Droopy

(updated)

can you imagine how Bush and Rove would be dealing with a, say, Lincoln Chafee or someone like that had he committed the same acts of apostasy Lieberman has? would NOT be pretty, and the near-universal view, both among politicians and the media, would be that he made his bed and now he's got to lay in it.  we're talking broken legs territory here.

but not with Lieberman and the Democrats. He can imply the president-elect is unpatriotic and campaign for at least two Republican senators' reelections and speak at the RNCC and, oh, that's just Joe being Joe. Fine, let Joe be Joe. but why on earth should he get to capitalize on the Democratic majority (chairmanships are available ONLY to the majority party) when he actively campaigned against a Democratic majority? yeah, so he contributed money to the DSCC, but that, in my mind, doesn't nearly make up for his vouching (and raising money for in the first instance) on the campaign trail for Sens. Collins and Coleman. whatever--don't have a dog in that fight -the Ds can run their caucus however they see fit. Just seems pretty fucking stupid to me. and all of this nonsense about conciliation etc. rings pretty hollow after Obama just selected Rahm Emanuel as his COS, a guy who's about as conciliatory as a thumb in your eye.

really this seems to be an odd strategy to engender in the caucus the notion of party loyalty, which, like it or not, is important if you want to get anything done. shouldn't you, as a D leader, want folks to think that there are consequences to betraying the caucus and party? if i'm a member of the caucus and I see Reid deal with this situation in this way, I'm certainly not going to be too concerned with any flak I could get from Reid if, in a moment of political expedience, I'm wavering on whether or not to vote cloture. oddly, in the upside down world that is the Washington D.C. Democrat frame of mind, they seem to be offering Lieberman carrots for his perfidy. MORE STICK PLEASE!

Update:

I was going to say, SEE??!!?!!, but then I caught myself b/c I realized this the national Democratic Party we're talking about here and they've long since become every bit as bad as the Republicans when it comes to pro-Israel propaganda and policy--which is saying a lot. If anything, this'll shore up his support within what's now the Democratic Party mainstream.