Nietzsche famously said "that which does not kill me makes me stronger."
While nobody has advocated violence against Lieberman, we have tried to kill his political career. If he survives (and we must concede that such a possibility exists), he may be the most powerful human being in the United States Senate.
Huh?
The Democrats need to pick up six seats to gain a Senate majority, on paper. Let's assume that we pick up six seasts with Tester, Webb, McCaskill, Ford, Brown, and Casey all vanquishing their foes, while Menendez survives his current predicament.
We would then have:
50 solid Democrats (including Sanders)
49 Republicans
1 Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman is a liar and values his word about as much as Dick Cheney values Iraqi lives. Let us disregard his claims that he will caucus with the Democrats, and that he will forever be a Democrat. Joe will do what is best for Joe.
Lieberman would then be in the position of kingmaker. The Democrats and Republicans would then be forced to bid for his vote (he has no loyalty, of course--you can't buy Joe Lieberman, but you can rent him).
And do not think that he is unaware of this, or that it hasn't affected his behavior.
Confident of victory (and likely reasoning that there will be no consequences to suffer either way), he has already boasted (about retaining his seniority), scolded the entire Democratic party (saying it must change if it takes power), and poked Chris Dodd in the eye (over John Bolton).
Questions:
1) What kind of demands will Lieberman likely make?
2) What kind of demands can we rationally expect to grant, and which should cause us to tell him to Cheney himself?
3) Is there a lesson to be drawn from this? If we do not take him out, effectively we have strengthened and emboldened him by failing. Machiavelli once said that you should not wound the Prince, for then you will see why he is the Prince. If we only wound Lieberman's career, we can expect to see why he has been so adept at exploiting party divides for his own personal benefit--to the loss of us all.
My stomach turns at this thought, and I certainly don't envy Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer. Their power to influence the race in Connecticut is practically nil at this point. If you need any more incentive to work and donate to Ned Lamont, I have two words for you:
King Joe.
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