What to do about Lieberman?

By Weekly Archive On Jul 15, 2008

How
do you recognize John McCain in a crowd? He’s the guy walking
alongside Joe Lieberman.

Why
doesn’t John McCain have a cell phone? He doesn’t need one. Joe
Lieberman’s always by his side.

Did
you ever see such an odd couple? They’re joined at the hip. In Iraq,
whispering the difference between Shiites and Sunnis into John
McCain’s left ear, it’s Joe Lieberman. In Colombia, joining John
McCain in praising another trade deal to steal American jobs, it’s
Joe Lieberman. In Mexico’s sacred Lady of Guadalupe shrine, being
blessed alongside John McCain by the Roman Catholic bishop, it’s Joe
Lieberman. They’re so inseparable, you’ve got to wonder: How did John
McCain survive six years at the Hanoi Hilton without him? And what
does Cindy think?

As
for all that gossip about a shakeup in the McCain campaign,
fuhgetaboutit! No new campaign manager would ever have the clout Joe
Lieberman currently enjoys. The first senator to endorse McCain, he
not only travels with him everywhere, he’s McCain’s number one
cheerleader; he pumps him up and runs Obama down on the Sunday talk
shows. Lieberman has been invited to address the Republican National
Convention and he’s even on McCain’s short list for vice-presidential
nominee.

And
to think, this same man was the Democratic candidate for
vice-president just eight years ago. Oy vey!

Of
course, there’s something to be said for bipartisanship. Americans
are tired of the partisan bickering in Washington. They like to see
politicians reach across the aisle and work at solving problems with
members of the other party. And Lieberman was always that kind of
Democrat. But there’s a difference between bipartisanship and selling
out.

Now,
the Democratic Party has seen traitors before. Who could ever forget
crazy Zell Miller? He addressed the Republican Convention in 2004.
But even Miller showed some restraint. He didn’t campaign fulltime
for George W. Bush. Joe Lieberman is Zell Miller on steroids.

What
should Democrats do about Joe Lieberman? The party’s net roots are
demanding that he be unceremoniously tossed overboard. They’ve
organized a new Web site — LiebermanMustGo.com — and they’ve
delivered over 43,000 signatures so far to the Senate Democratic
Steering and Outreach Committee, asking them to strip Lieberman of
his rank in the Democratic caucus and dump him as chairman of the
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

It
is, indeed, strange that Democrats continue to reward Lieberman with
a committee chairmanship while he’s daily stabbing them in the back.
But no matter how satisfying it would be to throw Lieberman from the
train, there are two problems with doing so. One, he’s no longer a
Democrat. He switched to Independent after losing the Connecticut
Democratic primary to Ned Lamont and, unfortunately, then won
re-election.

The
second problem is: Without Lieberman’s vote, Democrats would lose
control of the Senate. Republicans and Democrats are tied today with
49 votes each. Harry Reid is Majority Leader only because both
Independents, Lieberman and Bernie Sanders, caucus with the
Democrats. Removing Lieberman from the equation would end Democratic
control and, in effect, hand Republicans the keys to the kingdom.

So
what to do about Lieberman? No matter how obnoxious he is, for
Democrats today there is little choice but to grin and bear him. In
the short term, that is. Once, as expected, Democrats pick up more
seats in November, they can quickly show Lieberman the door — and
should.

Unless
Lieberman makes the first move. He has, after all, never ruled out
joining the Republican Party. He’s already a Republican today, in
everything but name. Why not make it official?

By
becoming a Republican, Lieberman would solve everybody’s problems.
Doing so would get him out of the Democrats’ hair. It would make his
life more honest. And he’d be in a perfect position to become John
McCain’s running mate, and thereby become the first politician in
history to lose the vice-presidency twice.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.