The thought of stripping Lieberman is making me queasy.

-G

Right on! Durbin should get Reid’s job.

jane, one of the best posts I have read in a long time

I was particularly dishearened this morning when on the news I heard a report that “obama wants lieberman to caucus with the democrats”

this indicates he is fine with lieberman retaining his status on this comittee and that is particularly disturbing

So it could be a very close vote

TO THE BATMOBILE!

we need to make this a really important issue to our critters

This is a compilation of a bunch of disgusting Lie berman clips. He is beyond icky poo. I had to turn it off but the message does get across.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KXPsHqiTf0

Did Grant include Gen Lee in his strateegery?

Dodd is particularly disappointing in this, unless he is just putting a public face on supporting a colleague from his state but will actually vote no. It is a secret ballot, after all.

For those people who support Lieberman and want him to retain his chairmanship of this committee, I want to know what this person has done to deserve it? By all accounts, he has been utterly ineffectual and downright incompetent in the position. If he worked for me, I’d give him the lowest possible marks and send him on his way.

If there is going to be “change” in Washington, then it’s time we cut out some of the cronyism that disgust even the casual follower of politics. Personally, I don’t give a damn if he’s got pals, he can go hang out with them in the cafeteria after he loses his chairmanship.

I don’t see the problem. As long as it is a simple majority let bayh and dodd stay on that side. It might be the safe way for the party for next several years. Iraq will go away. joe will have less to rant about.

I have called/faxed all members of the Steering and ‘Overreach’ Committee.

am gladdened to hear of Durbin’s determination to punish that shithead – although it’s probably magical thinking on my part to assume he and Emmanuel have more influence than others

oh and how do I put this delicately …break it off in Harry’s ass !!!

THANK YOU JANE

There’s actually a job that needs doing here, and when Chris Dodd and Evan Bayh say that they want Lieberman to retain his chairmanship, they are saying that the extraordinary waste, graft, greed and cronyism that have built the Department of Homeland Security to a bloated, ineffectual taxpayer-funded behemoth under Joe Lieberman is just fine.

Yep, that’s one way to give him some spine. :)

To the Mod:

My letter would not go through. I tried repeatedly and got back repeated messages about a valid postal code. I only have one; it wasn’t accepted. Thanks

For those people who support Lieberman and want him to retain his chairmanship of this committee, I want to know what this person has done to deserve it?

*crickets*

HA! That was funny.

Chris Dodd and Evan Bayh say that they want Lieberman to retain his chairmanship,

Did Dodd actually say that or it’s being inferred?

Re the OP: “No-bid contracts kept from public scrutiny in the name of “national security” have built a department of unprecedented waste and theft, all rubber stamped and protected from Senate investigation by Joe Lieberman’s chairmanship.”

If Joe loses his chair, odds are we begin to find out just how derelict he’s been. That alone is reason enough for him to scratch and claw to keep his seat atop the lid. It reminds me of the old observation that corrupt CEO’s never call in sick.

.

I wondered that too. Dodd says he wants Lieberman in the caucus. AFAIK he did not explicitly say that he wants him to retain Homeland Security. On the other hand, it doesn’t take much to infer that from the way he said what he said. As a FISA spawned Doddmaniac, I am very disappointed. Phony Doddmania has bitten the dust.

I think Holy Joe should be stripped of all his comittee seats and told there’s no reason for him to show up unless there’s a full senate vote. And don’t bother submitting bills unless you’ve got someone else to sponsor them. But he can still speak on the senate floor when it’s his turn.

Boxturtle (See if you can get a better offer from the GOP, Joe. Nobody likes a traitor)

It wouldn’t surprise me that those senators who are in favor of Lieberman retaining his position know about all the abuses going on in homeland security and are trying to keep things from being exposed.

kumbay-effin’-ya…

“What does Barack Obama want?” Dodd rhetorically asked reporters Friday in Hartford. “He’s talked about reconciliation, healing, bringing people together. I don’t think he’d necessarily want to spend the first month of this president-elect period, this transition period, talking about a Senate seat, particularly if someone is willing to come forward and is willing to be a member of your family in the caucus in that sense.”

