Senator Joe Lieberman said today that we should intervene in Syria using the same rationale we did for Libya. Because, you know, what’s the big deal about a fourth war?

On last night’s edition of OTB Radio, “Times Square Terror, Gulf Oil Spill, and British Elections,” Dave Schuler wondered what it is that the Department of Homeland Security is doing with its time.  After all, Faisal Shahzad fits the terrorist profile perfectly and yet they were apparently oblivious to him. Now, CBS reports, “would-be Times [...]

Responding to rumors that Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who’s getting crushed by Marco Rubio in the primary polling, will leave the Republican Party and run as an independent, Ezra Klein sees “a huge coup for Democrats.” The best possible storyline for them going into the 2010 election is that the Republican Party’s apparatus has been [...]

It should come as a surprise to no one familiar with how our government works that the Department of Homeland Security employs more contractors than civil servants.  Excepting, of course, Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins. The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress [...]

SEIU President Andy Stern calls Senators who don’t do his bidding “terrorists”: “There are a lot of terrorists in the Senate who think we are supposed to negotiate with them when they have their particular needs that they want met.” Stern also said today that union members would lose their enthusiasm to help re-elect Democrats [...]

National Journal‘s Ron Brownstein sees the recent bout of gridlock in the United States as a sign of a more fundamental shift in how our government operates. Obama’s first year demonstrated once again that in this deeply polarized political era, big legislative crusades aimed at big national problems produce only big political headaches. President George [...]

Former McCain campaign manager Scott Schmidt tells “60 Minutes” that Sarah Palin’s “Hey, can I call you Joe?” opener to the vice-presidential debate was not, as widely suspected, as attempt to throw the self-important senator off his game but rather a reaction to her having repeatedly calling him “O’Biden” in debate prep. This anecdote is [...]

Daphne Evitiar doesn’t seem to note anything unusual about this: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) sent a letter to President Obama today asking him to halt the transfer of six Guantanamo detainees to Yemen. The request, they say, is in light of the danger they’ve apparently just now realized [...]

Al Franken was presiding over a sleepy session of the Senate yesterday afternoon and took what AP calls “the unusual step” of denying unanimous consent to allow Joe Lieberman to finish his remarks. Franken was presiding over the Senate Thursday afternoon as Lieberman spoke about amendments he planned to offer to the bill. Lieberman asked [...]

In response to the growing refrains from the Left about Joe Lieberman “holding health care hostage,” Steven Taylor observes that, “Either the votes can be mustered or they can’t. It is the way of legislating.” Or of any close decision-making process, for that matter. Sandra Day O’Connor used to “hold the Constitution hostage.”   Now, Anthony [...]

ssMickey Kaus argues that the Democrats have a “secret weapon” that could get the health care bill passed: People in the know in Washington appear to have already considered and dismissed the “ping pong” option–the possibility that if the Senate finally passes a compromise health care bill, Pelosi’s House might simply vote “yes” on the [...]

Taegan Goddard passes along a new survey from  Public Policy Polling: Lindsey Graham has more crossover appeal than almost any other US Senator in the country. He’s also one of the least popular Senators within his own party. Such is the product of being a rare politician with any bipartisan instincts in these highly polarized [...]

President Obama is refusing to allow serving police, military, or intelligence officials to testify before the Senate investigation into the Fort Hood massacre. The first public congressional hearing on the Fort Hood attack will not include testimony from any current federal law enforcement, military or intelligence officials because the Obama administration “declined to provide any” [...]

Nidal Malik Hasan is a Muslim who killed 14 people. Does that make him a terrorist? Some think so. Sen. Joe Lieberman called the Fort Hood massacre an act of “Islamist extremism” – even as top Army brass warned Sunday against guessing at a motive, fearing backlash against Muslim soldiers. “There are very, very strong [...]

Ben Smith quotes lawyer A.B. Culvahouse explaining legal obstacles to Joe Lieberman’s having been John McCain’s running mate. “Five states have sore loser statutes … [making] it very difficult for someone who’s not a member of the Republican Party to become the vice presidential nominee if they only switch parties to become a Republican shortly [...]

In an op-ed in the Washington Post this morning, Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman make the case for pursuing a counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan: Loose rhetoric about a minimal commitment in Afghanistan is counterproductive for another reason: It exacerbates suspicions, already widespread in South Asia, that the United States will tire of this war [...]

Joe Lieberman is going to keep his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee after all but, in a stunning rebuke over years of constant disloyalty to the Democratic Party, he’s being stripped of his Environment and Public Works subcommittee. Ouch.  That’s gotta sting.

