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Leahy: Lieberman should lose chair |
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By Walter Alarkon
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Posted: 11/14/08 03:38 PM [ET] |
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) should lose his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, becoming the first Senate Democrat to say so publicly since Election Day.
Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and an early supporter of Barack Obama for president, said Friday during a radio interview on Vermont Public Radio that Lieberman should face consequences for his role in the campaign.
Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, endorsed Sen. John McCain for president, campaigned with the Arizona Republican and, during a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention, questioned Obama’s ability to lead.
"I'm one who does not feel somebody should be rewarded with a major chairmanship after doing what he did," Leahy said during the interview.
"I thought they went way beyond the pale, that they were not fair, that they were not legitimate, that they perpetuated some of these horrible myths that were run about Sen. Obama," Leahy said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) privately met with Lieberman, who left the party in 2006 but still caucuses with Democrats, on Nov. 6 to discuss possible consequences for his actions.
But since then, a number of Democrats, including President-elect Obama, have said Lieberman should not be banned from caucusing with the party. And some, including Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.), say Lieberman should retain his gavel.
Leahy said that he didn't think he would keep his chairmanship if he had acted like Lieberman.
“I would feel that, had I done something similar, that I would not be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress,” Leahy said. |
