People are missing the point about Rumsfeld and Lieberman.
it's not that lieberman is going to get whatever post on whatever committee he wants--though he will.
it's that lieberman is now the most powerful politician in america. there is literally no piece of legislation that harry reid and pelosi can pass that lieberman can't hold hostage. as long as he can flip the senate, he sits at the apex of deal-making. and i don't know if anyone else has noticed, but joementum has no issues with flexing his ego. we are his collective bitch.
so now we have the most egocentric man in politics saying "well, harry, i don't think you should propose that we leave iraq. and if you do, well, i'll have to think about that secdef post. or about flipping affiliation. oh, and by the way, i run the senate, motherfucker."
have a nice day.
UPDATE:
have you who say he's socially progressive on some issues not noticed his constant bloviating on religion, or worse, his constant sucking up to corporations? he will drive dems to less populist stances on all business related (trade esp., but other stuff like oil policy as well) which is bad for us.