| In Februrary, Time magazine reported that discussion of Iraq had been banned in Senate Democratic caucus meetings so that Joe would feel comfortable attending them once again. Now it's become clear that, at the same time Reid is doing everything in his power to placate Joe so he will attend Democratic meetings, he's one of the key strategists in Republican meetings to figure out how to obstruct the will of the American people on Iraq:
During the abortive debate on the defense authorization bill, [Lieberman] 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.
Before the Democrats realized they could not break a GOP filibuster and set aside their anti-war crusade last week, the meetings were the main forum for developing the GOP counterpunching strategy. For example, the group — which typically included GOP leaders such as Minority Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi and prominent supporters of the war such as John McCain of Arizona — decided to highlight a Lieberman amendment that would have required the administration to report on Iranian support for attacks against coalition forces in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Reid's spokesman says it's up to Lieberman's constituents - and not his boss - to put pressure on him:
Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, said the majority leader wasn’t aware that Lieberman had been at GOP strategy sessions, but he noted that “it’s up to Sen. Lieberman to decide what he thinks is best based on what he’s hearing from his constituents at home.”
Harry Reid is being played, yet again. As if Connecticut Democrats have not already made it abundantly clear how they feel about their Senator - who in turn has made it just as clear that, with more than five years to go until the next election and the GOP in his back pocket, he's going to do everything he can to spitefully thwart their the entire country's will.
Perhaps it's now up to Sen. Reid to decide what he thinks is best for the Democratic party based on what he's hearing from Democrats across the country, and kick Joe to the curb. |
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