Let Joe Lieberman be a true Independent -- with no chairmanships or seniority

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Chad Rubel

I love this focus on Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) these days. The people who put up with his bizarre view of the Democratic Party in the 1990s, his lackluster stint as Al Gore's running mate in 2000 (while concurrently running for the Senate, endangering a Democratic seat in the Senate), and his love for the Iraq war and John McCain over the last eight years are finally sick of Lieberman.

To use the language of Joe Scarborough, where the f*ck have you been?

I have been an anti-Lieberman supporter since the mid-1990s. The annoying phrasing of "bipartisanship" on a bill by the Republicans back then meant "Republicans plus Joe Lieberman."

Lieberman was an easy pick for the Republicans, and he certainly made no bones even then about helping Republicans justify favor for bad legislation.

But, Democrats quietly rolled along and said, "well, he is a Democrat on most things, and we desperately need Democrats in office."

His harsh sense of morality was what made Republicans love him in the 1990s, and likely convinced Gore to pick him as his running mate, a disaster perhaps even worse than the Sarah Palin pick. Gore would certainly like to have that one back.

After his seemingly insincere run (go back and watch the Lieberman/Cheney debate in 2000) as the vice-presidential running mate, he was still forgiven since, well, he was a Democrat. Even if clearly Lieberman was a DINO.

Finally, in 2006, after his cheerleading for the Iraq War and McCain, Democrats went, "maybe this guy isn't on our side after all" and went after Lieberman in the primary. Ned Lamont won that primary, but Lieberman had the last laugh, going back to the Senate.

The Democrats would likely have kicked out Zell Miller for his 2004 speech at the Republican National Convention, but Lieberman dances around this because he's an "Independent." Lieberman ran on the Connecticut for Lieberman Party (CFL) in 2006, a party that now wouldn't have him as a candidate.

And now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he is trying to keep Lieberman within the Democratic caucus.

This pissing match is really about chairmanships. If Lieberman had significant integrity, he would be a true Independent with all its advantages. But Lieberman wants to be an Independent, yet have his Democratic seniority as chairman of committees, such as his current stint as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The Bernie Sanders' comparison isn't terribly fair, since Sanders doesn't have the seniority that Lieberman has.

The simple solution is to tell Lieberman that he can caucus with the Democrats if he wants, but he loses Democratic Party seniority for a party to whom he no longer belongs. Lieberman should have been told this back when he lost to Ned Lamont in the Democratic Party primary in 2006: leave the party and if you win, you lose all seniority.
 
When Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party, the Democrats did reward him as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. And to pull out a Canadian example, Belinda Stronach shifted from the Conservative Party to the Liberal Party in May 2005. Stronach immediately joined the Liberal cabinet as minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and minister responsible for Democratic Renewal.

But even though the Republicans want Lieberman to caucus with them, they aren't going to give Lieberman what he wants: seniority. Of course, seniority doesn't mean as much when you jump from the party in power to the party out of power.

As the Democrats go a courting with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), among others, the party leaders know they will have to approach for their support in a gracious way. Snowe, Collins, and Specter are Republicans, even if they are moderate Republicans. They may be willing to help here and there, but they won't be lapdogs such as Lieberman.

There is room on the political landscape for people with Lieberman's views. And there is room for political figures to switch parties or to declare themselves as independents. There is integrity for people such as Jim Jeffords or Lincoln Chafee or Ben Nighthorse Campbell.

But politically, Joe Lieberman is a weasel. He allows himself to be used as the whim takes him. If he had the integrity he claims he has, the Republicans would eagerly give him the seniority he wants. But he doesn't. The GOP won't help Lieberman because they don't trust him.

Lieberman will be an U.S. Senator until 2013, and if he runs again, the people of Connecticut will have to decide whether he should come back. But the Democratic Party and the Republican Party shouldn't do him any favors in the meantime. Let him serve the way he wants: as an Independent. Out there alone -- in a box of his own creation. 

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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