C'mon, Baby, Joe Didn't Mean It

Well, the Democrats are going to let Lieberman keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. I can’t say this comes as much of a surprise, although I find it disappointing. I’ve never much cared for Joe Lieberman, and his actions in the campaign this year should have resulted in some sort of substantial punishment from his erstwhile compatriots. Would he really have started voting and caucusing with the Republicans on issues that he had heretofore voted liberally on simply out of spite? That’s hard for me to believe, which makes the Democrats unwillingness to punish him all the more frustrating. See Steve Benen on the case for stripping Lieberman of his chair.

All that being said, I also understand why the Democrats have done it (see Ezra Klein for the case). Having (possibly) sixty caucusing votes is a whole lot different than fifty-nine, especially as conservative Democrats like Max Baucus and moderate conservatives like … uh, the Maine Senate delegation and Arlen Specter are going to be under intense pressure to not be the 60th vote to break a filibuster.

All of that may be true, but it’s unsatisfying and leaves the door open for Lieberman to pull this kind of nonsense whenever he wants. Perhaps, if that’s the case, the Democrats can take action down the road. Let’s just hope that Reid has Lieberman on double super secret probation.