, and the babyboomer v. their children remark: I am a babyboomer, the oldest possible. McCain is not. He is a Depression, pre-WWII baby. Big difference.

  • SF, in that scenario, the change takes effect immediately. Remember when Jim Jeffords bolted the Republicans after Bush and Co. treated him like crap? That immediately created a Democratic majority.

    In this scenario, since Dems have 49 plus two independents who caucus with us, Lieberman’s defection to the GOP would create an even 50-50 split. If votes fell exactly along party lines, Cheney would break the tie in favor of the GOP.

  • I saw Obama with Larry Sinclair in a limo! I saw Goody Good with the devil!

    Now you’re on fire, Maria. Well played.

    I didn’t know Republicans smoked grass

    Sure. They’re called libertarians.

  • MsJoanne, when they stop making the Hummer, will Bill Clinton stop getting blowjobs from other women? For the environment

    There are those who just never stop. I loved Clinton as president. It was a much better time, no doubt. But, Bill’s the kinda guy who will never stop. Until it’s no longer pro-offered, it’s gonna happen.

    There are men who never fool around and then there are those who, well, do.

    Besides, whether he does or not…the queries will never stop (nor will the jokes! Hummers all around! Woo hoo!! 😀 )

  • If the Dems stripped Lieberman of his committee chairmanship and he, in a snit, switched parties in name as well as fact, would the Senate have to reorganize because the Dems no longer had their razor thin majority

    Nope. McConnell and Reid struck a deal that Senate leadership would remain stable between congressional elections (apparently the norm; 2001 was a fluke.)

    Which makes the reluctance to kick Holy Joe to the curb a real mystery. They don’t need him, and he’s only causing them trouble. I imagine Obama told him as much in their little meeting.

  • TR, you’re right! I totally forgot about the Reid-McConnell deal, but I never knew that it represents the norm; I thought it was the special case. Thank you for clearing that up.

  • McConnell and Reid struck a deal that Senate leadership would remain stable

    And if JoeLie jumped ship while Cheney is Vice Chancellor of the Empire that “deal” would be honored for how many nanoseconds, exactly?

    “Deal” is something you have either through coersive force or through trust.
    If JoeLie jumps, we lose force. Do you trust the Rethugs?

  • Nice work there, Maria. So much sadness. So many trombones.

    As for the Reid-McC. deal, I only read that was the norm recently myself — here, maybe? — so I don’t think it’s widely known.

  • I could be mistaken (prolly not), but even if the Ds dump liebersnot they will still maintain control of the senate as though they are the majority, for the rest of the session.
    If this is so, then Reid is blowing it out his ass again if he allows this misconception to lay.

  • McCain/Lieberman 2008. It’s one of the few (semi-) rational explanations for his behavior. If not veep, SecDef or State. McCain trusts him and McCain will need to make a splash to reinvigorate his campaign as he goes against the coming Dem tidal wave. Watch the polling in the next week or two, Obama should be up by 10+ soon, now that the primary is resolved.

    Conservatives were not, are not and will not be supporting McCain with any enthusiasm anyway, so his best hope is to push Obama to the left, claim the center and hope the right remains fractured (or without viable alternatives–Go Barr!). Senator Palpatine, I mean Lieberman, gives him a narrative to claim the center.

    I don’t think it will work, but there aren’t a lot of viable options for Republicans this year.

  • Re recalls out west:

    Yes, we have them. No, they do not apply to federal offices. But there are times when we wish they did.

  • Anybody know the feelings toward Joe from the good citizens of the State of Ct.?

  • There’s a two-pronged option available….

    McConnell has the Senate tied in knots; nothing’s going anywhere this session. Harry and the Dems have majority control over the chamber for the balance of the 110th. So here’s an idea:

    Coast through until the schedule recess; I think it’s somewhere in September. Boot Lieberman out of the caucus, close down the session, and open back up for “business” the next day on a pro forma schedule.

    McConnell can’t screw things up, Joe Lie can’t string out the Dem caucus, Darth Dick can’t break any tie votes, and Bush can’t play “recess appointment.”

    It also cripples the last 3 months or so of Bush’s presidency.

  • Maria #36: Thanks. I do now remember the Jeffords business. It’s probably too late to ask now, but does anyone think L. can actually remain a Dem if he’s the Republican VP nominee?

  • I’ve been thinking Joe Lieberman blows the way the wind blows on issues that can sustain his sense of relevancy. Now, though, I just think Joe Lieberman blows! -Kevo

  • Maria, it’s disgusting that 40% would STILL vote for Lieberman. Our country is seriously messed up. Even knowing what we know. Granted, this was Sept of 2007. I would hope that it would be 25% now…the same that continue to support Bush.

    Interesting breakdown:

    QUESTION: For whom did you vote for in the 2006 race for U.S. Senate, Ned Lamont, the Democrat, Alan Schlesinger, the Republican, or Joe Lieberman, an Independent?