I, of course, will contact my one Democratic Senator, Bill Nelson, but I have little to no hope that The Cowardly Astronaut will do the right thing …

I think you are right about that.

FWIW, here is Glenzilla’s take this morning. He connects it to the expansion of executive authority in a larger sense.

Only one Update so far!

Meanwhile, it’s much more important to talk about Sarah Palin’s $150,000 plus wardrobe than the scandalous conduct of Lieberman on Homeland Security.

Maybe if silk underwear were involved the press would actually sit up, take notice, and press Bayh and Dodd on what the frack Lieberman has done as committee chair to actually justify retaining him.

Never mind even the slanderous assaults on Obama and the scurrilous support of senators like Coleman.

Joe Lieberman — The Progressive Who Lost His Way.

No-bid contracts kept from public scrutiny in the name of “national security” have built a department of unprecedented waste and theft, all rubber stamped and protected from Senate investigation by Joe Lieberman’s chairmanship. And what has it gotten us? Nothing. Basically, the Department of Homeland Security became just another front for the military industrial complex to feed off American taxpayers while neocons like Lieberman screamed “terror terror terror, just trust us.”

That is so despicable. I wonder if Lieberman skims the cream off the top too.

Chris Dodd has been a disappointment. He said that he would mount a personal filibuster to stop the PAA and used to a parliamentary move to delay it but when the bill came up again as the FISA Amendments Act his filibuster threat evaporated. Then he steered through the Senate that monstrosity known as the Paulson bailout. The idea was that something needed to be done. But here’s the thing. Seeing that your house is on fire and calling the fire department and going for the garden hose, that’s doing something. Running full tilt and head first into a wall is doing something too, just not as effective. Dodd didn’t seem to recognize the difference. Now is defense of Holy Joe. Maybe it’s a matter of principle, you know more pork for Connecticut, but for someone who didn’t support Lieberman in his Senate run, it is pretty inexplicable.

As for the secret ballot, that could cut both ways. It could allow Senators like Boxer and Levin to vote for Lieberman without taking any heat for it or it could allow them to do the opposite. Also Schumer gunning for Lieberman might help sway them.

As for other Senators who might support Lieberman, all I can think of are the Democratic members of the Gang of 14. These are Lieberman himself plus

Robert Byrd of West Virginia
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
Mark Pryor of Arkansas
Ken Salazar of Colorado

I guess you could add to this the other Nelson. So at the moment at least I see maybe 10 votes for Lieberman.

Oops, adding in Dodd and Bayh that would be 12 votes for Lieberman.

Hadassah the family cream skimmer.

Meanwhile, Josh reporting that Obama team says he “holds no grudges” against Lieberman.

Fair enough. Take the issue of his implying Obama was a Marxist extremist Muslim anti-American terrorist off the table.

That still leave Lieberman’s malfeasance and total negligence/neglect/covering-up/cronyism/corruption/misconduct of the Homeland Security Committee.

That on its own damns him.

Just close your eyes – then do it!

You’ll never catch guys like Joe Lieberman doing something blatant like that. He’s been around a long time, and whatever else you may think about Joe, he is a master at playing the game.

No, if they ever oust him from that chair the biggest malfeasance they will find will probably be that he wasn’t attentive enough. Most of those guys don’t have those positions because they are going to really do something with them, they have them because it gives then power and “cache”. The one’s who actually do something are notable because they make the 6 O’Clock news.

I wonder if Obama’s position isn’t more nuanced. The reports I heard have only said that he was OK with Lieberman staying in the Democratic Caucus. I have heard nothing of him agreeing to Lieberman holding on to his Chairmanship of the DHS Committee.

