Free Republic

Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power would be part of the mix, that clean coal would be part of the mix, that he’s for offshore drilling in a responsible way,” Graham said today in describing his Oval Office meeting with Obama. “But we have to have a price on carbon,...

The Connecticut senator, free of partisan loyalties, has a pivotal role in the health-care debate. 'About two months ago my wife and I were out with another couple, and they said 'So, how's it going?'—and I knew what they meant. I said, 'I'm doing my own independent thing, but for the first time in five years, I feel out of the crossfire . . .' And my wife said, 'Knowing you, before long you'll mess up.'" Joe Lieberman laughs a big, hearty laugh, then adds: "And then came the public option!" The senator from Connecticut doesn't look sorry. Sitting in...

Israel's foreign minister met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday and called for closer ties and economic cooperation between the two countries. Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Israel's right-wing ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, was born in the former Soviet Union, and he spoke with Putin in flawless Russian, throwing in a few words of English. Lieberman was visiting Moscow for a session of a Russian-Israeli Intergovernmental Commission, which mainly focuses on economic ties. He lauded the commission for establishing a visa-free system between the two countries last year. He said the measure will likely to double the number of...

The Obama Administration remains addicted to the "Chicago Way" of hardball politics. One of the clearest examples was last June's firing by the White House of Gerald Walpin, inspector general of the government service program AmeriCorps. Mr. Walpin complained at the time his ouster was due to his dogged investigation of misspent AmeriCorps money in a program run by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a major Obama backer. Mr. Walpin's firing by the White House was done in direct contravention of a 2008 law meant to protect inspectors general from political retribution. Mr. Obama himself co-sponsored the law as a Senator....

In 2006 when Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was fighting for his political life in a primary with Ned Lamont, he found himself abandoned by his “friends” in the Democrat Party. Being a former VP candidate meant nothing to those who wanted his head. Ultimately Lieberman was even betrayed by fellow Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Dodd who endorsed Lamont. What was Joe Lieberman’s sin? Why did the anti American Left hate him enough to want him out of office? Lieberman supported the War in Iraq and by extension George Bush. He did so because he understands a failed American War on...

WASHINGTON — Senate majority leader Harry Reid (Dipsh#t, Nevada) reportedly had Sen. Joe Lieberman waterboarded 183 times this past week, but the independent-minded senator from Connecticut still won’t vote “yes” for Reid’s health care bill. Lieberman holds a key vote in the ongoing battle over a health care bill that includes a public health insurance option, part of the Democrats’ evil plan to take over the country and turn it into a human SEIU puppy mill and ACORN graft factory.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking in that trademark sonorous baritone, utters a simple statement that translates into real trouble for Democratic leaders: "I'm going to be stubborn on this." Stubborn, he means, in opposing any health-care overhaul that includes a "public option," or government-run health-insurance plan, as the current bill does. His opposition is strong enough that Mr. Lieberman says he won't vote to let a bill come to a final vote if a public option is included. Probe for a catch or caveat in that opposition, and none is visible. Can he support a public option if states could opt...

Here is video of Sen. Joe Lieberman on "Meet the Press" saying "I don't think anybody feels this bill, as Senator Reid put it down, I don't think anybody thinks this bill will pass as it is." Sen. Lieberman said "if the public option is still in there, the only resort we have is to say no." (Video)

Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman have been working overtime to craft a climate bill that can attract significant GOP support. But they aren’t exactly scoring points with their mutual best friend in the Senate, John McCain. “Their start has been horrendous,” McCain said Thursday. “Obviously, they’re going nowhere.” McCain has emerged as a vocal opponent of the climate bill — a major reversal for the self-proclaimed maverick who once made defying his party on global warming a signature issue of his career.

Lieberman Blasts Defense Department Probe of the Shooting as Backward-Looking Defense Secretary Robert Gates is putting a former chief of naval operations and former Army secretary in charge of a Pentagon inquiry into the Fort Hood shootings. "It is prudent to determine immediately whether there are internal weaknesses or procedural shortcomings in the department that could make us vulnerable in the future," said Gates, who spoke at a press conference at the Pentagon on Thursday afternoon. Hours earlier, the Senate Homeland Security Committee, led by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) opened its own probe into the shooting. Lieberman characterized the investigation...

http://c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/11/19/HP/R/26172/congressional+investigation+into+Fort+Hood+Shooting.aspx

Sen. Joe Lieberman’s threat to filibuster any health care bill with a public option could kill health reform this year — and embolden Democratic challengers who’d like to send him packing in 2012. But Lieberman doesn’t seem worried. “I don’t think about that stuff,” Lieberman told POLITICO this week. “I’m just — I’m being a legislator. After what I went through in 2006, there’s nothing much more that anybody [who] disagrees with me can try to do.” Lieberman left the Democratic Party in 2006 after liberal Ned Lamont beat him in Connecticut’s Democratic Senate primary. Lieberman defeated Lamont in the...

