November 17, 2008
Dear Senator _____________:
When voting on Joe Lieberman's fate tomorrow, please ask yourself: "Has he truly been an effective chairman? Do his now stated values and priorities mesh with those of the Party and the incoming administration?" I personally believe the answer to all those questions is a resounding no. Forget retribution, Lieberman should be stripped of his gavel on the merits. It is absurd to accept that Democrats must continue to give the chairmanship of an important committee to someone who worked tirelessly to defeat them and their policies in a national election. It certainly doesn't help his cause that he dishonored himself by using innuendo and smears, but the over-arching point is, he thinks the Party is wrong - even "dangerous" - and clearly has a belief system more in synch with the opposition. If he wants to bolt the caucus, let him. He's only staying for the chairmanship anyway; he obviously doesn't care about the good of the Party and he certainly doesn't share our vision of the country going forward; he made that abundantly clear on the stump for McCain, where he fought that vision every step of the way.
Please don't be fooled into letting Lieberman stay on in some symbolic gesture of good faith or healing. Yes, the Senate is a collegial body, but putting an important committee in the hands of someone so utterly myopic, petty and, above all, wrong, is not doing the American people any favors, however magnanimous it may seem on the surface. If this election has shown anything, it's that the American people are craving competence, forward-thinking change and, at long last, a sensible, sober, diplomatic foreign policy agenda. Joe Lieberman represents none of these things.
He proved to the good people of Connecticut that they were foolish to re-elect him as an independent who would keep Bush honest; let's not let him make fools out of the Democratic caucus as well.
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