A Suggestion was put forth on how to deal with Lieberman that I kind of like

[rpannier]

Go to Collins and Snowe of Maine and encourage them to switch parties.
Let Collins keep her Chair on the Homeland Security Committee which she is now for the republikkans and tell joe to take a hike.

At this point I've had it with Lieberman's trying to be cute and coy. "Call me an Independent Democrat."
"I won't rule out anything." In reference to whether he'd switch Parties.

If he is concerned about being made to feel uncomfortable we should give him something to really make him feel uncomfortable about -- becoming obsolete.

This blackmail sh*t has got to be nipped in the bud.

on edit: Thanks so much chuckie. You idiotic triangulation could still cost us the Senate if we don't act proactively.

[katsy]

1. That would be awesome!

:applause:

[williesgirl]

2. Get anyone to switch and kiss the traitor goodbye - recommended

[DemFromMem]

3. People, give it a rest

Honestly, the obsession with Lieberman is not productive. He's one Senator out of 100. There are plenty of Democrats who are hawks like Lieberman, but Lieberman gets singled out and the constant harping on the subject is ridiculous. The constant harping is very Republican-like and we need to move on.

Lieberman, to his great credit, is continuing to promise to caucus with the Dems (he said so this morning on Meet the Press. If I were him and I checked this board or many of the most popular Democratic blogs, I'd have to seriously think about why I would bother.

If we are going to demand ideological uniformity from elected Democrats, we might as well plan on going back to a minority party.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. None of the other Democrats ran a 3rd party campaign

against a legitimate Democratic nominee, and none of them have threatened to caucus with the Republicans if they don't get their way. He cost us a seat that should have gone to the Democrat, Ned Lamont. There is plenty of reason to single him out.

[DemFromMem]

15. umm, no, actually

Lieberman would have won the primary were it not for his being singled out for a massive campaign from the blogosphere on behalf of Lamont. When we all poured time and money into trying to defeat Lieberman - a Democrat who was our party's VP nominee after all and who did nothing disloyal other than take an unpopular position on the war - WE created this situation. Many fellow Dems made this race as big a deal, if not bigger, than winning back the Congress. You reap what you sow.

[fooj]

20. 455,077 votes for Ned.

Same EXACT amount as Joe's last challenger. Just another coincidence for the perpetual victim?

We poured our energy into fighting Joe for perfectly legitimate reasons. Lieberman did not receive the Democratic nomination in CT. Ned Lamont did. Lieberman projected enough bullshit about the Democratic Party to last a lifetime. He DID NOT HONOR the will of the people. Period. There is no way to deny that.

The real tragedy is that the Dem. Leadership (for the most part) did not honor the will of the people, either. I know that if I were a CT resident I would feel betrayed. Who wouldn't?

The CT race WAS a big deal on principle alone. Democratic principles.

[Dick Diver]

26. Wrong. Honestly, keep saying this

and perhaps we can then all believe that Ned really won and Diebold stole it from him.

Please see these three threads for debunking.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2962088
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2960596
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2960758

[Alexander]

25. Wrong - Lieberman would've won the primary if he didn't go 3rd party.

He announced he'd go 3rd party in July, almost a month before the primary. Lamont was able to make a big issue out of it and the Democrats (rightfully) stopped trusting Joe.

All Joe needed to say was "I am a Democrat and always will be, and if Lamont somehow wins the primary he will have my support". Boom, Lamont joins the likes of Ed Case.

Joe brought the liberals' anger on himself, with his deplorable actions. He's still trying to have it both ways. "Call me a Democrat" versus "I haven't ruled out" a Republican defection.

It boggles my mind, why some on DU are still supporting this guy. He does not have anyone's interests at heart but his own.

[eridani]

28. Not true that he did nothing but support the war

He frequently and publicly trashed Democrats on the subject. No other pro-war Dem in the Senate has done anything similar.

[rpannier]

7. I am one of those people who was willing to let it go

The people of CT made their decision.
It makes little difference to me that he ran as an independent as long as he caucuses with the Dems
Now, he's trying to be cute and clever.
One person here has a quote from him saying he wouldn't rule out caucusing with the republikkans if he doesn't like the way things are.
If he wants to play this little game and say he won't rule out caucusing with the republikkans, then we need to take him at his word.
Snowe and Collins are moderate republikkans from a very blue state. We did well with Jeffords and I'm willing to take a chance we'll do well with Snowe and Collins.

