Lieberman Holds On to Senate Chairmanship as Democrats Decline to Punish Him
Setting aside anger and a sense of betrayal, Senate Democrats welcomed Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut back into the fold Tuesday despite his vigorous backing of Republican presidential nominee John McCain and criticism of the ultimate victor, Democrat Barack Obama.
Lieberman keeps the prize he wanted, the chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, and stays on as head of an Armed Forces subcommittee. He'll leave a third committee in a move one top Democratic aide characterized as a sanction.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ended the suspense over Lieberman's fate when, after a closed-door meeting of Democratic senators and senators-elect, he addressed a throng of reporters before noon, saying, "Joe Lieberman is a Democrat and he's part of this Congress."
Reid said it was not a time for retribution, but for "moving forward," especially in light of the country's economic troubles. He said the vast majority of the caucus wanted to let Lieberman keep his committee gavel. It was thought he'd bolt for the GOP if he couldn't.
Lieberman, 66, who won his last election in 2006 as an independent, has served in the Senate since 1989. He was the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2000 and tried for the presidency in 2004. More recently, he campaigned extensively with McCain, raised cash for him, and, in what some Democrats felt was the last straw, addressed the GOP national convention in September, touting McCain and belittling Obama. He called Obama a "gifted and eloquent young man who I think can do great things for our country in the years ahead," but said "eloquence is not a substitute for a record." He went on to say Obama had not reached across party lines to accomplish anything significant during his 3½ years in the Senate.
Liberal bloggers have long wanted Lieberman's head. It was an olive branch from Obama, who urged reconciliation, that likely helped him survive within Democratic ranks.
Lieberman gives up a seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
On the Republican side, the fate of Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who was convicted of seven felonies last month for lying about $250,000 in gifts, hangs in the balance. Some GOP lawmakers wanted Tuesday to strip him of committee assignments and bar him from meeting with the Republican Conference.
But lawmakers, including the returning McCain, met in closed session and decided to put off a vote until after the results of the hard-fought Alaska Senate election are known. Stevens is trailing as the recount continues.
Stevens, 85, speaking to reporters Tuesday—his birthday—said earlier that he hadn't slept in months and "I wouldn't wish what I'm going through on anyone, [even] my worst enemy."
Reader Comments
Lieberman is a power hungry opportunist
As a Democrat and constituent of Sen. Lieberman’s, I am very disappointed in Sen. Dodd and the rest of the Dem. Caucus wrist slap action in this matter. Fact is, compared to Rep. Waxman in the US House, Sen. Lieberman has done absolutely nothing noteworthy with this important chairmanship. That alone should disqualify him from being reappointed.
Lieberman has every right to support “his” candidate, even if that meant the Green Party, but he should not expect to reap the rewards that he worked overtime to defeat. While some Republican Senators gave tepid approval for Obama, none of them were front and center on the campaign stage the way Lieberman was for the McCain/Palin ticket.
The worse part was his claim that Obama “didn’t always put his country first”. Sometimes I wonder if Joe puts his country first above his own self preservation in the exclusive Senate club. Sen. Lieberman sold his soul to the Republican party which backed him and helped get him re-elected in 2006.
When he was fighting for his Senate seat as an independent in 2006, one of his campaign promises was to work hard to get Democrats and a Democratic president elected. So much for keeping a promise to the people he was elected to represent.
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