Mr. Citizen rides the bus daily with a detective who’s departmental role has direct interface with Homeland Security and he is conatantly railing about what a horrendous crock DHS is- a travesty of a mockery of a sham.

that’s my hope too

Working for a Federal Agency that has been affected the bad programs and policy that have come out of DHS and Homeland Security and Government Affairs, I want Lieberman out, and the committee stripped of his staff. Both DHS and the committee are a conduit for funds to the consulting and contracting community, with little or no oversight by the committee and virtually no management within DHS.

As for the comment about “does Lieberman skim off the top?”, his wife’s continued role as a lobbyist does suggest conflict of interest, with her relationship being one of the reasons she’s able to negotiate on behalf of her clients. Within the Village, the Liebermans are definitely part of the Old Guard.

When Holy Joe does loose his Chair, expect the howls to be loud and prolonged.

Looking at my 27 reminds me how much I miss the edit function.

OT
Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown now on CSPAN

I agree..and I also think that Obama wants people like Schumer and Durbin to do the dirty job for him. And as far as I’m concerned, I think that is a good thing.

Yep. He doesn’t want to make JoeLie a martyr to a certain segment of wimpy Dems (Bayh et al) and Rethugs.

OT- Cheney laying wreath at Tomb of the Unknowns and making remarks.
If ever there was an American not deservant of this sacred honor, it is Dick Cheney. My two cents.

I like Obama’s tactic here. Let Schumer be the hatchet man: it lets Obama continue in his role as the statesman and conciliator. Schumer wields a lot of power in the Senate — much more so than Harry Reid. While I don’t like Schumer’s policies or constituency (investment banks and the financial sector) Obama would be wise to use him to neutralize Lieberman.

Morning Jane. I spewed the following too early downstairs, so here t’is, regurgitated in all its glory. Please have patience with me.

Mixed messages all over. This waiting for the 20’s of January ‘09 is a bear, huh?!
If memory serves, I was thoroughly blasted from left field when I dared, yes DARED, to express some faith in the Obama team’s means and motivations before the election. Oh the abject horror that struck in some faint-hearted concern trolls!

The shock of those encounters drove me to do something outright silly. I went out on Nov. 5 and bought meself a fresh copy of the WSJ and took it home proudly, with plans to gloat over their shock and awed miseries.

But then, Dang. T’aint funny when the moneyed few take their solace in bumping up their skim-scam bailout allowances by billions and bbbillions. How’d they do dat?! Where are cheener’s hands? If not behind his’n back & in cuffs, why not?!

But I digress. Even smart-a$”es can be dump-belles. I mean, look at the gawdlees-smearin’ grifter ticket. I thot such like were usually smart enuf to duck outta the spotlight in a jiffy after looting the booty. Poor saurah keeps runnin’ in circles muttering somethin’ about “come ‘n git it, suckers… whut unnerwear? – lost it… so’s yer old man… did NAUGHT!… 2012pffftghbbblblarggggh…” I fergit. Did the tigers in that old kiddy book lose their stripes first? or did they just turn into lard straight-away?

While we’re waitin’ for some sense to kick in, someone before the election had an idee here ’bouts and it was a goodun’. I’d feel safer if they’d go poke that road-kill shill on her head with a stick. I think it’s still movin’.

For the time being, I am sustained by guarded optimism. Why? I haven’t a clue, except it has something to do with real honest-to-goodness smart, dedicated, caring people taking over in January. If they want to keep liarman around to perform as a decent senator, alternatively as a pinata, that’s o.k. with me. I’ve even got a good stout stick over in the corner there, if they need to borrow it.

Exactly. So many political machinations behind the scenes here. It’s a very fragile environment for the President-Elect and the Dems. I think the leader of the Democratic Party and our Nation has this under control. Breathe people.

I’m watching. I toured Washington a few years ago. Having Bush in the White House put a damper on the experience. I’m determined to go back next year.

Adie-girl! I hear ya, sister.

Pryor’s office told me yesterday that he hadn’t made a decision. Senate offices are closed today, but I’ll be calling the others.

