Democrats To Vote On Lieberman This Morning

When Democrats step into the Old Senate Chamber this morning for the meeting of the Senate Democratic Conference they will be there to elect leadership for the next Congress -- but that's not what anyone is paying attention to. That's because the first item on the agenda will be whether or not to strip former-Democrat Joe Lieberman of his Chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as punishment for his despicable conduct during the 2008 presidential campaign.

In addition to speaking at the Republican National Convention in support of their nominee, John McCain, Lieberman smeared President-elect Barack Obama in that same speech, saying among other things that Obama tried to cut off funding for troops serving in combat in Iraq. Lieberman then went on to campaign with McCain and Sarah Palin as they called Obama a terrorist and whatever other names they decided to use on a given day.

Today's vote will be by secret ballot but CNN, ABC News and others have reported what I am also hearing from Senate sources: That Lieberman will be allowed to stay on as chair of the Homeland Security Committee but will lose his position as Chairman of a subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works Committee, known as the Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection Subcommittee.

If you're saying "are you kidding me?" about right now, join the club.

Why don't they just make him write "I will not backstab the entire Democratic party again" 100 times on the Senate chalkboard?

That'll show him, won’t it?

Look, Lieberman took a political gamble and lost big time. He thought John McCain would win the presidency, that he would be McCain's Secretary of Defense and could then walk away from his tarnished reputation on Capitol Hill -- so he went all in on the GOP and torched Barack Obama and everyone else in the Democratic caucus along the way.

I personally believe he should be removed from the caucus entirely and if his conduct in the last year hasn’t been enough, what would it take? Shooting the Senate Majority Leader during Morning Business?

"To reward Senator Lieberman with a major committee chairmanship would be a slap in the face of millions of Americans who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama and who want to see real change in our country," said Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an Independent who has more guts than most Senate Democrats. "Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not 'change we can believe in.'"

We should know what happened by noon … But don’t expect to be happy about it.