Dem leaders distancing themselves from Lieberman

The past week or two have been pretty amazing to watch, and as a Democrat who thinks Joe Lieberman is in the wrong party, what I am seeing is quite encouraging.

In the past, I never heard any prominent Democrat talk about how they disagree with Joe Lieberman, or how Joe Lieberman doesn't speak for the majority of Democrats.  But check out what's happened all within the last week or so...

Howard Dean:

Dean tossed a parting jab at Lieberman, claiming Democrats are not as divided on Iraq as press reports say. "The differences are pretty small, perhaps, Senator Lieberman excepted," he said.

Harry Reid:

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is troubled by Lieberman's comments, Reid's aides said. "I've talked to Senator Lieberman, and unfortunately he is at a different place on Iraq than the majority of the American people," Reid said yesterday.

Nancy Pelosi:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters this week that "I completely disagree" with Lieberman. She added: "I believe that we have a responsibility to speak out if we think that the course of action that our country is on is not making the American people safer, making our military stronger and making the region more stable."

Senior Senate Democratic Aide:

"Senator Lieberman is past the point of being taken seriously in the caucus because everything he does is seen as advancing his own self-interest, instead of the Democratic interest," said a senior Senate Democratic aide, who described discontent in that chamber as "widespread."

Jim Dean (Chairman of Democracy for America):

In his letter to Lieberman, Jim Dean said he disagreed and that, "as a member of the `world's greatest deliberative body,' it's time you stopped trying to stifle debate and instead become part of the solution by joining the majority of Americans in questioning President Bush's foreign policy."

That letter from Jim Dean and Democracy for America has been signed by nearly 40,000 members.  Jim Dean will deliver it to Joe Lieberman's office tomorrow, so you still have time to sign the letter!

Democracy for America took a survey of its 9,000 Connecticut members and found that 93% of them said that "Democracy for America should tell Sen. Lieberman to stop supporting Bush," while only 1% said DFA should support Sen. Lieberman.

In addition, MoveOn.org, which claims 10,000 50,000 Connecticut members, is considering supporting a primary challenger if the right candidate comes along.

Democrats are fed up with Joe Lieberman.  Thankfully, it's no longer just the the blogosphere who's pissed, but now the Chairman of the DNC, the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, and the leaders of two major progressive organizations are publicly voicing their discontent.  Hopefully this will encourage someone to step up to the plate and take on Lieberman in the primary.

•  Joe says some of his best friends are neo-cons

  Can't we excommunicate him?

  by Will the Organizer on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 07:28:47 PM PDT

  •  That should be reason enough

    by Fran for Dean on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 07:32:49 PM PDT

    •  Great work Fran + minor proofreading nit..

      Interesting view downthread re: Lieberman's coattails.  I also had not heard that one.  Would love to see DemfromCT and others weigh in on its validity.  Can't believe he would draw any extra Dems to the polls, so it might be Independents, but I don't believe they would vote for Joe and then just because of that vote, choose a down-ticket Dem.

      Also, just minor nit in last paragraph...ya mean "fed" up right?

      by maxschell on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:36:09 PM PDT

      •  Thanks

        I don't understand how people are affected by "coattails," but people who know a lot more about politics than I do say some are.  I do admit that Joe Lieberman is quite popular in Connecticut, though I would bet that a lot of his popularity is due to Republicans who know that they'll never be able to elect a Republican with an 'R' next to his/her name in Connecticut, so might as well support one that doesn't have the 'R'.

        Typo fixed.

        by Fran for Dean on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:43:54 PM PDT

  •  Heck.

    So are some of mine.  They're completely wrong on a number of major issues, but they're still my friends.

    by Adam B on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 07:35:05 PM PDT

    •  I just found out the other day

      That my best friend is a Republican. Since she's also my ex, I instantly thought, "So, that's why our personalities clashed so much!"

      LOL

      Then we immediately went into "We won't discuss politics" mode. It also gave an insight into the Republican mindset, because she gets so firmly entrenched in an opinion, it takes a miracle to change her mind. Very rigid thinker.

