Why Won't the Democratic Leadership Punish Lieberman?

Posted by DavidNYC , Daily Kos at 4:32 AM on November 6, 2009.

I swear, this is their logic now:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) is unlikely to face retribution if he votes to filibuster the Democratic health care bill, despite renewed calls from outraged liberals for party leaders to punish him by stripping him of his committee chairmanship.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) “needs his vote,” one senior Senate Democratic aide said. “It would be counterproductive.”

They've descended into parody: Reid can't punish Lieberman because he needs his vote, which he won't get. This is nonsensical, even by the baroque standards of the United States Senate. Here's some more nonsense:

A great majority of the time, Sen. Lieberman votes with his caucus,” Manley said. “This may be one time they disagree.”

The one time, huh? What is it about the Senate that makes people descend into such pits of absurdity? At least one staffer tells the sad truth:

 If you’re not going to punish someone for endorsing the Republican candidate for president, when are you going to punish him?” another Senate Democratic aide asked. “I don’t even know if this is a punishable offense.”

Of course it's not. Probably the only thing that would constitute a punishable offense would be, as Jed suggested to me, threatening to filibuster a bill that did not contain a public option. Meanwhile, we need to keep Joe Lieberman in the fold so that he can depart from it whenever he pleases.

Tagged as: lieberman, reid, health reform