Senator Lieberman would be the most liberal member of the Republican caucus, however, he would be a member we could depend on in regards to health care, national defense, and other issues. While Senator Lieberman would 85% of the time vote with Democrats on most domestic issues, he would be a strong opponent of weakening our national defense, and he causes hatred in progressive circles which Republicans can't match. I am proposing that Senator Lieberman caucus with the Republicans, as though he has numerous Democratic leanings, he also has Conservative streaks which fit into his "Independent" label, however, he is...

Sen. Joe Lieberman said Wednesday he would hold a hearing this week on the Fort Hood shooting and may use his subpoena power to force government officials to testify. The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee is moving ahead with the Thursday hearing despite the Obama administration’s request to delay congressional inquiries until the federal investigation is complete. Sen. Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he feels compelled to probe the Nov. 5 shootings that killed 13 people at the Texas army base. Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the committee’s ranking Republican, said they want answers to...

As Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, officially begins his inquiry this week into the disturbing failures that enabled Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to stay in uniform, it must go beyond the normal excuses related to bureaucratic bungling. With the discussion this week devolving into interagency finger-pointing, lost has been the simple fact that the failures were systemic. Although the military has done valiant work fighting in Muslim lands, it doesn't seem to grasp how to assess when Muslim personnel could pose an internal threat. It's easy to rely on hindsight to second-guess after the fact, but based...

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is joining Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in publicly declaring that the attack on Fort Hood is likely an act of Islamist terrorism. Cornyn wrote a letter to President Barack Obama today urging the White House not to let "political correctness" get in the way of investigating the Nov. 5 massacre that left 13 people dead and more than 30 wounded.

The Foreign Minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, understands the nature of the threat against Israel and it's root cause. And he is not given to political correctness on this matter.The following statements were made by Lieberman at the Saban forum according to Israeli media:"A return to the pre-1967 lines, with a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, would bring the conflict into Israel's borders"[ And also be interpreted as a victory for Islam and jihad terrorism, that's what happened when Israel left Gaza.] "Establishing a Palestinian state will not bring an end to the conflict"   [ That's the truth!]...

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he has “no other choice” but to filibuster a health care bill that contains a government-run health insurance option, adding that while reform is needed, the public option would be harmful to America’s future and that he would use his right as a senator to try “to stop it.” “I have no other choice,” Lieberman told several reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. “I’ve got to use the right I have as a senator to stop something that I think is going to be terrible for our future, which is the public option, not health...

Senator Joe Lieberman "connects the dots". Connecting the dots in a way no one in the media seems willing to do. I understand why the President intends to hold back, but as you listen to Joe detailing Hasan’s background, it’s hard not to come to the same conclusion. “He shouted out according to bystanders the words Allahu Akbar … and the fact that he did that at the moment of these murders if that’s confirmed, raises a genuine concern that this was a terrorist attack.”

A senior U.S. senator on Sunday said the shootings at Fort Hood could have been a terrorist attack, and that he would launch a congressional investigation into whether the U.S. military could have prevented it. Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who heads the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said initial evidence suggested that the alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan, was a "self-radicalized, home-grown terrorist" who had turned to Islamic extremism while under personal stress.

A senior U.S. senator on Sunday said the shootings at Fort Hood could have been a terrorist attack, and that he would launch a congressional investigation into whether the U.S. military could have prevented it.Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who heads the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said initial evidence suggested that the alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan, was a "self-radicalized, home-grown terrorist" who had turned to Islamic extremism while under personal stress. Mr. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had opened fire Thursday at a soldier processing center at Fort Hood, Tex., killing 13 and wounding...

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - A key U.S. senator called Sunday for an investigation into whether the Army missed signs that the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood had embraced an increasingly extremist view of Islamic ideology. Sen. Joe Lieberman's call came as word surfaced that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan apparently attended the same Virginia mosque as two Sept. 11 hijackers in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there. Whether Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, associated with the hijackers is something the FBI will probably look into, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on...

WASHINGTON — The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate. Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people." The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The chairman of the Senate's Homeland Security committee, Joe Lieberman, on Sunday said that the deadly shooting at Texas' Fort Hood military base was an act of "Islamist extremism." Lieberman, a former Democratic vice-presidential candidate, said it was too early to definitively state the motives of Nidal Hasan, who is alleged to have killed 13 and injured 30 on a murderous rampage last week, but said clues pointed to terrorism. "There are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act," he told Fox...

