"Look, it's our good friend Joe!"
Posted on 09/08/2006 3:10:27 PM PDT by Jean S
If Sen. Joe Lieberman’s Democratic colleagues are anxious to get rid of him, they gave no indication of it in their first gathering since Lieberman lost a Connecticut primary to Ned Lamont last month and launched an independent bid.
“I don’t think there’s any of us out there saying ‘Goddamn, I hope Joe doesn’t win,’” said Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who has endorsed Lamont in the general election.
Indeed, Democratic senators applauded Lieberman at their weekly policy luncheon, when Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) asked him to brief the caucus on upcoming port-security legislation.
“Welcome back,” said Reid, who was scheduled to meet with Lamont later in the day.
After Reid’s introduction, Lieberman got “a warm ovation,” according to Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).
As much as liberal scrawlers on the Internet are calling for his scalp, Lieberman’s courtly colleagues seem to be patting him on the shoulder.
“I’d always like to work with Joe Lieberman,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is backing Lamont, said of a possible Lieberman win in the general election.
Others were a little more forward.
“I’m not going to settle for a handshake. I want a big hug,” Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told Lieberman. Lincoln has not endorsed either candidate.
A smiling Lieberman emerged from the caucus shortly after 2 p.m. to chat with about 40 members of the news media who had gathered in the hallway outside of the meeting room.
“I appreciated it immensely,” he said of the ovation he received, noting that it had been some time since his mere presence at a caucus meeting sparked applause.
He easily brushed off Reid’s meeting with Lamont.
“That’s politics,” he said.
Lieberman gamely handled a few more questions — Republican colleagues are not asking him to join their side and he has “no interest” in becoming secretary of defense — before moving toward the sanctuary of a senators-only elevator.
Earlier in the day, Lieberman said several senators approached him on the floor during a vote on an amendment to the pending fiscal year 2007 defense appropriations bill. He said he got kind words from a bipartisan set of members, including Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).
Lieberman’s centrism was once a source of strength in Democratic circles, helping land him the vice presidential slot in 2000. But his 2004 presidential bid fell flat in the Democratic primary, and his support for American involvement in the Iraq war has made him a target for critics of the war. Lamont edged Lieberman in the primary, but Lieberman leads in polling in a three-way general-election race including Republican Alan Schlesinger.
Lamont’s challenge put Democratic leaders in a bind, and several of them said before the primary that they would support whomever Connecticut Democrats chose.
But some of Lieberman’s colleagues hope party support for Lamont will be restrained.
“The DSCC’s resources are not unlimited and I hope we would focus on states where an incumbent Democrat is not running for re-election,” said Carper, who could be in line to replace Lieberman atop the Democratic roster on the governmental affairs panel.
“Joe Lieberman is one of my closest personal friends,” he said. Carper has endorsed Lieberman in the primary.
But not everyone in the Democratic Caucus was as charitable.
“Everyone knows where I stand, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, and I want to see the Democrat win,” Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said.
Biden may have been the most circumspect.
“I don’t have a relationship with, nor do I even know, Joe’s opponent. I’ve endorsed him because he’s the Democratic” nominee, Biden said. “If Lamont wins, he’ll be embraced, and if Joe wins, he’ll be embraced.”
At least for one day, Democrats wrapped their arms around Lieberman.
I think what he meant to say is everyone knows I'm a dead in the wool democrat.
I know he will do it, but Joe's stupid to caucus with the Democrats. He could get a chairmanship and all kinds of other benefits by being in the majority.
And the Republicans would treat him better than the Dems would.
Welcome those Democrats who have publicly stated and VOTED conservatively and for responsibility and freedom but let the socialists and so-called liberals go home when replaced by a more radical one. Let them fight amongst themselves.
Would you have wanted to take into the Allied cause those Nazis who disagreed with Hitler only on the policy of exterminating the lesser peoples but believed in their innate destiny to rule all others?
That is the kind of "division" among the socialists;and also among the Muslims.
Accept only those who have truly demonstrated their commitment to freedom .
That's my evil plan.
This way I get to be supreme emperor, not just of the US but the whole NAU.
Mwahahahahahahahaha.
Ha.
So Democrats are hypocrites. Surprise, surprise.
::snickering::
The Dems have been neutered, on this issue, because Leiberman showed he has a spine and resisted Kos. Something none of them have mustered the courage to do.
As a result he's leading in the polls, largely because they underestimated CONSERVATIVE/REPUBLICAN willingness to put politics aside and support the only candidate in the race that would be responsible on the WOT. They apparently also forgot not all Liberals, whether Dems or Independents, are suicidal loons. Even in CT.
Oh, and Kos? You may be able to intimidate Liberal Democrats. You may be able to intimidate liberal networks. But you've yet to show you can intimidate the GOP's CONSERVATIVE base...or score a victory against us. Proof in point is this race. We're the ones denying you an anti-war victory. I hope you gag on that knowledge.
"“I don’t think there’s any of us out there saying ‘Goddamn, I hope Joe doesn’t win,’” said Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who has endorsed Lamont in the general election."
Will some genuine Catholic please sit ole Catholic Joe down and explain that using language that is sinful is not the way to establish his bona fides as a "Catholic"?
Don't listen to what the rat says, watch how he lives.
After the 'back stab' it surprises me that Joe is still loyal to these idiots??????
That's not surprising, but it's a deliberate "error."
Denial just ain't a river in Egypt.
Ha!
We just have different opinions of what is going on. I'm not taking it too seriously.
If you turn out to be right then let me email you $10 via paypal for a drink or some such.
We can have different opinions, but you can't have different facts. Lieberman is still counted as a Democrat in the Seante. There ARE currently 44 Dem senators and Lieberman is one of them. That is a fact.
Lieberman is *not* running for re-election TODAY as a Democrat. Either he is a Democrat or he is not.
Did Joe Biden use that language on the air? What show was it on? He reminds me of a nit-wit with that silly smirky smile.
"Either he is a Democrat or he is not."
Well, he is not, but he is. He is legally a Democrat in the Senate until election day. Then, assuming he wins, he officially becomes an Independent who can then choose which party in Congress he wants to caucus with, which will be the Dems. He will then officially be an Independent that caucuses with the Dems, but not until the next session of Congress begins after the mid-term election is over.
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