Hurry up and relieve LIEberman of his chairmanship as he’ll need the extra time to work on his new book:

The Audacity of Dopes

I’ll bet Joe’s got a copy of “The Prince” on his nightstand. Smarm personified. Wear a cup and a wallet with a chain. *Retch*

A lot of those vichy Dems know, that once Lieberman is gone, there goes their cover. The flack that he is drawing will find new targets.

I’d love to see most of that $50 billion Fatherland budget go to building sustainable, profitable vertical farms in urban areas, or a a new backbone of HVDC transmission lines.

if he says he wants joe to caucus with the democrats that is a clear signal to do what joe asks

unless he spoke to them behind the scenes to do otherwise, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since he needs to appear in charge

Hi Demi. You’re one of the true gifted spirits keeping this crowd in motion, mostly in a positive direction.

We will get through this, I think. We all knew the dumbya bratsquad would leave behind an unholy mess for the rest of us to pick up. but… Whew!

hey jane and pups

yesterday, i sent many many many letters about the lieberman post from yesterda.

a great listing to have in front of you when writing letters or makin gcalls.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11…..lieberman/

used ’spotlight’ for some, rest were individual letters.

thanks to spotlight, i hand-selected media people/talking heads/hosts of interview shows, tv, radio, print, to remind them that the main issue with lieberman is NOT his behavior during the mccain campaign but more pertinent reasons as listed in jane’s post. (and my first oxdown rant)

’spotlight’ is fun, try it!

today will be phone calls.

let’s give them the meat they need to ’say no to joe’, the meat that IS about what and whom he is representing.

Better make sure you have a vest on capable of keeping you safe from a knife in the back!

forgot to post this again
http://www.fedspending.org/fpd…..ateCode=CT
government funds in ct
also look at the grant money

Very kind words. I try.
Maybe I’ll stick around. ha.

I’ll toss in a dollar on that one

Is it just existing Senators that get to vote? Or do newly-elected ones get to vote as well? Because I don’t have much hope of convincing Salazar to do anything, but Mark Udall might agree to do the right thing.

OT Sorry to go ot but heard it mentioned in passing on MSNBC that Obama was dropping his opposition to the Columbia Free Trade agreement put up a diary on this. This must be stopped.
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/1658

Share your exasperation but Udall will be a congressman until January.

Dang, you may have hit on prophetic symbolism in that old politically incorrect “kiddy book.” If I understand, you are viewing Brooks, Christal, Gingrich and a bunch of others as tigers.

Mike, here’s a link to the NYT article about the Deal…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11…..ref=slogin
Obama Asks Bush to Provide Help For Auto Makers.

Thank you Jane, for providing me with yet another worthwhile morning read. Likely you’ve seen it, but Think Progress has just posted the comprehensive “Joe Lieberman: The Progressive Who Lost His Way”

http://thinkprogress.org/liebe…..ogressive/

Heh heh. You give me too much credit. I was stuck with Saurah and her road-kill hare-doo-doo,

I like your take better by far!

Great minds travel by fits and starts. Thanks for assuming I still have 2 brain cells left to interact.

Do I heah fawh? Seinfeld, party of fawh

dang. #63 just filed itsownself. such is my expertise with laptop keyboards. i have nooooo idea…….

security is a chair? D’Oh!

For me, this is even more fundamentally about who the congress is there to represent. It’s a slap in the face to Democratic voters in CT who turned Lieberman out; he was elected by Republicans and shouldn’t even be allowed to continue in the D caucus. I don’t know that people do want bipartisanship but they do want their representatives to stop playing politics with everything – it shouldn’t be about the pols, it should be about the people.

I asked my senators Murray and Cantwell to remove Lieberman from his chairmanship position. I asked them to do this, even though I clearly am a terrorist and someone that doesn’t love her country, since I served 21-years in the Air Force.

And what has it gotten us? Nothing.

Not exactly nothing.

