More Profiles in Pusallanimity

From Newsmax Insider:

Democrats angry about Senator Joe Lieberman’s support for Republican John McCain are likely to strip him of his committee leadership if they gain several seats in the November election.

Delegates from Lieberman’s home state Connecticut demanded during the Democratic Convention that party leaders punish Lieberman, who plans to speak at the upcoming GOP convention and was even said to be on McCain’s “short list” of potential running mates.

“He’s a traitor to his party,” declared Jennifer Just, a delegate from Woodbridge, Conn.

Lieberman successfully ran as an Independent in 2006 after losing the Democratic primary, but he still sits in on Democratic caucus meetings.

Democrats have been reluctant to punish Lieberman for several reasons, The Hill newspaper reports.

For one thing, he has reportedly given more than $200,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to help Democratic Senate candidates win election this fall.

More significantly, if he caucused with the Republicans instead of the Democrats there would be a 50-50 split in the Senate and Vice President Dick Cheney would tip the balance of power to the GOP through his tie-breaking votes, The Hill noted.

Plus, Lieberman heads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and sits on the powerful Armed Services Committee because of his association with the Democratic Conference.

However, the Congressional Quarterly predicts that Democrats could pick up five or six seats in November, and if that is the case, the party won’t need Lieberman’s vote to hold a majority.

“I can’t wait until we expand our majority in the Senate so he can be stripped of his committee,” said delegate Just.

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that Democrats “won’t need him to make the majority. And it will be interesting to see what the leadership in the Senate, the Democratic leadership in the Senate, does at that point in terms of Joe Lieberman’s chairmanship of his committee.”

Lieberman’s fellow Connecticut senator, Chris Dodd, said that while Lieberman agrees with McCain’s policy on the Iraq war, he otherwise agrees with Democrats on “95%” of issues.

Ah, such heroic devotion to principle is downright inspiring, isn't it?  The party that vomited poor ol' Joe out of its foul mouth two years ago over that 5% where their views and his do not overlap (i.e. Iraq) is a paragon of ideological purity - just so long as they can still collect his campaign fund largesse and need his caucus vote to keep Dirty Harry Reid's pathetic, disgusting, scrawny ass in charge of the Senate.

But then again, Lieberman has continued to caucus with those seditious scoundrels despite the way his party treated him.  Makes me wonder if, despite this clear advance warning, he'll continue to do so right up until they open the trap door beneath his fallen arches.

If I thought he had it in him, I'd be giddily anticipating Liebs using his speaking gig at the GOP convention this week to announce his formal switch of parties NOW, thus sticking it to Senator Pencil Neck and fiends for the last four months of this congress.  What better occasion or setting to do so?

Yes, I know, if he was gonna, he already woulda a long time ago.  But a downtrodden 'Pubbie can dream, can't he?