Somebody Write Joe Lieberman A Reality Check

No wonder he's taken to running with Republicons - he lives in their same little paranoid fantasy world wherein his delusions of grandeur can run wild:

Lots of people have already chewed over this article in the Hartford Courant, which reports that Chris Dodd is, disappointingly, suggesting that Barack Obama doesn't want a fight over Joe Lieberman's fate.

But I wanted to draw your attention to this little nugget buried in the article, in which the Lieberman camp makes a rather startling argument in favor of his being allowed to hang on to his Homeland Security committee slot:

"Sen. Lieberman prefers to remain in the Democratic caucus," the aide said. "However, he believes he should remain as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. ... He thinks that political retribution should not go ahead of homeland security."

Can the Lieberman camp really be arguing that stripping Lieberman of his committee slot is tantamount to putting politics ahead of our safety, because we're so defenseless without him there to protect us?

I'm trying. I'm really trying to imagine Holy Joe as the great defender of America, and it's just not happening. I keep dissolving into helpless laughter.

Apparently, Harry Reid is having no such difficulty. He's all misty-eyed over Joey's progressive creds:

"Joe Lieberman is not some right-wing nutcase," he said. "Joe Lieberman is one of the most progressive people ever to come from the state of Connecticut."

Progressive Democrats didn't support John McCain for President.

Progressive Democrats didn't undermine our party's nominee by agreeing that it was a good question to ask whether he was a socialist.

Progressive Democrats didn't campaign for downticket Republicans -- Joe Lieberman wrote an op-ed for Norm Coleman! He raised money for Susan Collins! Joe Lieberman took affirmative steps to increase the size of the Republican Senate caucus.

[snip]

From where Harry Reid sits, as an anti-choice Democrat, every single member of the Democratic caucus looks like a progressive. That doesn't make Joe Lieberman a progressive. It doesn't make him a Democrat, either.

No, he's an Independent. And I do believe it's time to give him his independence.