Jack & Jill Politics

Could Senator Joe Lieberman Lose His Committe Chairmanships?  Does Harry Reid read JJP?

According to HuffPo, via AmericaBlog.  “Could Be; Could Be Not” as “Mister” would say :

Bolstered by a newly expanded majority, Harry Reid met with Joe Lieberman on Thursday to sketch out the conditions by which the Connecticut independent could continue to caucus with Senate Democrats. But Lieberman did not accept Reid’s initial offers, leaving his future in the caucus uncertain, and potentially setting off a campaign to pressure the Democratic steering committee to decide Lieberman’s fate. (emphasis mine)

Reid offered Lieberman a deal to step down as chairman of the homeland security committee but take over the reins of another subcommittee, likely overseeing economic or small business issues officials said.

Does Senator Droopy Dog think he still has some kind of CLOUT? Only a fool would refuse to accept a lifeline when it’s being offered. And if Lieberman thinks he has clout, he’d better check with Josh Orton, who used to work for Reid:

Reid is likely working through the Senate mechanisms behind-the-scenes: walking through the complex process of Chairmanship ‘musical chairs’ that Ari describes here, estimating how many Dems we’ll actually have in our caucus, and speaking with all of Lieberman’s allies in the Dem caucus so no one goes off the reservation when a decision is announced.

So don’t misread the reality – Lieberman has very little leverage in this situation and nowhere to go. He angered Obama and Reid during the campaign, and his presidential candidate lost. So Reid is taking his time, but that shouldn’t be misread as indecisiveness or inaction. It just proves how little power Lieberman now has.

And Joe Sudbay echoes what we’ve been talking about since yesterday about leadership:

Reid is a boxer. Sounds like he, like so many of us, is pissed at Lieberman. The worst pain for a Senator is to lose a chairmanship with all its perks. Markos has a list of the Democratic Steering Committee, which makes committee leadership decisions. Those people may need to hear from us soon.

Does someone in Harry Reid’s office read JJP?  This is too uncanny to be called a coincidence.

Just in case you don’t head over to Kos’ place, I’ve cut and pasted the names of that Steering Committee here:

Stabenow
Kerry
Harkin
Baucus
Inouye
Conrad
Byrd
Levin
Kennedy
Kohl
Wyden
Boxer
Bingaman
Leahy
Clinton

Here’s my speculation – out of the names on that list, the Senators I would expect to kick Lieberman’s treacherous ass are – Kennedy, Wyden, Boxer, Byrd (yeah, the former KKK member), Levin and maybe Clinton.  If Pat Leahy could stop writing sternly worded letters, maybe I could get excited about him, but he’s let me down too many times to count.  Bingaman, Kerry, Harkin, Inouye, Baucus and Conrad are DLC-types that I can’t trust as far as I can see, and are probably more forgiving of Lieberman’s treachery than they should be.  I don’t know too much about Stabenow or Kohl – could they be counted to bring a can of whip-ass to the party?

As mentioned, this IS a discussion thread, so chime in with your predictions or speculations, or observations as a political junkie…it’s more than welcomed.  LOL