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United States Senate Update

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There are still two undecided Senate seats from election 2008: Georgia and Minnesota. There was a run-off today in Georgia between Saxby Chambliss, the incumbent Republican and Jim Martin, the challenging Democrat. In the general election, Libertarian Allen Buckley kept either candidate from getting 50%. In Georgia, that means a run-off vote between the top two vote getters. Turnout is unpredictable in run off elections, so it’s hard telling who will win; though Chambliss has to be regarded as the favorite.

Meanwhile, a recount in Minnesota between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Al Franken, the challenging Democrat has the gap between the two down to 13 votes by some estimates.

If the Democrats were to pull off both of those upsets — not especially likely — the Republicans would have only 40 votes, not enough to mount a filibuster. Of course, Joe Lieberman is one of the remaining 60 votes, so he could probably be counted upon to stab the Democrats in the back at opportune times, knowing that a Sternly Worded Letter ™ from Harry Reed is about the worst he could expect to suffer in response.

Breaking: Senate Democrats Spineless

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After he stumped for McCain and a couple of Republican Senators, the Senate Democrats decided to do approximately nothing to Joe Lieberman. He was actively campaigning for McCain while the McCain campaign was accusing Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” This raises the question of what, exactly, a Democratic Senator would have to do to actually cross the line. Would taking a dump on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s lunch in the Senate cafeteria provoke him to action? Or would it just earn you a sternly worded letter.

The vote was 42-13. I suspect Evan Bayh was among the 42 even though:

Bayh said that Lieberman must first issue a “sincere apology” for campaign attacks warning of the perils of an Obama presidency and a large Democratic majority in Congress. He said Democrats should allow him to keep his chairmanship on the condition that he would not use his subpoena power and influence as chairman to undermine Obama’s presidency. Otherwise, Democrats would take away his gavel at any point next Congress, Bayh warned.

To my knowledge, Lieberman has offered no such “sincere apology.”

Senate aides said Mr. Lieberman did not apologize for his actions, but told his Democratic colleagues that some of his comments on the campaign trail had been misinterpreted. The vote on a resolution letting him keep the homeland security post, while expressing disapproval of his comments on Mr. Obama, was 42 to 13, with newly elected Democratic senators as well as incumbents taking part.

Lieberman did not apologize for supporting McCain, but did seek to clear up comments he has made that were interpreted as critical of Obama or Senate Democrats. “He did not apologize—and he was not asked to apologize—for supporting Sen. McCain,” said Nelson. “That’s over. The election is over. It’s a new era,” the Nebraska senator said.

Lieberman also did not apologize for supporting Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota in his race against Democrat Al Franken, the aide said, noting that Coleman supported Lieberman in his last, and toughest, re-election bid.

So, how did Sen. Bayh vote in the absence of the required sincere apology?

Republican Moderate = Pro Choice

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The Associated Press has an article by Nedra Pickler entitled “Moderates slated to speak to GOP.” These supposed champions of moderation are Joe Lieberman and Rudy Giuliani.

Reading the article, you find that the sole criterion for being a “moderate” is not opposing laws prohibiting a woman’s ability to have an abortion. To me, that’s a little bit crazy. I respect the fact that abortion can be a life or death decision for some women, but to me, the issue is a bit of a backwater in terms of the effect on my day-to-day life. Not to say it’s unimportant, but being pro-choice doesn’t convert an otherwise right-winger into a “moderate.” If, for example, you were pro-choice, but also anti-labor, pro-war in Iraq, and indifferent to civil liberties; I don’t think you’d properly be located in the “middle” of the spectrum.

A lot of this points to deficiencies in talking about politics in terms of “left” and “right.” But, even with the limitations of that convention, there is a certain amount of laziness reflected in applying the term “moderate” to Rudy Giuliani and Joe Lieberman simply by virtue of their stance on reproductive rights.

Joe Lieberman is a fool

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Joe Lieberman is a fool. Hunter tells us why. In part:

If you don’t support indefinite action in Iraq, if you don’t support the most aggressive of uberhawkish positions in the Middle East, Joe Lieberman will declare you an appeaser, pure and simple. It does not matter what other foreign policy positions you may hold: whether you support action in Afghanistan, or wish to see a non-nuclear North Korea, or what your opinions may be about Sudan or Myanmar or Tibet or Russia or Pakistan or the dozens of other crisis points around the world; for Lieberman, Iraq is all. Support Iraq, or you are not “serious.” Support Iraq, or you are an “appeaser.”

Her is a man unbalanced by the rage that can only come from a steady stream of human failures. Foreign policy is a simple land, for Joe Lieberman; it steadfastly consists of doing the most aggressive thing at the most aggressive time, and all other options are weak to the point of very nearly being anti-American. And yet as Iraq has shown, such actions can be not just unwise, but catastrophically destructive. For Joe Lieberman, asserting his opponents to be complacent or unpatriotic or appeasers is the only possible rhetorical option remaining, and he lacks the wisdom to leave it unused.