"Nobody's Showing Up To Joe Lieberman's TEA Party"

[Clio the Leo]

Nobody's Showing Up To Joe Lieberman's TEA Party
Brian Beutler | May 7, 2010, 12:38PM

It's probably a safe bet that if House Republican Leader John Boehner backs away from a conservative, terrorism-related bill called "TEA," the legislation both goes too far, and isn't going anywhere.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) captured big headlines, and interesting supporters, when he proposed the Terrorist Expatriation Act, which would amend current law to allow the State Department to revoke the citizenship of Americans they deem to be members of foreign terrorist organizations. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) joined his push. So did House Democrat Jason Altmire, who hails from a competitive district in Pennsylvania.

But that's about all she wrote.

Almost everybody else of consequence--including the conservative Boehner--has, at least, questioned the viability of the proposal, and, at most, blasted it as unconstitutional, and reminiscent of some of the uglier moments in U.S. history.

New York's Chuck Schumer was the first to come out against it. The third-ranking Democrat in the Senate "believes it would be found unconstitutional in this context and would also be ineffective." According to a statement his spokesman issued after it was inaccurately reported that Schumer would back Lieberman, Schumer believes "here are much better ways of obtaining information from terrorists."

"I have not heard anybody inside the administration that's been supportive of that idea," said White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs at his press conference yesterday.

And for perhaps the first time this Congress, the top Democrat and the top Republican in the House agreed: "TEA" is for neither party.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/nobodys-showing-up-to-joe-liebermans-tea-party.php