Sen. Joe Lieberman called the Fort Hood massacre an act of "Islamist extremism" - even as top Army brass warned Sunday against guessing at a motive, fearing backlash against Muslim soldiers. "There are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act," Lieberman (I-Conn) told Fox News on Sunday. "If the reports that we're receiving of various statements he made, acts he took are valid, he had turned to Islamist extremism." Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential candidate, chairs the Senate Homeland Security committee. Nidal Malik Hasan,...

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will seek to move forward on an investigation surrounding the mass shooting Thursday at Fort Hood Army base in Texas, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), the committee's chairman, said today. The chairman said the scope of the probe would address the motives of the alleged shooter Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan and whether signs of "Islamic extremism" were apparent, but missed or ignored. "It's premature to reach conclusions about what motivated Hasan," Lieberman said on "Fox News Sunday" this morning. "But it's clear that he was, one, under personal stress and,...

It is protest day, for the Left and the Right, on Capitol Hill. First out of the gate - 9 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning. Protesters were arrested, one by one, and dragged out of his office amid chants of "Everyone in and noone out, universal healthcare now!" and "Represent Connecticut, not AETNA!"

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., flanked by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, to discuss climate change legislation

Even as a Senate global-warming bill remained in limbo with Democrats refusing to delay a committee vote until an economic analysis was completed, hopes rose for a potential bipartisan compromise. The Senate, meanwhile, appears to be moving away from the bill, authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., which would require a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 and would have the government sell the right to emit carbon dioxide. Even as Boxer conducted an unusual one-sided hearing on her bill in the Environment and Public Works Committee, Kerry, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and...

WASHINGTON – A trio of senators with differing political views is working behind-the-scenes to rescue troubled climate legislation. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., together with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Wednesday they would work in conjunction with the White House to patch together a bill that could pass the U.S. Senate. The three senators met individually with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Carol Browner, the president's assistant for energy and climate change. "Our effort is to try to reach out to broaden the base of support ... ," Kerry said at an...

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reports: Has Joe Lieberman been bluffing?  An article in this morning's The Hill newspaper says Lieberman has "reached a private understanding" with Harry Reid that he won't block a final vote on a health care bill.  If true, that would contradict Lieberman's public statements last week, including his interview with ABC News  "Subway Series" where he said he would join a Republican filibuster to kill the bill if it included a public option.  Lieberman's office, however, says the Hill story is bunk, or, in spokesman Marshall Wittman's words "absolutely not true."  Lieberman, Wittman says, will vote...

Last week in a dramatic announcement, Senator Joe Lieberman announced that he will vote along with the Republican Party to filibuster the Obamacare bill in the senate. It was a big blow to the Democratic efforts to take over our healthcare, so big that Senator Tom Harken threatened to throw Lieberman out of the Democratic Caucus. Yesterday Senator Reid's office reported that the Majority Leader and the Connecticut Senator reached a secret deal where the Senator will not vote for a filibuster but will continue to vote against the bill in the final roll call: But sources said Reid’s staff...

Senator Lieberman’s threat to filibuster the health-care bill isn’t a betrayal of the Democratic Party, says Meghan McCain—it’s a sign of courage. And we need more of it. BY MEGHAN MCCAIN A few weeks ago, I gave a speech at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and one of the questions I was asked was: Aside from your father, who are your favorite senators and politicians? Without hesitation, I said that I admire South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman. Now before my fellow Republicans start panicking at my fondness for two independent, moderate, and dare I say maverick...

As you may have heard, erstwhile Democrat Joe Lieberman has vowed to support a Republican filibuster of any health care bill containing the dreaded "public option." Politicians and those who write about them spent the week scratching their heads, struggling to divine his motives. Perhaps I can help. First, toss out any theory connecting Lieberman's action to concern for health care policy. We infer this not only from the breathtaking opportunism of his late career but from the stunning ignorance on display in his remarks on the filibuster. Surely, a man operating on principle would suffer to learn the facts....

Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday it's worth defeating a healthcare overhaul in order to prevent the creation of a government-run health insurance program. Interviewed on CBS's "Face the Nation," the independent member of the Democratic Caucus said doing "nothing" is better than a so-called public option. "'Nothing' is better than getting that," Lieberman said. "We ought to follow the doctors' oath and say, 'First, let's do no harm.'" The Connecticut lawmaker said fixing the economy and creating jobs is a higher priority than healthcare, and a government-run insurance plan would damage the economy by hiking premiums, raising taxes or increasing...

Yet another example of the folly of assigning liberals to guard duty. Joining Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Thursday to vent about that pesky wabbit Joe Lieberman was Fire Dog Lake blogger Jane Hamsher. Democrats wield considerable leverage over Lieberman, Hamsher opined, to keep him from joining a GOP filibuster of ObamaCare or punish him if he does -- MADDOW: ... I think you’re right to point out that other senators sort of gently expressing their disapproval of his proverbial toplessness at this point is a bigger deal than it would be in the real world, that their words...

Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any health care reform bill that has a public option - even the version with the "trigger" compromise accepted by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe - because it might cost money. "I think that a lot of people may think that the public option is free," said Lieberman, one of the Senate's big spenders, in a suddenly frugal mood. "It's not. It's going to cost the taxpayers and people that have health insurance now, and if it...

Sounding more like an independent than a Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., tells ABC News he will campaign for some Republican candidates during the 2010 midterm elections and may not seek the Democratic Senate nomination when he runs for re-election in 2012. "I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman said in an ABC News "Subway Series" interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System. Lieberman infuriated fellow Democrats in 2008 by supporting Republican presidential nominee John McCain as well as congressional candidates...

Sounding more like an independent than a Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., tells ABC News he will campaign for some Republican candidates during the 2010 midterm elections and may not seek the Democratic Senate nomination when he runs for re-election in 2012. ABC News' Jonathan Karl chats with Sen. Joe Lieberman on the Capitol Hill subway"I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman said in an ABC News "Subway Series" interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), already under fire from the Democratic party’s base for vocally opposing the public option in health care legislation, now tells ABC News that he plans to support Republican congressional candidates next year: "I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman said in an ABC News "Subway Series" interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System. "There's a hard core of partisan, passionate, hardcore Republicans," Lieberman said. "There's a hard core of partisan Democrats on the other side. And in...

Sounding more like an independent than a Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., tells ABC News he will campaign for some Republican candidates during the 2010 midterm elections and may not seek the Democratic Senate nomination when he runs for re-election in 2012. "I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman said in an ABC News "Subway Series" interview aboard the U.S. Capitol Subway System

Senator Tom Harkin did everything but place a horse's head in Joe Lieberman's bed as he discussed the Connecticut Senator's Decision to join a filibuster of any Obamacare bill which contains the public option. He implied that if Lieberman , and independent, voted for the filibuster he would lose his committee chairmanship and would no longer be allowed to caucus with the Democratic Party: Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, told reporters that Lieberman (I-Conn.) ought to consider the benefits of his membership in the Democratic caucus before he decides how to vote on healthcare reform....

Here is video of a Morning Joe Panel today discussing Sen. Joe Lieberman's statement that he will not support a Health Care Bill with a "Public Option." They said Lieberman has signaled he will simply not support what the Democrats are trying to do, and they tried to say it is because he is too closely tied to the Insurance Industry. The whole panel was made of liberals - Mika Brzeznski, Mike Barnacle, and Lawrence O'Donnell - and you can tell they are really put out with Lieberman! . . . (VIDEO)

Man, the lefties must really be hating Liebeman nowadays: “We’re trying to do too much at once,” Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now.”… Lieberman did say he’s “strongly inclined” to vote to proceed to the debate, but that he’ll ultimately vote to block a floor vote on the bill if it isn’t changed first… “I can’t see a way in which I could vote for cloture on any bill...

According to CBS and other media reports, “Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) said Tuesday that he would support a Republican filibuster of a health care bill that includes a public option.� This is a serious blow to the passage of any Obamacare bill including a public option, yet the blow may not be fatal. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday announced a deal and it is notable that he was not accompanied by any member of the secret team negotiating a deal on Obamacare including Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Director...

The health-care debate isn't over, notwithstanding the White House-Nancy Pelosi attempt to make it seem inevitable. Majority Leader Harry Reid had barely announced his plan to include a public insurance option when Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman declared yesterday that he'd join a filibuster against such a Senate bill. "We're trying to do too much at once," Mr. Lieberman said. "To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don't think we need it now."

I've been thinking for a couple weeks that Joe Lieberman is the Democrats' biggest potential problem. The rest of the party has a strong incentive to pass health care reform and avoid a 2010 catastrophe. But Lieberman? He's not a Democrat and won't be running on the Democratic ticket in 2012. Moreover, my read on him is that he's furious with the party, resentful of President Obama (who beat his friend in 2008) and would relish a Democratic catastrophe. Of course, I can't prove this. But look at Lieberman's reason for why he now says he'll vote to sustain a...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a development, first reported by TPMDC, that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will filibuster a health care bill if it includes a public option. "Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid's problems," Reid told reporters at his weekly press conference. During a Q&A session with reporters, Reid offered a fairly spirited defense of Lieberman, signaling perhaps that he doesn't believe Lieberman will ultimately be an obstacle--or at least that he doesn't want to tip his hat: "I don't have anyone that I've worked harder with, have more respect for, in the Senate than Joe...

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill. Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid’s has said the Senate bill will. "We're trying to do too much at once," Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble...

Breaking News: Senator Joe Lieberman has announced that he will join the GOP in filibustering the Reid-pushed Health Care Bill.