Politics Index

The nutroot community wanted Joe Lieberman punished for his “disloyalty” in criticizing Obama and backing McCain for President. If you don’t fall in line they want you put away. Looks like they’ll have one more thing to whine about now.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut, was allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday despite his support for Senator John McCain in the presidential campaign.

Democratic senators voted instead to strip Mr. Lieberman of a subcommittee chairmanship on the Environment and Public Works Committee, a slap on the wrist compared with the prospect of losing the homeland security leadership post.

“He’s part of this caucus,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said after the Democratic caucus voted behind closed doors. “We are not looking back. We are looking forward.”

Mr. Lieberman, who had angered many Democrats by campaigning for Mr. McCain, his longtime friend, emerged from the private session looking pleased. He called the result “fair and forward-looking” and one of “reconciliation and not retribution.”

He said he was looking forward to working with President-elect Barack Obama — whom he criticized during the campaign — “to keep the American people secure at home” as well as abroad.

Before the meeting, Mr. Lieberman said he was optimistic. “I’m going into a roomful of friends,” he told The Associated Press

Actually, Mr. Lieberman has been a source of consternation to Democrats since 2006, when he lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, a businessman from Greenwich. But instead of retiring quietly, Mr. Lieberman won a fourth term as an independent. Since then, he has sided with Democrats on most issues, with the notable exception of the war in Iraq, which he has supported.

A collection of whines from the left:

Jane Hamsher:

This is about telling you that you mean nothing. That democracy is a nice word, but it should never threaten the entitlement of the most exclusive club in the world.

No matter what Joe Lieberman does, the people who are protecting him hate you much more than they hate him.

Matt Stoller:

I sort of get tired of making this point, but Democratic leaders are often not on our side, they often don’t agree with us, and it’s foolish to consider them as teammates. They aren’t.

Kevin Drum:

I see that Senate Democrats have voted to allow Joe Lieberman to keep his committee chairmanship. I guess they really showed him, didn’t they? No Democrat will ever dare to support a Republican candidate for president, speak at the Republican national convention in prime time, and bad mouth the Democratic Party’s candidate ever again.

KOS:

Um, what idiot would think that taking away a subcommittee from Lieberman would be seen as a “stinging rebuke”? In whose DC-Beltway-addled mind is that even remotely punishment?

Let Lieberman keep that subcommittee. No one gives a shit about it. The only thing that matters, the only thing that Lieberman wants, and the only thing we don’t want him to have — is the chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee.

If this is the “starting point”, and given the Senate Democrats’ history of capitulations, expect Lieberman to come out of that meeting as majority leader.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin and Hot Air