Lieberman Attends GOP Strategy Sessions

Joe Lieberman took an active part in Senate Republican strategy sessions last week and helped craft some of the tactics used in defeating the Democrats’ Iraq withdrawal bill, CQ’s David Nather reports.

Lieberman has taken his alliance with GOP leaders up a notch. During the abortive debate on the defense authorization bill, he attended daily tactical sessions to help them plan their strategy for combatting anti-war amendments and their rhetorical points for use against the Democrats. And in a fitting symbolic twist, some of those meetings convened just down the hall from the office of Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who essentially owes his 51-seat majority to Lieberman’s continued caucusing with the Democrats.

Given that the primary reason Lieberman is no longer a Democrat is his contrary position on the war, this isn’t incredibly shocking. Still, he’s ostensibly an “Independent Democrat” and part of his former party’s coalition. We’ll see whether this is a one-off on Lieberman’s main issue or part of a full-on shift toward the GOP.

FILED UNDER: Uncategorized, , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Andy says:

    Lieberman knows he’ll be marginalized if he moves to the right on anything else, given that it is likely that the Dems will gain a few more senate seats next election cycle.

  2. SavageView says:

    After the next election, it won’t matter what Lieberman calls himself. Hopefully, Reid will show him the door on the his committee chairmanship, which has amounted to little more than avoiding investigations into the federal handling of Katrina.