If Lieberman Doesn't Back Off His Threat, Democrats Face Unappealing Options

Harry Reid was apparently caught unawares by Sen. Joe Lieberman's...

wow. just. wow.

Lieberman is a republican, well actually he's out for himself. He's pissed that he was primaried from the left and is out for revenge. He knows he will not be re-elected in 2012 so he's out to get his pound of progressive flesh now.

Why was Lieberman primaried if he was talking medicare buy-in and public option? Because of his war support?

The Senate doesn't grasp that having a 60-person majority and not being able to pass a bill will not be understood by voters of all party persuasions. Dems will have to jettison the fillibuster rule from 60 to 55; the rule can even be temporary for this bill. Shrug. Risky, but it's better than the bloodbath that 2010 will be for the Dems if healthcare isn't passed.

First move - break his teeth

So Joe's willing to be a backbencher for the next 3 years? Or does he think Dems won't have the balls to strip him of his chairs?

I remember Reid holding a vote of confidence for Joe to keep his chairs at the start of this session after he had actively campaigned against Obama. There was reason NOT to strip him at the time in hopes he would play nice, which he has until now.

But I wonder if Reid realizes that 'threatening' to strip him of his chairs must be done BEFORE the vote for vital legislation comes up, and must be done early and often in the most menacing of means in order for there to be a chance that Joe might actually think it might happen. Stripping him after the HCR vote really does absolutely nothing.

There's got to be a way to blackball his wife from her HCR lobbying positions where she's bringing home big time bread.

Hm. Channeling LBJ. How would he get it done? I have a feeling that if Lyndon was handling the behind the scenes on this, the ends would justify the means.

All this sudden talk about running up budget deficits, bankrupting Medicare, etc., by the Republicans (and Joe Lieberman) is nothing but political grandstanding and part of a strategy to undercut the Obama presidency. All the Republicans including Snowe, Collins, Kyl, Hatch voted for the unfunded $1.2 trillion 2003 Prescription Drug Expansion bill that created Medicare Part D without batting an eyelid. Hell, the Bush White House even prevented the CBO from submitting an accurate cost estimate prior to passage of the bill. Now this bill comes along, its a funded mandate to the tune of $800+ billion, its a mix of private-public elements, and they're suddenly acting like fiscal hawks? The whole thing is a glaring exercise in hypocrisy, and yet the press (WaPo, NYT) are doing nothing to expose these newly self-annointed faux fiscal hawks.

Can we get Joe alone in a room with Rahm?

Joe is-in the final analysis-with the Republicans on HCR. The absurdist, schizoid behavior is really a comical attempt to appear loyal to the Democratic Caucus in the Senate, but, at the end of the day, he wants the President to suffer or appear to suffer a defeat on Health Care. The Congressional Democrats are just "collateral" damage.

After all, a weakened President Obama is a President Obama whose heft vis-a-vis Netanyahu, and forcing Israeli policy away from blatant West Bank annexation, and a unilateral attack on Iranian nuclear sites is "reform" more to his liking. For Joe and his "constituents" outside the state of Connecticut-shall we say-not having a President McCain has "existential" consequences that trump a lot of things, certainly health care reform. Thus, there will "always" be something wrong with the bill.