Will Holy Joe pull a Jeffords?

[Junkdrawer]

Will Lieberman caucus with the Republicans and force a 50/50 power share in the Senate?

:shrug:

[apnu]

1. I think so (eom)

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. The tide has turned to the left. What you should be asking is, what

moderate Republican is pissed off at the Republicans enough to change his party affiliation to Democratic.

[Horse with no Name]

5. That's what I would like to see happen

they shouldn't give Joe any power.

[bryant69]

3. they are going to try to make him an offer

Probably are doing the preliminaries right now.

I don't think he will, but you never know.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Greeby]

4. Either that or Shrub could give him a job

Leaving the appointment of his seat in the hands of a Republican governor :(

[txindy]

6. And lose his committees and power?

LIEberman is nothing without his power.

[Junkdrawer]

8. You think the Republicans wouldn't offer him what he has and more?

:shrug:

[Selatius]

11. They offered him Iraq, but I don't think he will give up his committee seats for them.

Joe is out for Joe and nobody else, and Joe wants power.

[txindy]

17. With a 50/50 split? How?

They'd offer him half of what? :shrug:

[Junkdrawer]

18. Good point..Chairman of what he has vs. shared chair of more important...

committees...

[txindy]

19. Of course, that doesn't mean he'll always vote with us.

Not that we won't speak to him about that. A lot. :evilgrin:

[EvolveOrConvolve]

23. He'll vote against us as many times as he'll vote with us

But he's promised to caucus with the Dems. It won't be long before he tries to regain his Democratic affiliation.

[deadparrot]

7. He said he'd caucus with the Dems.

I think he's going to have to tread more carefully re: national security, given the results of this election.

[WhollyHeretic]

9. A opportunist scumbag like Lieberman will go with the prevailing winds

which right now are gusting dem :bounce:

[Catch22Dem]

10. It won't happen

You know, something that gets lost in his support for the war is his very liberal stance on so many social issues. He's a hawk when it comes to foreign policies, but not enough of one to make him abandon his "D" roots on the other issues. No, he's got a committee chairmanship waiting for him in a dem senate.

[seabeyond]

12. enough dems kissed his ass he may still be able to play dem

except whe it comes to the war and we just understand this is the way it is and go after his ass next time

[Sir Jeffrey]

13. Nah..

I dislike Liebermann immensely, but I don't see him leaving the party. He won because he ran as a moderate Dem with seniority. If he bolts this time, he will lose next time because he won't get the 20 plus percent of Dems to vote for him.

There is more for him if he stays Dem and squeezes them for some choice assignments. He is the new "Decider" in DC, if you will.

[julialnyc]

14. He won because of Republicans not running anyone

and the union support. I really fear Bush making Lieberman SOD and Rell putting someone else in.

[Sir Jeffrey]

22. 20 percent from the Dems is not a ringing endorsement...

regardless of the union support. If he was not positioning himself as a centrist/moderate, R's would have stayed home or voted for whatshisname.

Appointing Liebermann to SOD is an act of bipartisanship that I just cannot see Bush making.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

24. Rell would have to live with the repercussions

of appointing a Republican if Bush appointed Lieberman to some cabinet position.

I just don't see it happening.

[Sir Jeffrey]

27. Excellent point...

Lieberman would ruin his career by putting his face on the ass-end of an unwinnable war, and Rell would be destroyed next election because the voters sure as hell didn't vote for a Republican for Senate from CT.

[still_one]

15. No. He is for choice, stem cell research, and more progressive

than non-progressive issues

It would serve the people in Connecticut right if he did switch parties, but not Americans

He will keep his word and caucus with the Democrats

[WhollyHeretic]

21. edit. too tired to read, need some sleep

[Skink]

16. Isn't he an IND?

[Junkdrawer]

20. Here's the numbers:

Joe caucuses with no one:
D 50
R 49
I 1

Joe caucuses with Dems:
D 51
R 49

Joe caucuses with Repubs:
D 50
R 50

[Sgent]

25. If Lieberman

caucuses with the pubs -- we lose the Senate.

a 50/50 split goes to the pubs because its effectively 50dem / 51 pub due to Cheney breaking the tie.

[Junkdrawer]

26. Cheney only votes on bills if there's a tie. IIRC, we had the 50/50 thing...

in 2000 before Jeffords changed and it was a shared chairmanship arrangement.