Lieberman's probable course of action...

By Fester:

The Senate Democrats are irrationally afraid of dirty fucking hippies being fucking right so they enable Lieberman's behavior despite the clear precedence of stripping caucus members of their seniority and privileges when they endorse another party's presidential nominee.  What can we expect from Lieberman?
Steve Benen at Washington Monthly writes:

Lieberman knows Senate Democrats better than Democratic voters do. My friend Matt told me via email yesterday, "If Lieberman ends up keeping his gavel on Homeland Security, I think we need to stop for a moment and recognize him as the smartest politician in Washington. He will have correctly made a bet about the fortitude of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate and he will have been right, against all apparent odds."
This is a decision, I suspect, that the caucus will regret in the not-too-distant future. It's predicated on the assumption that Lieberman really is a Democrat at heart.

Lieberman is fundamentally untouchable now. 

His position has been confirmed by his purported allies who think that Lieberman basically agrees with them on most issues, but that they have some control on the committee chair if Lieberman goes rogue.

They don't. 

If Lieberman starts shooting watermelons in his backyard to 'prove' that Obama is Bill Ayers and Ophrah Winfrey's love child, any attempt to impose party discipline will be seen as 'retribution' to a truth telling patriot.  Lieberman can expect to fight a three way Senate race in 2012 against a progressive Democrat and a token Republican unless the 2010 midterms are absolutely disastrous for Democrat. 

So what should we expect to see from Senator Lieberman?

He will attempt to bear hug Senator McCain's primary political asset --- the ability to create in his own persona the only 'reasonable' and 'bi-partisan' contract zone that he can dominate.  He will seek to become the leader of any Gang of "X" where X is a small number of Republicans who are not crazy and conservative Red state Democrats.  He will seek to become the political-media complexes' reasonableness threshold.  'If he agrees, it is okay; if he disagrees, it is too radical...'

I think this will work initially well for Lieberman as he will be enabled by the GOP as he is their best wedge into the Democratic caucus (I wonder how much information he'll leak to McConnell on legislative strategy) and he has national press covering fire.  And besides, he pisses the right people off, including the dirty fucking hippies who have gotten oh so worked up about Iraq, --- didn't you hear, Instapundit declared that we won there, more rubble means less trouble... --- civil liberties, not drowning New Orleans and basic oversight.  Fucking plebes.... 

Comments

[Fledermaus]

He will seek to become the political-media complexes' reasonableness threshold. 'If he agrees, it is okay; if he disagrees, it is too radical...

I think that's exactly how it's going to play out. Part of me hopes that Lieberman is a complete pain in the ass to the dem and Obama agenda and use his committee to have showy hearings about the grave threat from Iran that Obama is ignoring, we had Iraq won until BHO ruined The Surge - it would serve them right.