The other day I deposited a larger check than usual into my bank account — nothing amazing and absolutely less than the magic 10 grand.

I wanted to put some of it in a different account in a different bank, so I asked for a cashier’s check for 3 grand. That action flagged me for a “special audit” for the government that had nothing to do with bank policy.

The teller clicked some clicks and in about two minutes I was “free to go” — she said congrats, you survived a “xyz” (I don’t remember what the real acronym was).

WTF? I’d say we’ve gotten something for Homeland Security, Inc.

Come on people, fess up and admit we know this is all about Joe’s religion and not his complete lack of credibility and honor or lack of leadership skills for the responsible oversight of a crucial Senate committee due to his questionable qualifications as an ‘Independent” Independent willing to work in good faith by respecting the contributions of all the other Democrats working with him for the good of the country.

A*I*P*A*C* is a PAC, the four major religious groups -Jews, Mormons, Christians and Catholics are also the equivalent of PACs, and have no place – anymore- in undermining the ethics or governance of this country.

Harry do your duty. Because if you don’t we will.
Joe, quit running to your big donors for cover. Stand up and take your medicine.

And you other Senators – fear no one anymore. Just do the right thing on behalf of all of us.
‘Cause we’re watching!

Oh and my son offers this suggestion to Durbin and Schumer :

Just pinch off his head.

If I recall correctly, wasn’t it Dodd or Reid who made the comment that Lieberman is a great resource for campaign funds? We need campaign finance reform so that no one is beholden to skanks who would use cash to undermine our government.

I also have contacted Cantwell and Murray asking them to strip Lieberman of access to the caucus. Obama seems overly ready to trade away our support to get republican good will. I think he may need us more than the lieing sack of s**t that is Joe. Perhaps if enough of ust say so out loud they may listen.

Yesterday I was with the overwhelming majority here who think Lieberman should be drawn and quartered. If anyone deserves it, he does. Then I got to thinking about Obama for whom I have great hopes. What he did was simply amazing, amazing enough for me to give him a free ride for a while.

Lieberman did a bad job as Chairman of Homeland Security, bad enough to lose the chairmanship for incompetence rather than treachery, but Obama knows the real mover and shaker is the executive. Things can be fixed with or without Lieberman. As for the fifty billion, it’s a lot, about what it costs to keep AIG floating for a quarter. As the late Senator Dirksen said, “A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” We should up date it to ” fifty billion here, fifty billion there….”

Unfortunately government is not transparent. It is intentionally obscure to the point where the Dems will have a secret ballot on Lieberman. Whose feelings (or interests) are they protecting? and from what? Still, if Obama doesn’t want to go to the mat on this, I say OK I’ll give you this. If Obama wants Lieberman in the caucus, but not chairman of anything, I hope he makes that clear before the vote.

Maybe Obama’s right. Maybe we need a new politics of forgiveness. Obama’s no patsy. He told George Bush he intends to reverse many of his executive orders. He probably asked him to refrain from signing any more. Just the difference in style between him and McCain is gladdening. Obama stood by himself in front of thousands of people. McCain always seemed to have someone standing behind him. Michelle went out on her own, something Cindy could not manage. I say let Obama do it his way, not to the point of the Senate losing its separate powers, but as a persuader of Senators to try something new.

You can be very sure that Joe’s very good friend Barbara Boxer will vote for him to stay in the caucus, and keep his chair.

In my “O,” the biggest concern in retaining the hawkish Lieberman as head of the committee is that FEMA is umbrella’d under DHS. YMMV.

FEMA needs to once again become a cabinet level agency, on its own. Under the ever posturing Joe, seeking glory, FEMA must seem relatively unimportant, but a competent FEMA is critical to a President’s effectiveness. Virtually all of what FEMA deals with will fall under the category of natural disasters. Look what Katrina did to W’s reputation.

It’s fairly evident that Bush sublimated FEMA under DHS so that he could award his corporate supporters. I’ve gone OT, but I am trying to consider the Prez-elect’s perspective too.