Sen. Joe Lieberman finds himself a man without a political home.
Democrats, their Senate majority bolstered, want to punish him for his apostasy in not only endorsing Republican John McCain but also addressing last summer’s GOP convention – where he openly criticized Barack Obama.
That was especially embarrassing for the Democrats, given that Lieberman was their vice-presidential nominee in 2000.
In retaliation, the party wants to strip him of his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. During a private meeting Thursday, Majority Leader Harry Reid reportedly called on Lieberman to accept a less prestigious assignment.
“His comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus,” said Reid.
The Connecticut senator, to his credit, rejected Reid’s demand.
Now he’s reportedly in talks with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell about joining the GOP lineup (he officially became an independent after the 2006 election, although he caucuses with the Democrats).
But that’s a step Lieberman insists he doesn’t want to take.
And, frankly, to expel him – as the Democrats seem intent on doing – would be an act of mean-spiritedness that runs sharply counter to the kind of bipartisanhip upon which Obama campaigned.
After all, on issues other than the War on Terror, he has voted in lockstep with the Democrats. (Apparently, a 90 percent-plus voting record isn’t proof of loyalty.)
And it should be noted, as Lieberman did to Reid, that it was his vote that gave the Democrats a Senate majority for the last two years. Indeed, for that alone, punishing him now would be a tad ungracious.
But when it comes to national security, Lieberman remains one of a vanishing breed of Democrats – like the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Henry “Scoop” Jackson – who understand that America needs to remain strong and vigorous.
More important, Lieberman is one of Washington’s few truly principled legislators; he steadfastly refuses to compromise his beliefs on behalf of expediency.
In 2006, that stance cost him the Democratic Senate nomination and, indeed, jeopardized his seat. Two years later, it led him to cross party lines to endorse the candidate he felt could best lead this country.
Lieberman, unlike most others on Capitol Hill, has decried what he has rightly labeled “the reflexive partisanship that is poisoning our politics.”
It remains to be seen whether vengeful Democrats will be petty enough to strip Lieberman’s chairmanship.
Whatever happens, no one should lose sight of the fact that Joe Lieberman has consistently put the national interest ahead of his own political needs.
He is, in every way, a profile in courage.