Glenn Greenwald, reacting to reports that Barack Obama has told Harry Reid that Joe Lieberman should not be stripped of his committee chairmanship and thus making it very difficult for him to do so, has written a long and passionate plea for a return to vigorous separation of powers with strong institutional jealousies. [W]hatever the [...]

Harry Reid, not unreasonably, is strongly considering stripping Joe Lieberman of his chairmanship after he campaigned vigorously for the Republican nominee for president. Reid, in a sternly worded statement after the 45-minute meeting, said no official decisions have been made. But an aide to the Nevada Democrat said Reid was leaning toward removing Lieberman as [...]

John McCain is getting some guff for his assertion on the Don Imus show that Sarah Palin is “the most qualified of anyone recently who has run for vice president to tell you the truth.”  And, no, not for the syntax but the point itself. Steve Benen is incredulous: Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman, Al Gore, [...]

I caught a bit of the Republican Convention last evening, including the Ronald Reagan tribute and as much of the Fred Thompson speech as I could take before shutting it off. I TiVo’d Joe Lieberman but it’s iffy as to whether I’ll get to it. Matt Yglesias points to a sound byte that I first [...]

BREAKING: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been tabbed as John McCain’s vice presidential running mate, CNBC reports. ________________________ Earlier this morning, all signs were pointing to Tim Pawlenty as John McCain’s running mate.  He even had issued the requisite “I’m not the guy” statement. His name has been on the short list all along and, [...]

All indications are that Barack Obama has made his choice for running mate and will announce it today. Through some combination of clever public manipulation to throw people off the scent and wishful thinking on the part of those with a stake in the outcome, the guesses as to who it’ll be are all over [...]

John McCain is taking advantage of Barack Obama’s “foreign vacation” in Hawaii and using the crisis in Georgia to showcase his foreign policy prowess. He’s dispatched his minions, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, to Georgia.  TPM’s Greg Sargent figures, The idea is to showcase himself as a man of action during a time of international [...]

The gang behind Newsweek‘s Ruckus blog is asking its contributors to answer the following question: “What would be the boldest vice presidential choice John McCain and Barack Obama could make?” If we leave aside the silly and absurd, for McCain, the answer seems obvious:  Joe Lieberman. This would double down on his foreign policy experience [...]

In the long months between now and the conventions, one recurring theme we’ll see in the press and the punditocracy is speculation of who Barack Obama and John McCain will chose as running mates. None of us have any idea, of course, other than that Dick Cheney is not on anybody’s list. But it’s still [...]

The Hill has a breaking news story headlined “Lieberman willing to star at Republican convention.” Gee, ya think? via Memeorandum

Barack Obama is a socialist. We were pretty sure this was the case after he made his remarks about how bitter people in small towns cling to religion. As Bill Kristol points out, this is very similar to Karl Marx’ line about religion being the opiate of the masses, if not as eloquent as the [...]

A John McCain-Condolezza Rice ticket would beat the Democratic “Dream Ticket” of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Clinton’s “home” state of New York, a Marist College poll shows. A McCain/Rice ticket would edge out both a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket for New York’s 31, usually true blue, electoral votes: 49% of registered voters in [...]

I have learned through Diana Hsieh that my Senator, Sam Brownback, apparently has nothing better to do with his time than get together with his buddy Joe Lieberman to introduce a Senate Resolution recognizing “Ten Commandments Weekend”. The resolution states, after several out-of-context quotes, erroneous interpretations, and unfounded historical analysis, that: Whereas the first weekends [...]

“Independent Democrat” Joe Lieberman says he hasn’t left the Democratic Party — they’ve left him. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Lieberman, Independent of Connecticut, said it is not the same party that made him its vice presidential candidate in 2000. “It’s not the Bill Clinton-Al Gore party, which was strong internationalists, strong on defense, pro-trade, [...]

Hillary Clinton won the Ohio and Texas primaries, revitalizing her campaign and ensuring that the race will continue, probably to the Democratic convention. It’s not clear as of this writing (6:01 Eastern) how many delegates she’s won and her path to a majority of delegates remains unclear. What It Means: The Spin Game The candidates’ [...]

John Hawkins lists 24 candidates that John McCain might conceivably pick as his running mate with synopses as to the pros and cons of each. I’m rather sure the eventual choice is on that list, as there’s nobody that I’ve heard of who isn’t. Indeed, there are several people I haven’t heard of on it. [...]

