Text 21995, 175 rader
Skriven 2006-08-18 09:16:10 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 21993 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Lieberman
=================
Jeff Binkley -> All wrote:
 JB> I hope they punish Joe.  it will show the rest of the country that
 JB> Howard Dean is in charge....


Let 'em.  The GOP will offer him a major chair just to spite the Democrats, and
likely one better than he would've gotten otherwise.



 JB> ==========================

 JB> http://hill1.thehill.com/thehill/opencms/TheHill/News/Frontpage/081606/n
 JB> ews1.html

 JB> Dem angst escalates
 JB> By Alexander Bolton

 JB> A group of Senate Democrats is growing increasingly angry about Sen. Joe
 JB> Lieberman�s (D-Conn.) campaign tactics since he lost the Democratic
 JB> primary last week.

 JB> If he continues to alienate his colleagues, Lieberman could be stripped
 JB> of his seniority within the Democratic caucus should he defeat Democrat
 JB> Ned Lamont in the general election this November, according to some
 JB> senior Democratic aides.

 JB> In recent days, Lieberman has rankled Democrats in the upper chamber by
 JB> suggesting that those who support bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq by
 JB> a certain date would bolster terrorists� planning attacks against the
 JB> U.S. and its allies. He also sparked resentment by saying last week on
 JB> NBC�s Today show that the Democratic Party was out of the political
 JB> mainstream.

 JB> Democrats are worried that Lieberman may be giving Republicans a golden
 JB> opportunity to undermine their message.

 JB> �I think there�s a lot of concern,� said a senior Democratic aide
who
 JB> has discussed the subject with colleagues. �I think the first step is if
 JB> the Lieberman thing turns into a side show and hurts our message and
 JB> ability to take back the Senate, and the White House and the [National
 JB> Republican Senatorial Committee] manipulate him, there are going to be a
 JB> lot of unhappy people in our caucus.�

 JB> Michael Lewan, Lieberman�s former chief of staff, has worked to quell
 JB> Democratic discontent with Lieberman and to steer them away from
 JB> campaigning against his former boss, said Democratic aides familiar with
 JB> Lewan�s activities.

 JB> Lewan, a lobbyist with Brown Rudnick, said that he has had conversations
 JB> with Democrats from between eight and 12 Senate offices. He said he
 JB> understands that many Democrats have endorsed Lamont because he is the
 JB> Democratic primary winner.

 JB> He added, �It would be terrific from my point of view that during the
 JB> time in September, October, and early November, if they campaign, they
 JB> spend their time in places other than Connecticut.�

 JB> Lewan said that the issue of stripping Lieberman�s seniority did not
 JB> come up in any of his conversations. He also said he has offered to
 JB> share Democrats� concerns with the Lieberman campaign.

 JB> The issue of Lieberman�s seniority would arise most dramatically if
 JB> Lieberman wins re-election and Democrats recapture control of the
 JB> chamber. That would slot Lieberman to take over as chairman of the
 JB> Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the panel
 JB> primarily responsible for investigating the executive branch.

 JB> Democrats think their chances of taking back the Senate are growing more
 JB> and more likely. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week
 JB> said he was more confident that Democrats would pick up at least five
 JB> Senate seats.

 JB> Allowing Lieberman to retain his seniority could put the senator now
 JB> running as an independent in charge of the Senate�s chief investigative
 JB> committee. If Democrats took control of either chamber they would likely
 JB> launch investigations of the White House�s handling of the war in Iraq
 JB> and homeland security.

 JB> �Lieberman�s tone and message has shocked a lot of people,� said a
 JB> second senior Democratic aide who has discussed the issue with other
 JB> Senate Democrats. �He�s way off message for us and right in line with
 JB> the White House.�

 JB> �At this point Lieberman cannot expect to just keep his seniority,�
said
 JB> the aide. �He can�t run against a Democrat and expect to waltz back to
 JB> the caucus with the same seniority as before. It would give the view
 JB> that the Senate is a country club rather than representative of a
 JB> political party and political movement.�

 JB> The aide said that it would make no sense to keep Lieberman in a
 JB> position where he might take over the Governmental Affairs Committee.

 JB> Ironically, a lawmaker with a good shot of replacing Lieberman atop the
 JB> Governmental Affairs panel, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), is spearheading
 JB> the effort within the Senate to preserve Democratic support for
 JB> Lieberman. Carper is the third most senior Democrat on the panel after
 JB> Lieberman. But the two Democrats who outrank him, Sens. Carl Levin
 JB> (Mich.) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) are likely to keep their perches as
 JB> the most senior Democrats on the Armed Services Committee and Veterans
 JB> Affairs Committee, respectively.

 JB> Carper�s chief of staff, Jonathan Jones, has contacted Democratic aides
 JB> recently and urged them that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign
 JB> Committee should not spend money in the race between Lieberman and
 JB> Lamont, said two Democratic aides familiar with the conversations. Jones
 JB> said the money would be better spent elsewhere since the seat will
 JB> remain in Democratic hands, said the sources.

 JB> Carper, who like Lieberman often works across the aisle with
 JB> Republicans, is one of a handful of Democratic centrists who have
 JB> continued to support Lieberman since his primary defeat. The others
 JB> include Sen. Ken Salazar (Colo.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Ben Nelson (Neb.)
 JB> and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

 JB> Bill Ghent, Carper�s spokesman, said that Jones �has been on vacation
 JB> the last week and a half and has not been out there advocating what
 JB> anyone should do regarding the Connecticut election.�

 JB> The view that Lieberman should lose his seniority is likely to become
 JB> more ingrained among Democrats if Lieberman continues to align himself
 JB> with Republicans, as he has in the last few days. Lieberman took a call
 JB> from senior White House political strategist Karl Rove on the day of his
 JB> primary election. And since losing, he has adopted rhetoric echoing
 JB> Republican talking points.

 JB> �If we pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date
 JB> certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who
 JB> wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England,�
 JB> Lieberman said about U.S. troops in Iraq and the recently foiled
 JB> terrorism scheme. �It will strengthen them, and they will strike
again.�

 JB> In June, 38 Democrats and Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) voted for a
 JB> resolution sponsored by Sen. Levin that called for Bush to take several
 JB> steps to change the �open ended commitment� of U.S. forces.

 JB> On the same day, 12 Democrats and Jeffords voted for another resolution
 JB> requiring the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq.

 JB> Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.), a Democrat who voted for both resolutions,
 JB> called Lieberman�s statement �regrettable� and said Lieberman
�doesn�t
 JB> get it.�

 JB> Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has likened
 JB> Lieberman�s recent statements to the rhetoric coming from Vice President
 JB> Dick Cheney and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

 JB> Asked yesterday about the race, Dean said, �Ned will win,� adding that
 JB> Democratic turnout for Lamont will help the party in other Connecticut
 JB> races.

 JB> Lieberman is expected to make a hard sell to Republican voters. Sean
 JB> Smith, who stepped down as Lieberman�s campaign manager after the
 JB> primary, told Lieberman as he was resigning that the candidate would
 JB> have to pursue Republican voters in order to win the general election,
 JB> said sources familiar with the conversation.

 JB> Lieberman said he agreed with the analysis, according to the sources.

 JB> So far, at least 26 Democratic senators have said they are supporting
 JB> Lamont, including Reid, according to a survey conducted by The Hill.
 JB> Reid spokesman Jim Manley said Democratic leaders would make no
 JB> decisions about committees until after the election.

 JB> Jonathan E. Kaplan and Tyler Kirtley contributed to this article.

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