Senate Dems wimp out

From WashingtonPost.com -

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) easily won a vote to remain chairman of a key committee today and will stay in the Democratic caucus despite his high-profile criticism of President-elect Barack Obama and his support of Sen. John McCain during the presidential campaign.

So, let's see what the Democratic caucus welcomed back -

A man who lost a Democratic Party primary in 2006, dropped out of the Democratic Party to run as an independent, but won reelection that year with overwhelming support from Connecticut's Republicans;

A man who spent the last two years officially caucusing with the Democrats in the Senate but actually spent much of his time supporting Republican positions, especially on the war in Iraq;

A man who endorsed and campaigned for Republican John McCain, even journeying to the Republican convention to speak on McCain's behalf.

So, Lieberman must've pledged his undying loyalty or something like that, right?

From the article (emphasis mine) -

Asked whether Lieberman had pledged to show party loyalty going forward, [Ben] Nelson [D-Nebraska] said, "In effect he did, yes."

For those of you who don't understand "politico speech", let me translate.

"In effect he did" means "No, not even close."

Bottom line: if the Senate Dems want to give a committee chair to a non-Democrat, Bernie Sanders of Vermont would be a much better option. While he is officially an independent, he's a much better Democrat that most of the rest of the Dem caucus.