Lieberman to retain leadership positions within the Democratic Caucus

[madinmaryland]

should he win in November.

:wtf:

NORWICH, Conn. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman said Thursday that he has received assurances from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid that he'll retain his leadership positions within the Democratic caucus should he win the November election as a Democrat.

But a spokesman for Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said those types of decisions will not be made until after the general election.

"As is customary, Senator Reid and the Democratic caucus won't be making any decisions on such things as committee assignments until after the election in November," said Jim Manley, the senator's spokesman.

..snip

Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the Senate, called me after the primary. And we had a good talk, we're friends," Lieberman said. "He said, 'Look, I've heard some of the statements that people have been making, but I'm the Democratic leader and if you get elected, you've got your seniority, you've got all your committee assignments, nothing is going to change.' And I appreciated that very much."

..snip

edited to add link from the Connecticut Post
http://www.connpost.com/news/ci_4202619

They can't be serious! :grr:

[jsamuel]

1. "says Lieberman"

[madinmaryland]

6. Its a he-said he-said type of thing right now.

Hopefully Reid has said nothing of the sort.

[elehhhhna]

11. I want an anaswer NOW.

[madinmaryland]

20. I don't think Reid will say anything before the election.

Hasn't he already come out in support of Lamont?

[cmkramer]

24. Fairly easy to explain

Remember Jim Traficant? When he was still a Democratic Representative for Ohio, he voted for Dennis Hastert for Speaker of the House -- those kinds of leadership posts are nearly always done on a party line basis and the party with the most members always wins. Now, Hastert would have won regardless since the GOP has more people in Congress, but for his disloyalty Traficant lost all his committee assignments and became literally a man without a party.

What happened with Reid and Lieberman is more than likely Lieberman was told that if he wins he will be treated as a Democrat in good standing and will be eligible for committee assignments, etc. Joe may have interpreted that as meaning he'll keep the same assignments he already has while Reid is just saying that no specific decisions on committee assignments will be made until after the election.

[annabanana]

2. I'd have to hear it from Harry.

I don't believe anything LIEberman says.

[William769]

3. agreed.

[Fredda Weinberg]

4. We might need his vote n/t

[acmavm]

5. So he'll start voting with the dems?

[benny05]

7. I Agree

Joe is oh-so confident by Rethugs that they cannot vote for their own.

See threads:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5518978&mesg_id=5518978

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2786136

Let's go Ned!



:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:

[PaDem]

8. While a majority of Democratic Senators are endorsing.........

Lamont, I would bet the farm that behind closed doors a large majority hope Lieberman wins. His seniority and committee assignments aren't going anywhere.

[jsamuel]

10. ah, the "silent majority"

:eyes:

[shain from kane]

9. "... should he win the November election as a Democrat"? How can

he win as a Democrat? He's an Independent, so if he wins, he would win the November election as an Independent.

[helderheid]

13. DING DING DING DING DING!

"should he win the November election as a Democrat" Well, so much for that LIEberman!

[ChiciB1]

17. GOOD CATCH... I Hope That Was "Silent Message" Here!

But then The Lie says he's running as an Independent DEMOCRAT! A new party I guess, but maybe we should all write Reid and remind him of this. That is IF he's forgotten that little fact!

[Emit]

28. Exactly -- split the Dem party by creating a new Dem party

This all falls very much in line with Rove's desire for a one-party rule

Karl Rove presents what would be an interesting theoretical problem, only it isn't theoretical. What happens when someone who believes that the best society is one, in which many groups compete and counterbalance each other, to the point of perfect political equipoise, is also in a position to work with tremendous aggressiveness and skill to stitch these groups together in such a way as to create the very thing that Madison most feared: a single, permanent, crushingly powerful majority group, in the form of the Republican Party, which, after all, is where most people who have power already, economically, make their political home? Rove genially dismissed the idea. As important as building a long-lasting, dominant Republican majority is to him in practice, in the abstract he sees one party domination as a problem that would automatically correct itself. He communicates the feeling that he's having a great time trying to make the Republican Party dominant, and appears to believe that, if he succeeds, some Democratic Karl Rove will probably come along in a few decades and figure out how to undo his handiwork--so, no worries. His project, for now, involves the practical task that he has set .for himself, not the abstract concerns that a good Madisonian ought to have about his succeeding at it.

In our last interview, I tried out on Rove a scenario I called "the death of the Democratic Party." The Party has three key funding sources: trial lawyers, Jews, and labor unions. One could systematically disable all three, by passing tort-reform legislation that would cut off the trial lawyers' incomes, by tilting pro-Israel in Middle East policy and thus changing the loyalties of big Jewish contributors, and by trying to shrink the part of the labor force which belongs to the newer, and more Democratic, public-employee unions. And then there are three fundamental services that the Democratic Party is offering to voters: Social Security, Medicare, and public education. Each of these could be peeled away, too: Social Security and Medicare by giving people benefits in the form of individual accounts that they invested in the stock market, and public education by trumping the Democrats on the issue of standards. The Bush Administration has pursued every item on that list. Rove didn't offer any specific objection but, rather, a general caveat that the project might be too ambitious. "Well, I think it's a plausible explanation," he said. "I don't think you ever kill any political party. Political parties kill themselves, or are killed, not by the other political party but by their failure to adapt to new circumstances. But do you weaken a political party, either by turning what they see as assets into liabilities, and/or by taking issues they consider to be theirs, and raiding them?" The thought brought to his round, unlined, guileless face a boyish look of pure delight. "Absolutely!"