[More Than A Feeling]

9. Do you know why he gets singled out, despite there being other hawks?

Because he undermines the party for his own selfish gain, that's why. This isn't about ideology at all. It's about accountability. Lieberman thinks that he has the right to dictate what voters should think, and if they don't, they become the frothing left, or some other bullshit.

Oh, and by the way: we can demand anything we damn well please from our representatives, because THEY represent US, not the other way around. They don't get to determine what opinions we can and cannot have, and neither do you.

[DemFromMem]

16. Except he won big with his voters

And 33% of Democrats stuck with him. Deal with the facts and move on.

[fooj]

22. I call bullshit. I want to know why they didn't use the lever machines

for the election. They were good enough for the primaries. Uh. That's right. Joe LOST the primary. Those are the facts.

Another fact...the unions pulled their support for Lieberman and gave it to Lamont. The unions are the reason Joe got the #'s he did in the primary. He STILL didn't win.

Is this an "example" of Rove's idea of "THE MATH"? Lamont gains the union support and Joe's #'s go up. Makes perfect sense to me.:eyes:

The way it looks to me Joe will reap what he sowed.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

36. We did use lever machines in most towns in CT

I voted on one

[immerlinks]

14. It's not about ideology -

it's about accountability. Lieberman was accountable to Connecticut's Democrats and when they spoke and he didn't like what they said he spit in their face and went his own way. He reached out to the repubs to keep his seat, but in exchange for that seat he surrendered his soul. Practical realities what they are, he has to be offered some committee chair but it should be something meaningless, perhaps the subcommittee in charge of studying the sex life of patagonia llamas. He wouldn't dare cross the aisle and I don't thing we should even be thinking about kowtowing to him.

Caucus with him, but never trust him.

[DemFromMem]

17. And he shouldn't trust us

We're the ones who tried to knock the guy out of power for having a position we didn't support. You're all talking about party loyalty here, but how loyal were we to abandon him? Take a position based on your conscience that is out of step with the most people in your party and we'll finance an opponent to take you down in your primary.

Sort of hypocritical that we gave Casey a pass on the abortion issue. Are we going to do to him what we did to Joe when it's time for him to run for re-election. I see no difference.

[Crunchy Frog]

30. Do you think Casey would have run a 3rd party campaign

if he had lost his primary? If he had, would you have been alright with it, or with him threatening to caucus with the Repubs? Or do you just believe that it's fundamentally wrong to ever run a primary challenge against an incumbent? Do you buy into the RW meme tha Joe was the victim of some sort of "purge", (which is what they seem to be calling democracy nowdays)?

BTW, Joe got alot more Democratic money than Ned did, in the primaries. From the DSCC, and all those big name Dems who got behind him. You're suggesting it's okay for him to stab all those people in the back because he got rejected by CT primary voters?

Oh, and Joe did alot more than just take an unpopular position on the war. He's been actively undermining our party in many ways. He's gone on TV and talked against the Democratic party. That's okay with you, but primary challenges are not?

[noamnety]

29. "I'd seriously thing about why I would bother"

that sums it up perfectly.

If he's a democrat because of what he gets in return, that's a problem. He should be a democrat because of the working class people, the people living in poverty, the people killed in Iraq, the Katrina victims, etc. It shouldn't have to do with whether the senate leadership throws committee chairs at him, or whether the people of DU throw flowers at his feet and greet him as a liberator.

As for demanding ideological uniformity from elected dems, I also have a problem with demanding it from the voters, which seems to be what you're doing.

I don't have any great illusions that the new leadership will end the war, or fix the election process, or do a thousand other things that need doing. My first job was to help get them elected. My second job is to keep the pressure on them, and protest the hell out of THEM, if need be.

Keeping the pressure on Lieberman is part of preventing future incumbents who lose in the primaries to a more progressive candidate from running against their own party. Embracing the folks who do that sends the wrong message.

[The Wielding Truth]

5. Sounds like a plan. If he keeps jockeying for position, he'll find

himself without a home party.

[MiniMe]

6. What about switch to an independent and caucus with the dems

I think that would be easier than asking her to switch to dem.

[rpannier]

11. I'd take that

Send Jeffords and maybe Chafee (if he's leaving the republikkan party) up to Maine and have a chat with them.

