Bernie Sanders Joins Leahy In Demanding Ouster Of Lieberman From Chairmanship

[kpete]

Source: TPM Election Central

Bernie Sanders Joins Leahy In Demanding Ouster Of Lieberman From Chairmanship
By Greg Sargent and Eric Kleefeld - November 14, 2008, 5:15PM

Okay, we now have a second Senator who's stepped up and joined Senator Patrick Leahy in calling on Democrats to boot Joe Lieberman from his plum slot atop the Homeland Security committee.

Bernie Sanders, also of Vermont, sent us a hard-hitting statement demanding that Lieberman get the push -- and strikingly, he said that if Dems didn't remove him, it would be an insult to Barack Obama's supporters and a betrayal of the change mandate voters delivered to the President-elect.

"To reward Senator Lieberman with a major committee chairmanship would be a slap in the face of millions of Americans who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama and who want to see real change in our country," Sanders in the statement sent our way by his office.

"Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not 'change we can believe in,'" Sanders continued. "I very much hope that Senator Lieberman stays in the Democratic caucus and is successful in regaining the confidence of those whom he has disappointed. This is not a time, however, in which he should be rewarded with a major committee chairmanship."

Read more: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11...

[Maat]

1. Thanks, Sen. Bernie!

You, Sir, have a spine!

[sentelle]

2. I thought Sanders

Was a Socialist cacusing with the Democrats, and not a Democrat himself.

[KamaAina]

3. Correct.

In fact, that's the only thing Sanders and Traitor Joe have in common: neither is a Democrat.

[rch35]

5. Thats true, but the vote is held by the Democratic caucus, including Sanders nt

[UpInArms]

9. I love Bernie Sanders - here's some background for you

Exchange between U.S. Representative Bernie Sanders (I-VT)and Alan Greenspan

House Banking and Financial Institutions Committee Hearing on the Semiannual Report of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Witness: Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve

February 24, 1999

Sanders opening statement at the hearing:

REP. SANDERS: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. John, thank you very much. I would just like to say this . . . . there is no argument that in recent years the economy in fact has been very good. But we should not overdo it in terms of what's going on for the average working person in this country. The good news is that for the last couple of years, for the first time in decades, we have seen wages go up for lower-income workers and middle- income workers -- for the first time.

But the fact is that the median family in 1996 was $1,000 less than in 1989. The inflation-adjusted earnings of the median worker in 1997 were 3.1 percent lower than in 1989. And over the period from '89 to '97, real hourly wages either stagnated or fell for most of the bottom 60 percent of the working population.

So while we can say that in the last few years, for the average worker, things have been getting better, the reality is that most workers in America today are working longer hours and lower wages than was the case 10 or 20 years ago. And if we say this is as good as it's going to be, that's a pretty pessimistic outlook.

More importantly, and this is a point that I want to stress, because it is not talked about too much, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the typical married couple family worked 247 more hours per year in 1996 than in 1989. That's more than six weeks worth of additional work. That means all over this country, and I'm sure it's in your district as well as in mine, you're seeing people working two jobs, working three jobs. In the beginning of the century, workers fought. They said, "We want a 40-hour work week. That's what we want." A hundred years later, workers are working 45, 50, 60 hours a week. Wives are working alongside of husbands because we need two bread-winners in a family to pay the bills.

eah, I have seen improvement in the last couple of years. We should be proud of that. We should continue that effort. But if you look at what's going on for the average American worker today, in many respects, he or she is not where they were 20 years ago. We still have 43 million people without any health insurance. People can't afford the cost of college education. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world; the greatest gap between the rich and the poor.

So if we sit here and we say, "Gee, we are living in Utopia. It's not going to get any better than this," boy, I think that would be a very sad and unfortunate statement. And that would be my point, Mr. Chairman.

...more...

[City Lights]

4. Thank you for speaking up, Sen. Sanders!

Keep 'em coming!

[denverbill]

6. Bingo Bernie. Couldn't have said it better myself. And I hope Joe DOES stay in the caucas.

But actions have consequences.

He voted with Bush and against his constituents wishes on the war.
He then lost his primary election, and rather than bow gracefully to the will of his party members, betrayed them and ran against their chosen candidate.
Finally he not only crossed party lines to support McCain, he spoke at their convention and repeatedly denigrated Obama's qualifications.

I agree with Reid that he's mostly a progressive, but it blows to let him get away with this shit over and over and over.

[acmavm]

15. I don't give a rat's ass if he stays or goes. I just want the party to be out

of that blackmailing asshole's clutches.

