Damn Dems

To paraphrase Dr. Hawkeye Pierce: I honestly believe that the Senate Democrats can be held up through the mail. Lieberman - who, in the words of Greg Sargent, “endorsed efforts by the GOP to imply that Obama is in league with terrorists, suggested that Obama endangered our troops, and said Obama hasn’t always put the country first” - retains his coveted Homeland Security chair and loses nothing of consequence. Senate Democrats roll over for Joe, voting to look the other way. Furious Dem activists? Bluntly dismissed. Now that’s change you can believe in!

The chyron in this news report screen grab is rather telling:

Again: Sen. Lieberman Comments on Vote to Keep Him in Dem Caucus. Neatly framed, and wholly inaccurate. This was a vote on the committee chairmanships that Lieberman would be allowed to retain; there was no intent to drum him out of the party. It was Lieberman himself who put his staying in the caucus at issue by declaring what judgments he would and would not tolerate. He set the terms, intimating that losing Homeland Security would be “unacceptable” to him - and the Dems gave in. But the media shorthand here is that this was an up or down vote on keeping Lieberman a Dem - as though any consequence for his betrayal of the party would be mere revenge. Thanks for the accurate reporting, media! Joe appreciates it nearly as much as he appreciates spineless party leadership.

Comity rules over all.

As the saying goes: if the Senate Democrats - or President-Elect Obama, who conveniently distanced himself “called the shots” on the this conciliatory approach, according to Howard Dean - can’t deal with Joe Lieberman, how will they deal with Al Qaeda (or insert alternate threat)? With resolutions and strongly worded letters, apparently.

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