More about this from the last section of this lengthy article on Rove, here:
http://www.bnfp.org/neighborhood/Lemann_Rove_NYM.htm


And, as a Nevadan who volunteered for Reid, I'm calling him now.

[ChiciB1]

29. Good Post... I'm Late In Getting Back To This... But Had A VERY

busy, busy day yesterday. I think ROVE has been THE Guide for Repukes regarding the domestic agenda. With more and more people fed up with BOTH parties I feel he wants to SPLIT Democrats to the point where they will simply "wander" around for a while looking for something else. This will then ensure the base of Repuke to grow. I know I have had my PROBLEMS with how the Democrats lack of energy and/or unity for some time. The only thing that will stop this "wandering" is IF the PRESENT Democrats get more forceful in attacking the present corruptness OR that Democrats are ABLE to take back Congress.

BOTH the above are still an uphill fight because many Independents I know are STILL sitting on the fence to some extent. Then there is GERRYMANDERING, a factor I don't feel very many people are paying much attention to as yet. While some Democrats are waking for what I call "Rip Van Winkle" sleeping, I still wonder if it is enough. Then even IF Congress could be won over, are there enough STRONG Democrats willing to make some "hard" decisions???

IMHO, America has been bombed in a political way that I have never seen before, and one that is going to take a long time to recover from.

Still we MUST contact Reid! I have never seen him as any type of "fire-breathing" Democrat and wonder why he has the position he has. But it is what it is!

Independent Democrat should be something we EXPLOIT as it's what The Lie called himself!! I am not one of them!

[helderheid]

32. Independant Democrat funded by the GOP

:wtf: :eyes: :crazy:

[bluedog]

12. Lets get on Reids butt

if Joe Blow is elected as an indy....he loses his senority....senority was for Democratic party..not Independent............

Reid should realize this..................take this as far as it will go.......e-mail fax senators who are going to support Lamont ..............complain....bitch........anything.............Jow should hold no........special leadership positions

[izzybeans]

14. Nothing to substantiate but I'm guessing he threatened to switch

parties if he win should they strip him of his seniority.

[Cha]

15. Let's help make that sucker

Moot!

[paulk]

16. Reid, and the Democratic Party, are in a bind

Lieberman could win this thing come November - and with control of the Senate possibly at stake - that's a mighty big bargaining chip...

[ThomWV]

18. A Promise Reid Will Never Have To Keep

He can not be elected as a Democrat because he can not run as a Democrat. Lamont has won that right, not Lieberman. Lieberman may run as something and he may in fact be elected, but he will not be a
Democrat, not by any stretch of the imagination, not by deed or by word.

[Ghost in the Machine]

19. Joe is so stupid he can't feel the smoke being blown up his ass..

NORWICH, Conn. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman said Thursday that he has received assurances from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid that he'll retain his leadership positions within the Democratic caucus should he win the November election as a Democrat. (emphasis mine) ....

Um, hey Joe? You're running as an Indy, remember? You lost the primary, you'll never win the November election as a Democrat. IF Harry Reid told you those exact words, you were too stupid to understand it. It would be the same as me telling my son that I'll buy him his own island if he graduates from high school as a unicorn. It's a safe bet, he's not unicorn, and you're not a Democrat.

[cigsandcoffee]

21. Better than driving him over to the GOP if he wins.

And it looks like he has a pretty good shot of winning, I'm sorry to say.

[BuhByeChimp]

22. I agree.

I don't think he would really vote any differently if he did switch over, but I think it would be wiser to accept Lieberman if he does win.

[loveandlight]

23. negotiating going on behind the scenes...

Remember, as an Independent, Lieberman has some wiggle room here. I think actually that Reid and Lieberman had a talk. Lieberman probably said if you let me keep my seniority, when I win as an Independent, I will immediate switch parties to declare myself as a Democrat again. That way the Dems will potentially have a majority, Joe will keep his power and everyone will get what they want. He probably hinted to Reid that if he doesn't allow him to keep his seniority, he could very easily switch parties after election and become Republican. That is my thought. Under these conditions it makes it less likely that the Dems will directly attack Joe during the election, hoping that he comes back to them after elected, if elected. My hopes are still with Lamont, however.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

25. IF He Wins I Don't Much Have A Problem With It.

As long as he caucuses with the Dems. If he went the way of the GOP (which I hope to hell he won't), then obviously he should be stripped of everything.

[onenote]

26. Of course he will...completely predictable

Look at the Jeffords precedent. Runs as a repub, defeats a Dem. Becomes an indie and says he'll caucus with the Democrats. Gets a Committee Chairmanship.

[Rex]

27. Cokeheads say the damnedest things.

:eyes:

[Radical Activist]

30. There's no other position Reid can take.

If Reid kicks him around, Lieberman will bolt to the GOP and could prevent Democrats from gaining the majority. He has to keep Joe in the party in case he wins for the sake of a majority.

On the other hand, if Dems get a big enough majority then Joe should be kicked to the curb after November.

[riona]

31. What is this?

The Indino Party? And, it sounds like Sen. L. is calling in favors.