"Are you folks serious? And people wonder why there are daily threads discussing why libertarians and other constitutional conservatives are abandoning the GOP."
Dealing with reality bothers you, somehow?
Lieberman remains in the Senate no matter what at this point.
You can let him remain a Democrat, where it will cost us more money, pork, and favors to overcome Democratic Party filibusters (your preferred option, I presume), or else you can offer him a plum like a Senate committee chairmanship and have him caucus with Republicans.
But either way, Lieberman remains in the Senate. It's just a question of what sort of power is used to buy his votes that remains...
Presuming, of course, that you **want** the Senate to approve Bush's privatization of Social Security, Bush's judicial nominees, school vouchers, and a comprehensive Energy Bill in the next legislative session.
Far too many idealists seem to be jumping onto Free Republic as of late, all pretending to a fault that we have Dictator Bush in office rather than a President, and all of whom seem to likewise be ignoring the power that the Democrats still retain as if we don't have to deal with them in the least.
That's juvenile fantasy land, kid.
America already has one openly and actively socialist party. That is the Democrats. I want the Republicans to act conservative, to protect and defend the Constitution, and to not grow the government and it's control over every aspect of our lives at an equal (or even faster) pace than the socialist Democrats are doing.
No one and nothing is perfect, and I'm far from an idealist, but I do see the Republicans catching up with Democrats as far as increasing size and scope of government, their socialist regulatory policies, gun controls, etc. I will credit Bush for what is certainly a symbolic late-term abortion ban, but there are many faults.
One would expect that when Republicans have a majority, we can push a lot of judges, policies, etc through the Congress. But that still hasn't happened. When Republicans are the minority party, the government is gridlocked, and at least the Republican Congress acts conservative.
I have enough common sense to see that it is the shift to the left, in a stupid attempt to "increase the big tent" that has led to to this increase in American socialism. Adopting more of the same tactics is akin to treating a papercut with a chainsaw.