WHAT TO DO ABOUT LIEBERMAN?

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By Dan | July 14, 2008

How do you recognize John McCain in a crowd? He’s the guy walking alongside Joe Lieberman.

Why doesn’t John McCain have a cell phone? He doesn’t need one. Joe Lieberman’s always by his side.

Did you ever see such an odd couple? They’re joined at the hip. In Iraq, whispering the difference between Shiites and Sunnis into John McCain’s left ear, it’s Joe Lieberman. In Colombia, joining John McCain in praising another trade deal to steal American jobs, it’s Joe Lieberman. In Mexico’s sacred Lady of Guadalupe shrine, being blessed alongside John McCain by the Roman Catholic bishop, it’s Joe Lieberman. They’re so inseparable, you’ve got to wonder: How did John McCain survive six years at the Hanoi Hilton without him? And what does Cindy think?

As for all that gossip about a shakeup in the McCain campaign, fuhgetaboutit! No new campaign manager would ever have the clout Joe Lieberman currently enjoys. The first senator to endorse McCain, he not only travels with him everywhere, he’s McCain’s number one cheerleader; he pumps him up and runs Obama down on the Sunday talk shows. Lieberman has been invited to address the Republican National Convention and he’s even on McCain’s short list for vice-presidential nominee.

And to think, this same man was the Democratic candidate for vice-president just eight years ago. Oy vey!

Of course, there’s something to be said for bipartisanship. Americans are tired of the partisan bickering in Washington. They like to see politicians reach across the aisle and work at solving problems with members of the other party. And Lieberman was always that kind of Democrat. But there’s a difference between bipartisanship and selling out.

Now, the Democratic Party has seen traitors before. Who could ever forget crazy Zell Miller? He addressed the Republican Convention in 2004. But even Miller showed some restraint. He didn’t campaign fulltime for George W. Bush. Joe Lieberman is Zell Miller on steroids.

What should Democrats do about Joe Lieberman? The party’s net roots are demanding that he be unceremoniously tossed overboard. They’ve organized a new Web site — LiebermanMustGo.com — and they’ve delivered over 43,000 signatures so far to the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, asking them to strip Lieberman of his rank in the Democratic caucus and dump him as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

It is, indeed, strange that Democrats continue to reward Lieberman with a committee chairmanship while he’s daily stabbing them in the back. But no matter how satisfying it would be to throw Lieberman from the train, there are two problems with doing so. One, he’s no longer a Democrat. He switched to Independent after losing the Connecticut Democratic primary to Ned Lamont and, unfortunately, then won re-election.

The second problem is: Without Lieberman’s vote, Democrats would lose control of the Senate. Republicans and Democrats are tied today with 49 votes each. Harry Reid is Majority Leader only because both Independents, Lieberman and Bernie Sanders, caucus with the Democrats. Removing Lieberman from the equation would end Democratic control and, in effect, hand Republicans the keys to the kingdom.

So what to do about Lieberman? No matter how obnoxious he is, for Democrats today there is little choice but to grin and bear him. In the short term, that is. Once, as expected, Democrats pick up more seats in November, they can quickly show Lieberman the door — and should.

Unless Lieberman makes the first move. He has, after all, never ruled out joining the Republican Party. He’s already a Republican today, in everything but name. Why not make it official?

By becoming a Republican, Lieberman would solve everybody’s problems. Doing so would get him out of the Democrats’ hair. It would make his life more honest. And he’d be in a perfect position to become John McCain’s running mate, and thereby become the first politician in history to lose the vice-presidency twice.