Stop Me Before I Vote Again

Enter, Pariah: Now It's Hugs for Lieberman
By MARK LEIBOVICH

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - Senator Joseph I. Lieberman strode into a Democratic caucus gathering like he owned the place or, at the very least, like someone who is a flight risk and could leave at any minute, taking the Democrats' new majority with him.

In other words, everyone was extra-special nice to the wayward Democrat on Tuesday.

"It was all very warm, lots of hugs, high-fives, that kind of stuff," said Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado.... And Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas noted, "I gave him a hug and a kiss."

Mr. Lieberman received a standing ovation at a caucus luncheon after Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who is poised to become the majority leader, declared, "We're all family." ... "It's clear that the Democrats need him at this point more than he needs them," said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, whom Mr. Lieberman genuinely does consider a close friend. "How sweet is this?"

Indeed, it is hard to imagine how Mr. Lieberman could have emerged better from last week's election. He was re-elected comfortably, and the Democratic Party he still belongs to is now in the majority, assuring him the chairmanship of the powerful Homeland Security Committee.

Yet that majority is slim enough, 51 to 49, to turn Mr. Lieberman into arguably the Senate's most influential member. If he defects, the Senate would effectively be under Republican control because Vice President Dick Cheney would cast tie-breaking votes.

....In recent months, Mr. Lieberman has frequently invoked the Harry Truman maxim that if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

If you can bear to contemplate the spectacle, though, it's an instructive one. The ascendancy of the aisle-crosser is not a new thing. Indeed, it's perennial and systematic, and it's the reason why the progs in the Democratic party are mere ornamental appendages, guaranteed to remain powerless in saecula saeculorum. For example, as happy pwog Nathan Newman observed, undermining his own case in a post quoted here a few days ago, "In 1981, Ronald Reagan was able to control the agenda in Congress because 67 Boll Weevil Democrats essentially caucused with the GOP." Examples could be multiplied, but you see the way the scam works; the pwogs watch helplessly as the aisle-crossers keep the ship of state listing to starboard.

Lieberman may be crazy, but he's not stupid, and True Believer pwog dems would do well to heed his wise advice about the dog.