Reid on Lieberman
Without prompting, Reid offered this explanation on Lieberman at the Progressive Media Summit:
What were we going to do with Joe Lieberman? I know how to count votes. That’s been my occupation since 1998. One vote in the Senate means a lot. I was upset with some of the things he said in the campaign. I made a decision along with Barack Obama. I’m not going to apologize for anyone for the vote Joe Lieberman gives us. he’s with us on everything but the war. Overwhelmingly my caucus thought it was the right thing to do.
Wouldn’t we prefer pressure to vote with than to pander to an agent of Israel that will never vote with you until he has informed his real party about the discussion?
Imagine Joe Lieberman, (I,R, D-CT) Even the senate record lists him as I and D. Why not (spy-R)
It is time for a real leader in this position. One that can ram the sandwich down the throat of the minority party. Sure you will lose some, but you will get them thrown out of office in the future election by an angry constituency.
It just doesn’t give anyone an indication of how low Mr. Reid will go without showing that backbone a leader requires. I don’t see any sign of it with constant giving in to the least amount of pressure.
I hope I am wrong.
I’m always at odds with almost all commenters when I defend Reid, but if I had to pick between HoJo and health care for kids, I’d hold my nose and keep HoJo on my list of ‘yea’s’.
On a smaller level, I’ve counted votes. It’s shitty work, but it’s gotta get done.
I figure it’s better than Stalinism or Maoism, but that doesn’t mean that you have to like, respect, or spend time with your ‘yea’s’. It can, however, be powerful incentive to be sure you get better candidates to run for office.
One Jim Webb is worth 20 HoJo’s.
I don’t view Reid as unprincipled; I see him as a pragmatist stuck in a shitty situation.
He doesn’t kid himself about that fact. But he also doesn’t whine about it.
Only more and better Dems are going to fix that, and the last two elections have produced some really promising electeds.
One more point: Reid’s job is to count the votes and keep the pathways clear so that the Carl Levins, Ted Kennedys, Sheldon Whitehouses, and Barbara Boxer can do the heavy lifting that makes things happen.
If Reid screws up the vote counts, then the rest of them are screwed.
It’s not a glamorous job, and as is quite evident, sometimes involves having dinner with the devil. But none of that makes Reid a weenie or a dolt. He’s one vote short of telling HoJo what he thinks, and he’s smart enough to recognize that shitty fact of life.
Thanks for that take. “sometimes involves having dinner with the devil” What a balancing act.
“one vote short of telling HoJo what he thinks” Sure hope so .
# 11 I find Senator Feingold one of the most consistent honorable above the partisanship hogwash Reps going. During the Holder hearing he asked some tough questions of Holder and pushed for a real commitment to uphold the law.
Feingold and Reid appear to be very different temperaments.
But Reid is a Mormon Dem from a state (Nevada) that like all Western states has a lot of ownership and money by ‘red’ interests. That probably makes probably makes Reid better at counting votes.
Leen – if you come back, note:
I see at TPM that the Senate Repubs are holding up Climate Change related nominations. Part of me just marvels at this level of stupidity — I mean, did they not see 2,000,000 people in freezing weather on Tuesday desperate for c-h-a-n-g-e?!
More evidence that the GOP is as bankrupt and insolvent as Wall Street.
And Reid has to cut deals with this class of fools, day in, day out. He badly needs just one more vote.
I’d prefer a leader who can tell the Blue Dogs, the DINOs, and the GOoPers something like this:
Highball!
Still with that gibberish of “with us on everything but the war.”
It appears that Senator Reid has some serious memory problems. Or at least extremely selective memory.
Yeah like pushing a military confrontation with Iran. Lieberman told more lies on the floor about Iran than one could count. On the mall during the Inauguration Lieberman received more boo’s than Bush and Cheney.
Holy Joe votes the Democratic line about as often as he campaigns for the Democratic presidential nominee, and as predictably as Arlen Specter says he opposes Bush’s policies, then votes to support every one of them. So, what votes is Sen. Reidless counting?
Thanks ew.
Thanks to Oliver Wolcott for opening the digg
I guess we’ll see if he’s with them on everything but the war, won’t we?
Prosecutions?
Reparations to innocent victims of our “war” on terror?
Cluster bombs?
Aid?
Accountability?
… and the beat goes on.
reid has been “with us” only when that vote did not count, if the democrats had the vote count without him, lieberman voted with the democrats, if the democrats needed lieberman he voted with the republicans
see roberts and alito
what are they putting in the Senate water coolers ???
I think Reid gets it wrong when he says it’s all about votes. That’s like saying a sports car is all about horsepower. Having less horsepower but better steering sometimes gives you a much better performance vehicle. Lieberman may very well give you more horsepower (votes) but he also screws up your steering (messaging) and shocks (trust). The Senate Democratic leadership continually underestimates the value of speaking with one strong voice on issues. I used to think the Senate Dem leadership was hamstrung by Senate rules but since they conveniently ignored the rules for weeks when they tried to block Roland Burris now I just think they are weak.
The best vote any Senator cast in my lifetime was Russ Feingold’s vote against the Patriot Act and he didn’t bother counting the votes before casting it. It’s better to lose well sometimes, that’s something Reid, Durbin, and Schumer will never understand.
There are definitely times to act on conscience and the number of votes be damned. And I don’t mean to excuse Reid, but wow, how bizarre would it be to been in the Senate when Frist and Cheney were running the show for those years and the Dems went years without Chairmanships. Gack.