      Luckily we live in two different states (her Pa., me Fl.) and when we do get together, we mainly play guitar and have fun. No heavy thinking involved. I'd have to shake her and scream, "Why! Why, why, why!!" otherwise.

      by PatsBard on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 07:49:02 PM PDT

•  I believe in a very big tent

  but the people under it can't be going around kicking down the tent poles.  

  by socratic on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 07:36:22 PM PDT

  •  A primary is very very democratic...

    Its being done to antiwar candidates. Why not, the most odious of Prowar Dems.

    2006 is about the WAR. Its the War, (stupid)! Not that you are stupid.

    Generally, I'm all for party unity... AFTER the primary. Now is the time for the Dems to decide under the tent.

    Make sure we dont burn the tent down or bruise up our candidates too much.

    by Tim the Democrat on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 07:59:06 PM PDT

•  Can we get Rahm "War!" Emmanual outed

  as head of the DCCC next?

  He keeps on trying to kill off liberal candidacies.

  by Tim the Democrat on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 07:56:11 PM PDT

•  Ya know what

  I do NOT want to be in a political party that has this dip shit as a member. The repugs are disgusting cretins and all we can do is get behind these guys? WTF? Kerry had no stomach to kick sbv ass, fight for the obvious fraud issue, or, for that fucking matter, say the whole war thing was BS.
  Jeeze, what the hell is up with this shit?
  The repugs are all getting indicted, Downing Street Memos, French Intelligence ...FRENCH INTEL for Christ sake,Ohio and Diebold, secret prisons, not to mention chimpy is a moron. I mean, they are handing us the next election and the Dems are going to screw the hatch. WTF?

  by mpc 12 on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:12:50 PM PDT

•  I'm personally split on the issue

  While i'd LOVE to get rid of Lieberman in the Senate caucus, I know that for the 3 house races up in 2006 would all be helped tremendously with Liebermans far-and-ranging coattails. Perhaps with a Liberal Democrat instead of Lieberman, we may pick up max. 1 seat, rather than the 2 or 3 we should get.

  by KainIIIC on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:16:01 PM PDT

  •  hmm

    Now that's an interesting argument that I haven't heard yet.  I still think replacing Lieberman with a real Democrat would be worth not picking up an extra 1-2 House seats.

    by Fran for Dean on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:20:28 PM PDT

  •  you know nothing of CT politics

    Shays,Simmons and Johnson will win going away if Joe is at the top of the Dem Ticket.Before you post any other tripe perhaps you should speak to Farrell,Courtney or Murphy if you even know who they are.

    by ctkeith on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:46:46 PM PDT

    •  Okay...

      I'm honestly sorry that I have not had the pleasure of meeting all 3 of these race's challengers. But also thank-you for offering me some fantastic analysis as to why he will not.

      Reagan's cottails took control of the Senate in 1980, Tommy Thompson's cottails nearly ousted Feingold in 1998, Gore's cottails most likely contributed to the ousting of the Republican senators in Washington, Michigan, Delaware, Minnesota, and Florida. Similarly, we're counting on Janet Napolitano's cottails to aid Pederson to his ousting of Kyl. Any conventional wisdom will tell you that a Dem. that expects to get ~70% of the vote will undeniably help you in nearly 50-50 districts as uneducated voters, voting for Lieberman, may cast their vote for the next D on the list - for Representative.

      by KainIIIC on Tue Dec 13, 2005 at 01:00:52 PM PDT

•  Treat him like Clinton treated Saddam

  Containment, and perhaps not overthrow, is the key. If we get close enough to retaking the Senate (unlikely, but not impossible), he may provide that one vote we need.

  If a GREAT candidate comes along, we should support them, but failing that we should contain him, ridicule him at every turn, and neutralizes his sorry nasal ass.

  by Bensdad on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:30:35 PM PDT

•  Join Us inHartford tommorrow at 1pm

  Jim Dean will be presenting the Senator with the letter to Lieberman.
     DFA is looking for people to join him outside Lieberman's Hartford
  office (One Constitution Plaza, Hartford) on Tuesday at 1 pm.

  by ctkeith on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 08:38:14 PM PDT

•  Lieberman

  Lieberman is so far gone on the war in Iraq that he's probably got a rosier view of it than George W. Bush himself.

  by Newsie8200 on Tue Dec 13, 2005 at 06:28:54 AM PDT