The repubics didn't need a 60-senator majority to fuck with everything the past two years. They've gotten every damn thing they've wanted, and more. So let Joe go. If they can do it as a minority, someone needs to figure out how its done on our side.

[hay rick]

7. Of course

Why would any Democratic Senator NOT want to see him removed from his chairmanship?

[David Zephyr]

8. That's two. And we need more to get rid of this mother fucker once and for all.

He is a fucking traitor to our party.

He is a fucking warmongering shithead who spread Bush's lies about Iraq and WMD.

Get him out of my party.

He is not even a Democrat.

Oust him!

[bvar22]

10. bvar22 joins Leahy and Sanders in demanding Lieberman's ouster.

Gotta love Bernie.
One of the few REAL Democrats left in the Senate.
Too bad the Party left him in its lurch to the Right over the last 30 years.



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[Demeter]

11. Senate May Have to Remove Harry the Jellyfish First

which would be a good thing in and of itself!

[democracy1st]

12. K & R feel the pressure

[SpiralHawk]

13. Gigadittoes. Toss Lieberman to the republicons

That's the corrupt, amoral, dishonorable stinkhole he belongs in.

[fascisthunter]

14. How Many Here Think Lieberman will Still Get His Chairmanship?

[sabrina 1]

20. I hate to say it, but I think he will!

Remember how he was welcomed back to the Senate, (a standing ovation) by Dems after he refused to recognize the decision in the primaries and changed parties rather than concede to the will of democrats who had decided he no longer represented them.

I'm seriously beginning to think that it doesn't matter what the people want, Dems don't care what their supporters want, they are an elitist club to which we do not belong. And they wanted Lieberman as he is part of that club, so yes, I think, even if their latest excuse (we need a filibuster-proof majority) no longer applies, they want him, and what we want simply doesn't matter.

[fascisthunter]

24. I've Already Realized This a Long Time ago

I should have placed a "rolling-eye" emoticon in my post, because I do believe they will keep him. So far the only change I see coming is Bush leaving office, but then again, that was my number one goal. I felt there was no choice for me as a liberal/progressive and even started to believe some of the rhetoric I heard on the campaign, but alas, the DLCers once again politically muscle their ways into power to act as a shackle around Obama's legs.

He's intelligent and knows what he is doing I'm sure, so he isn't blameless here. The powers to be once again from high on top of Mount (I'm Rich-You-Aren't) have spoken.

I had hope for the Democratic Party that this administration would be Progressive, but I am once again seeing the same power brokers who have failed miserably in the last eight years to prevent Bush from running rough-shod over our civil liberties, now take seats at Obama's table. There is an Elite in the Democratic Party and they do not represent We the People. Oh, progressives and liberals are despised by the DLC. I swear they like Republicans more than they do people like me. Talk about backstabbing.

I hope I am wrong but I have been right on one too many issues for the last eight years. I may not have a great grasp on each subject or details pertaining to particular issues, but I know when I see a con, and I know when people are being fooled. It's a gift and a curse all at once... nobody really likes those of us who say it the way it is.

So now it's up to us... but then again, it always was up to "We the People", irregardless of what party is in power.

[Eryemil]

25. I will be pleasantly shocked if he does not.

[nashville_brook]

16. BFK -- big fuggin' kick

[aquart]

17. More! More! More!

[Dinger]

18. Question:

If fido (lieberman) keeps his chairmanship, can he switch parties (to an outright puke) after the fact? I don't know the answer, but if he can, something tells me that wouldn't be a good thing.

[cali]

21. yes, he can, but then he automatically loses the chairmanship as

he becomes part of the minority. He's not guaranteed to be ranking member either.

[Lucky 13]

19. Those are my guys!!

Vermont's delegation rules.

[Vidar]

22. Sanders is showing us why Vermont is the "Don't Tread on Me" state, & my hat's off to him.

[goforit]

23. AMEN Leahy/Sanders!!!...Just get the job DONE!!!!

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

26. Reform the whole leadership

Lieberman is a footnote. The entire Congressional leadership needs to be reformed. Has everyone forgotten the CHANGE mantra?

[SOS]

27. The vote is on Tuesday November 18th

Go to Las Vegas. Bet your life savings on black 20 at the roulette wheel.
Green zero comes up. You lose. The casino doesn't care about your life savings.
You bet. You lost.

Let's hope the Democrats in the Senate end his career, once and for all.
The day he questioned Obama's patriotism is the day he bet all of his chips on McCain.
He lost.
The end.