    LIEBERMAN LAMONT SCHLESINGER

    DEMOCRATS 34% 62% 4%
    REPUBLICANS 67% 10% 23%
    INDEPENDENTS 53% 41% 6%

    QUESTION: If you could vote again for U.S. Senate, would you vote for Ned Lamont, the Democrat, Alan Schlesinger, the Republican, or Joe Lieberman, an Independent?

    LAMONT LIEBERMAN SCHLESINGER

    DEMOCRATS 72% 25% 3%
    REPUBLICANS 7% 69% 24%
    INDEPENDENTS 49% 38% 9%

    Old Joe was doing well with the goopers back then too.

  • As far as I understand it, both TR and Maria are right. That is, we do have the “majority” locked for the entire 110 as far as the committee chairmanships go; we wouldn’t lose those if Old Lie finally defected (having defecated on us so many times). I think that’s the most important part, since it’s the committee chairs who decide which bill goes out to the Senate floor for a vote.

    But Maria is also right about what would happen in a strict up-and-down vote which split, precisely down the middle — Cheney would come in to break the tie.

    Except that, we hardly ever see those (even split) votes or votes where Old Lie makes a difference by his lonesome. So he’s about as much use to us now as a puff-ball mushroom.

  • Yes, that’s absolutely right, libra. The committees are the most important thing by far, and I’d forgotten that Reid and McConnell had made that deal.

  • blah blah …— Cheney would come in to break the tie.
    So what.
    The way it works now, the Ds need 60 or 67 votes in the senate to buy toilet paper.

    Toss Liebershit in the river, now.

  • Hey Joe: You gotta do what you gotta do. That’s cool. Nothing wrong with that. Let’s just cut the crap and resign your seat because you are not representing the democratic party or the State of Connecticut. You are only representing the extreme right-wing of the Israeli fascists and they are not entitled to a seat in the US Senate. So now you are in criminal violation of your oath to faithfully protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Just slip away quietly before the impeachment begins.

  • Harry Reid has had a balancing act with the Senate since 2006. Tim Johnson was out most of 2007 and now Kennedy and Byrd have fallen ill. There was too slim a margin to diss LIEberman (party of one). No one will be happier than me when the Dems get a larger majority and we can say Farewell and Good Riddance to Holy Joe as part of the Dem caucus.

    For my part, I’ll do what I can to help Dem Jeff Merkley defeat Repub incumbent Gordon Smith here in Oregon. I hope those of you in Texas, Minnesota, Maine and other states where a Repub Senator is up for re-election will help elect Rick Noriega, Al Franken, Tom Allen, or whomever your Dem candidate is. We’ve got to do this so that President Obama and the Dem majority have a chance of passing progressive legislation!

  • McCain/Lieberman. That would be the biggest dose of ugly since The Travelling Wilburys.

    Joe Lieberman losing his seat to a true Democrat in his next election will be quite a satisfying moment.

  • Polaris, you gotta do way better than that to claim valuable prizes from the McCain Corral.

  • Lieberman isn’t abandoning the Democratic party; the party abandoned him several years ago. He had a different opinion on the war and a couple other issues and the party blackballed him. With democrats if you’re not fully signed on to their complete agenda you are not a democrat worth supporting..

  • I think the statements made by several liberals (I say liberals because progressive indicates you’re actually PROGRESSING) make obvious how polarized an increasing number of the party is becoming. If you don’t abandon all logic in the pursuit of an idealist eutopia you should be shot and hung according to the philosophy.

  • With democrats if you’re not fully signed on to their complete agenda you are not a democrat worth supporting.

    What nonsense. Would you like to look at the voting breakdowns of Congressional Republicans and Congressional Dems over the past eight years and tell us which party marches in near-total lockstep and which party has a healthy chunk of dissenters on almost every vote?

    Lieberman got blackballed because he supports, enables and furthers the Bush administration’s outright lies, spin and shadings on war and foreign policy while actively working to discredit the Democrats he’s supposed to be caucusing with. He crossed the line of honorable disagreement years ago, and now he’s well into crazed rage territory. I can’t wait until he’s out of our hair and becomes just another Republican lemming following Bush and McCain over the cliff.

  • Um, are you guys at TCR aware that Crooks & Liars practically repeated most of this story, word for word, on their site today? Or are you guys the same people? If not, then that’s called STEALING material. And Keith Olbermann made Lieberman Worst Person tonight based on either yours or C&L’s post (so that makes two thieves, does it not)? Just wondering what you all think of that. Here’s the C&L link http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/06/lieberman-to-head-pro-mccain-organization/

  • Senator Clinton and Lieberman do NOT believe that White America will ever vote for a Black man for president!!!!!!

    I guess people fail to realize what’s driving Senator Clinton and Lieberman; they both, do NOT, in their hearts believe that White America will ever vote for a Black president. They don’t believe he has a chance of winning because of White prejudice. They believe it race prejudice before commonsense, that’s why she continued her race, and that’s why he will continue to do his stuff with McSame.

    I don’t understand why people are failing to accept, that belief, is what is driving Senator Clinton and Lieberman to act the way they are acting.

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