[cali]

27. Oh for pity's sake

First of all, if you don't think dem leadership has put out feelers in the past to the Maine ladies, you're nuts. Second of all, Jeffords is in ill health. Anyway, there's very little chance of a party switch.

[mw]

8. To me, Joe is forgiven

I was glad he lost to Lamont. I was unhappy he ran as an independent. Mostly because I thought his candidacy would throw it to the Republican.

But Joe called it right. He won.

Like I used to tell the 12-13 yr old little leaguers I used to coach: If you decide to blow my third base coach off and run home.....YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT!!!!

Joe made it. I respect him for that.

[rpannier]

10. So, you also respect that he said

He might not caucus with the Dems if te things in Washington aren't to his liking?

Because I've made several posts here saying that Lieberman won and I accept that.

He said he'd caucus with the Dems all through the campaign and now he's saying maybe.

Which Lieberman should I believe

1) The one from the primaries
2) The one that just won the election

[mw]

12. No I don't

I didnt hear him say that.

Today, he said he was an "Independent / Democrat", and he answered without hesitation that he'd caucus with the Dems.

If he caucuses with the Reps, then he's back to being a shitbag traitor in my eyes.

[greeneggs708]

13. My Suggestion

How about no one ever mentions Liebermans name again.

[lostnfound]

24. Nice thought, but CNN & FOX have a love affair going on with him

and he will be trotted out at every opportunity to build 'bipartisan' support for Bush's policies and wars.

[Eurobabe]

18. Snowe and Collins are not going to switch to Dem party

we'll be old and gray waiting for that to happen. They seem to be perfectly happy where they are...

[FogerRox]

19. DEMs are the big tent party, if Joe wants to become a DEM

He is welcome back

>cough, choke<

I mean that...

>sputter cough<

[cassiepriam]

21. I agree, the only way to deal with blackmail is head on.

[AIJ Alom]

23. Joe Declared himself an ID on Sunday.

An Independent Democrat, whatever the heck that means. I think of him as an I.D.I.O.T. Independent Democrat Intent On Turmoil.

[MoonRiver]

31. I never thought they would switch. But after what happened to Chaffee

it might be a real possibility. The writing is on the wall, that North East is getting rid of all Rethug enabling Republicans, no matter how liberal. Reid should try to get to them.

[Eurobabe]

32. Yankee Republicans on last legs - Yahoo

From Yahoo this morning, does this sound like someone who is going to switch to the Dems, Snowe thinks DeWino was a centrist??

"It's truly regrettable," Snowe said. "Losing individuals like Linc Chafee and Mike DeWine, who were moderate consensus builders in the U.S. Senate, is a serious reversal."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061113/ap_on_el_ge/yankee_republicans

[FreeStateDemocrat]

33. Corp whore media will make liebernan a major divisive figure for party over the next two years.

Lieberman has the presidential itch and will use his unique position to advance his personal agenda to the detriment of country. His is a lose cannon that needs to be neutralized. Regrettably, it is we on the left that inadvertently created this potential monster and hopefully he will not continue to be a focal point and distraction for much longer if this suggestion is successfully implemented.

[yellowdogmi]

37. He is already a divisive figure.

Marginalize this windbag. Let him caucus by himself.

[Totally Committed]

34. I would gladly hold my nose and welcome both of those Repubs

into the Party if it meant being able to kick Joe Lieberputz to the curb once and for all. I think we have a better chance of getting Snowe than Collins, however, as I've heard Collins is condisering a run for Governor, and switching Parties so close to that decision would either have to be part of her strategy or be a no-no (no middle ground). All her Repub backig and donors would disappear overnight, so she'd probably have to have a prior promise of support and a guaranteed fund-raising machine to assure she'd jump. I don't know how or if that would be possible.

TC

[mom cat]

35. Chafee would still have his seat if he had switched.

Collins might be a possibility.

[Zhade]

38. I also support wooing Sanders.

Moreso than these two, actually, because he's waaaaaaaaaaaay more progressive, and he won handily and would be a terrific voice for Dems.

All three would be fine, too!

[roguevalley]

39. I hear there is a repug senator just diagnosed with leukemia. if

for some reason he can't continue, and I wouldn't wish this on an enemy, his governor is dem.