Surprising, and very much welcome.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a close ally of Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the Connecticut Independent should pay a price for his campaign attacks against President-elect Barack Obama.
"There need to be consequences, and they cannot be insignificant," Carper said in a Monday interview with The Hill.
Carper, a fellow centrist who was Delaware campaign chairman for Lieberman’s failed bid for president in 2004, said he and many other Senate Democrats are disappointed and even angered by their colleague's sometimes-inflammatory rhetoric during this year's presidential campaign.
Lieberman said he supported Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) because he was the best prepared to lead the country at a time of war, and Lieberman questioned Obama’s readiness to lead.
Carper did not rule out stripping Lieberman of his coveted gavel running the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, or imposing other sanctions like taking away seniority on other committees or a subcommittee on Armed Services.
Carper said he and three other Senate Democrats have been making phone calls to "take the temperature of our caucus." He said the purpose of the calls was not to lobby senators for any particular action for or against Lieberman, but "just to see where people's hearts and their minds are.”
Carper said that "many of my colleagues ... are very angry with his criticism of Sen. Obama," but he would not say which sanctions he prefers.
This is obviously a significant development, coming a week after all momentum and sentiment seemed to be on Lieberman's side. Yet starting late last week, we've had close Lieberman ally Evan Bayh demand a heartfelt and sincere apology from Lieberman (unlikely), Sens. Leahy and Sanders explicitly called for loss of Lieberman's chairmanship, and Dorgan called Lieberman's actions unacceptable.
As a chairman of one of our significant committees in the Senate, not just going off and supporting a presidential candidate of the other side but also criticizing the candidate on our side, and also involving himself in a couple of senate races on the other side. The question is, is that acceptable? The answer is no.
Now Carper wants "significant consequences", which is significant not just because it's a senator calling for sanctions, but because it's coming from one of Lieberman's closest allies. It's a lot easier to dismiss Leahy's call to action than it is Carper.
Now Carper may be trying to set things up so that Lieberman keeps his committee chairmanship while losing seniority in other committees. That would be unacceptable.
The American people voted overwhelmingly, in landslide numbers, for change. Lieberman is George Bush's most faithful ally on Iraq, and his continued chairmanship of the committee tasked with national security would be spitting in the face of the American electorate.
It's looking like maybe, just maybe, the caucus truly does realize it and plans to act accordingly.