Pidyon Shvuyim

A guest post by Let Joe Stay

[DB: FWIW, I disagree with SOME of this as much as I disagree with what Bray posts.]

Early next week, when the Senate Democratic caucus convenes, there will be a secret ballot vote to decide not only if Senator Lieberman can retain his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, but whether he can continue to caucus with the party at all.

His Senate colleagues have stated that their anger at Lieberman is not fueled by his apparently sincere and heartfelt endorsement of his friend, John McCain, but because many Democrats saw his speech at the Republican National Convention as a denunciation of their nominee, an inexcusable act. Now, what exactly did Sen. Lieberman say about Senator Obama during that speech? Did he mention Wright or Ayers or Rezko? No. Did he call or imply that Obama is a socialist bent on redistributing our hard earned money as Hannity, Limbaugh and Palin did on an hourly basis? Of course not. No, Lieberman it seems sunk even lower. Indeed, Lieberman stared into the television cameras that evening and stated:

“Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But eloquence is no substitute for a record -- not in these tough times.”

Ohhh smack! No he didn’t!! Did Joe have the nerve, the gall, the outright chutzpah to actually criticize Sen. Obama’s record? Damn! Oh, wait a second, both Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton had criticized Sen. Obama on the very same issue. So, what’s going on here?

The Democratic Senators have been put under constant pressure from a small, yet loud, fringe segment of the Democratic Party. All one needs to do is take a quick glance at the blogosphere to see that the contempt for Lieberman has little to do with his support of McCain and more to do with his support of the Iraq war. Kicking Lieberman out of the party is a way to avenge the loss of Ned Lemont, who Moveon.org and the Daily Kos heavily pulled for. And, while everyone is entitled to their opinion, a brief search of the recent comments on many of the blogs reveals outright anti-Semitism being hurled his way. No matter what your political view, claiming Lieberman is an agent of AIPAC or Israel is unacceptable. And we don’t have to stand for it.

Keeping Joe Lieberman in the Democratic caucus is beneficial to both the Democrats and the Republicans. He will continue backing the progressive Democrat agenda (with the exception of Iraq) while being someone the Republican minority can turn to in order to voice their opinion and ideas. He would serve as the joint holding the two parties together and that it something that benefits everyone.