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The Lieberman Vote

By W. James Antle, III on 11.18.08 @ 1:42PM

For all the noise, Senate Democrats decided to give Joe Lieberman a slap on the wrist while letting him keep his committee chairmanship and remain in the majority caucus. The vote wasn't even close. I'm not surprised. In addition to the recent comeback by liberal hawks, Democrats have been backing away from more draconian measures for at least two weeks. Obama gave them cover when he said he wanted Lieberman in the caucus. The votes coming up focus on areas where Lieberman votes like a regular Democrat. And I'm sure they figured now is not the time to give the Senate Republicans a new member.

Comments

malm| 11.18.08 @ 2:06PM

The democrats will tolerate their DINOS, and thus add to their numbers and gain greater and greater power. There is a lesson here for conservatives, but I won't waste my time explaining it to the true believers.

BD57| 11.18.08 @ 4:09PM

Lieberman is a "DINO" in one respect only - he recognizes the threat posed by Islamofascism and votes accordingly.

While that's a HUGE deal with the most activist groups in the Democrat party, those who can discuss the issue without yelling aren't wild about "cut & run" as a strategy - - - they know they'd get blamed if it turned out to be a disaster (and enough of them know that would be the likely result). The rest of the time, Lieberman is a VERY reliable vote for the "Democrat" agenda.

"RINOs" are a different breed. They'll desert the caucus on a whole range of issues - and they're typically the "hard" issues where their defection changes the result. The result has been that a broad range of policies supported by an overwhelming majority of the Senate Republican caucus are nevertheless defeated because of a handful of RINOs who cross the aisle.