The Democratic Party has stripped Joe Lieberman of the Super Delegate vote to which his Senate seat would otherwise entitle him because of his endorsement of Republican John McCain for president, Mark Pazniokas reports. Lieberman’s endorsement of Republican John McCain disqualifies him as a super-delegate to the Democratic National Convention under what is informally known [...]

The victories of John McCain and Hillary Clinton in Florida last night presage what will happen in next week’s Super Duper Tuesday contests and have significantly reshaped the race. Polls and Predictions Compared to Final Results The polls finally got one right, correctly predicting the winners and the order of finish of all challengers with [...]

Joe Lieberman says he won’t run as John McCain’s vice president. Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who nearly won the vice presidency as a Democrat in 2000, says there’s no way he’ll be Republican Sen. John McCain’s running mate should McCain become the party’s presidential nominee. “No, I’d tell him, ‘Thanks, John, I’ve been there, [...]

Dean Barnett argues that John McCain is “a Scoop Jackson Democrat living under the Republican ‘big tent’” who “has an uncanny ability to drive virtually all conservatives nuts.” Let’s take the second part first, since that’s the thrust of the article: Sometimes, like when he voted against the Bush tax cuts, it almost seemed like [...]

Joe Lieberman, every Republican’s favorite Democrat (er, “Independent”), will endorse John McCain, every Democrat’s favorite Republican, for president tomorrow. Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin for The Politico: Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), who was on the national Democratic ticket in 2000, will cross the aisle to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) tomorrow, Republican sources said. The [...]

Bill Kristol is so enamored of Joe Lieberman’s speeches on fighting the Islamist threat that he’s proposing a wild idea: What the heck–offer him the vice presidency. (Rudy, you might try State or Defense, since you’ll need a pro-life running mate.) But McCain-Lieberman, Thompson-Lieberman, Romney-Lieberman, Huckabee-Lieberman–those sound like winning tickets to us. It’s true, given [...]

Michael Mukasey was confirmed as Attorney General in a late-night vote despite the vehement opposition of key Democrats over his refusal to state unequivocally that waterboarding is a form of torture. Six Democrats plus Joe Lieberman joined all 46 Republicans in the vote. Notably absent were each and every one of the Democratic senators running [...]

The Senate has narrowly failed to pass habeas corpus protection for terrorist suspects: The Senate narrowly rejected legislation on Wednesday that would have given military detainees the right to protest their detention in federal court. The 56-43 vote against the bill, by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., fell four votes shy of [...]

Ron Gunzburger reports on an effort to federalize the presidential primaries starting with the 2012 cycle: Three US Senators are out with an innovative plan to change the Presidential primary process in future years. The bipartisan trio want to end the frontloaded primary calendar. US Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Lamar Alexander [...]

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 [...]

Joe Lieberman continues to tweak Democrats at every opportunity. U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent who supports Democrats in Congress despite his backing of the Iraq war, said on Thursday he was not ruling out endorsing a Republican in the White House race. The 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate said he also wants to see [...]

Senator Lieberman likes the use of close circuit television cameras (cctv) just like in England. He thinks that it would be a wise move from a security stand point. “The Brits have got something smart going in England, and it was part of why I believe they were able to so quickly apprehend suspects in [...]

On his show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh recounted having run into Bill Clinton at a steak restaurant, shaking his hand, saying “Mr. President, it’s a pleasure to meet you” and engaging in some brief small talk. Apparently, this provoked some angry responses from listeners: I’m already getting e-mails, “You’re falling in with the enemy. I knew [...]

Michael Illions, Lorie Byrd, and Matt Margolis all wonder if today’s vote by the Senate to tie funding of the war to a departure timeline will be the push Joe Lieberman needs to bolt the Democratic caucus and, in effect, fire Harry Reid. I rather doubt it. In addition to my oft-expressed view that a [...]

Political Insider‘s Alec Oveis: Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D/I-CT) told CongressDaily that he will support Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-ME) re-election bid in 2008, “even though Democrats have already targeted her seat to try to keep control of the Senate.” “Lieberman also reserved the option of endorsing a Republican for president in 2008 and repeated statements that [...]

The Politico‘s Jonathan Martin assesses the presidential chances of Senator Chuck Hagel, who is expected to announce his candidacy today. Essentially, the question is whether a guy with a “lifetime American Conservative Union rating north of 85″ but who has little money in the bank and is his party’s most vociferous critic of its president [...]

One Senate committee just got a little less partisan: Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Susan Collins of Maine are mixing it up at the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. For future hearings, Democrats and Republicans won’t sit on opposite sides of the dais but rather, next to each other — alternating Democrat, Republican, [...]