The unforgiving minute

Today's topic: Units of measurement:

Liebersecond (sec_L): 1.0 Liebersecond is defined as the interval of time separating the announcement of a possible legislative victory for Congressional Democrats and the moment when Sen. Joe Lieberman steps in front of the cameras to simultaneously sell out the caucus and grab for publicity by threatening to derail it.

The Dems were smart to let him keep his rank and committee gavel, since he only disagrees with them about the war.

Minute's up.

Oh dear. Miller calls Reid "irrelevant"

Probably back around 1992, on Crossfire, in the middle of a particularly heated discussion of something or other, culture-warrior, former Nixon speech writer, and third party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan called co-host Michael Kinsley a worm.

Kinsley, as I remember the moment, sputtered in shock and outrage. but the insult stood.

Annoyed as I still was that Kinsley had hired Charles Krauthammer at The New Republic instead of me only a few years earlier (a story for which, like "The Giant Rat of Sumatra," I do not yet feel the world is ready), I nevertheless shouted at the TV, "No! Don't say that! Tell him, 'Gosh, Pat, normally I'd laugh a remark like that off, but when it comes from someone who's on a first-name basis with things that crawl out from under rocks, I suppose I have to take it at least somewhat seriously.'"

Philosophers used to call that rhetorical ploy the tu quoque (Latin for "you as well") or, in other contexts, the argument ad hominem (Latin again, for attacking the character of the speaker instead of the substance of his argument). In the early 1900s, its vulgar equivalent was "So's your old man!" Somewhat later, it devolved into "I know you are, but what am I?" And sometime after that it became "Your momma."

Or, as was once famously said of the sleazy Republican Senator from New York, "Being attacked on ethics by Al D'Amato is like being called ugly by a frog."

Which brings us to the peculiar and disappointing news that Dennis Miller yesterday called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "irrelevant."

If anyone else had said it, my advice to Reid would be to dismiss the characterization out of hand. But when you're called "irrelevant" by Dennis Miller--a man who's in a professional position to know irrelevance when he sees it--well, gosh, maybe Senator Reid should at least give it some thought.

Lieberman helps bury Gonzales "no-confidence" resolution

September 3, 1988: Senator Joe Lieberman (technically a Democrat), addressing the Senate regarding President Clinton and the Independent Prosecutor's report:

The President's intentional and consistent misstatements may also undercut the trust that the American people have in his word, which would have substantial ramifications for his presidency. Under the Constitution, as presidential scholar Richard Neustadt has noted, the President's ultimate source of authority, particularly his moral authority, is the power to persuade, to mobilize public opinion and build consensus behind a common agenda, and at this the President has been extraordinarily effective. But that power hinges on the President's support among the American people and their faith and confidence in his motivations, his agenda, and ultimately his personal integrity. As Teddy Roosevelt once explained, "My power vanishes into thin air the instant that my fellow citizens who are straight and honest cease to believe that I represent them and fight for what is straight and honest; that is all the strength I have."

Sadly, with his deception, President Clinton may have weakened the great power and strength of which President Roosevelt spoke. I know this is a concern that many of my colleagues share, that the President has hurt his credibility and therefore, perhaps, his chances of moving his agenda forward. But I believe that the harm the President's actions have caused extend beyond the political arena. I am afraid that the misconduct the President has admitted may be reinforcing one of the most destructive messages being delivered by our popular culture --namely that values are essentially fungible. And I am afraid that his misconduct may help to blur some of the most important bright lines of right and wrong left in our society.

June 11, 2007: Senator Joe Lieberman (technically an Independent), voting on cloture for the no-confidence resolution regarding Alberto Gonzales (the complete text of which reads: "It is the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people."):

No.

As Raw Story spells it out:

Only seven Republicans voted with their Democratic colleagues to express their disappointment with the firing of 8 US Attorneys and other controversial matters in Gonzales's administration of the Department of Justice: Norm Coleman (MN) Susan Collins (ME), Chuck Hagel (NE), Gordon Smith (OR), Olympia Snowe (ME), Arlen Specter (PA), and John Sununu (NH).

Senator Joseph Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, voted with the Republicans. The vote tally was 53 in favor of invoking cloture, and 38 voting to continue debate. One senator voted 'present.'

Explain this to me again: What possible purpose can there be, other than a sapheaded obedience to the most false kind of collegiality imaginable, that prevents Senate Majority Leader Reid from stripping Lieberman of his seniority (and with it, his committee rank)?

Gonzales has gutted the Justice Department and placed the hollowed-out remains in the service of his master, George Bush, turning the chief law-enforcement agency of the land into nothing more than "a political arm of the White House".

He should be strung up by his sweaty little thumbs, but at least a vote of no confidence would have been a start.

Of the seven Republicans who voted for cloture on the resolution, five (including Oregon's own faux-centrist junior Senator) are sweating bullets over their re-election next year.

But even Arlen Specter, who as chair of the Judiciary Committee putatively charged with oversight of Gonzales' Justice Department never failed to collapse like a wet taco when it was time to put his professed outrage into action, found the gumption to support the no-confidence resolution.

Not Joe, though. All that high-minded talk of "the American people and their faith and confidence" their leaders' "motivations," "agenda," and "personal integrity" sits poorly on the lips of a man who makes a routine practice of selling out his own party and caucus for the cameras.

The most dangerous place in Washington is between Lieberman and a TV camera where he can demonstrate his loyalty to the Bush agenda.

Wyden co-sponsors Reid/Feingold

Loaded Orygun brings the good news:

Feingold/Reid is another step forward from the previous Senate vote, and Wyden's cosponsorship is a welcome sign that he intends to stay ahead of the peloton rather than behind it.

More here.

What's going on in the Senate, anyway?

Loaded Orygun found this part of the puzzle first, buried in an AP story about fractures in the Senate GOP front line:

Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon, one of two Senate Republicans to oppose the latest spending bill for the conflict, said the war "is a problem because it's defining our party to the American people, and the American people have lost faith in this cause."

"Many Republican colleagues are simply waiting until September," he said, citing the deadline Bush gave to Army Gen. David Petraeus for a progress report on the war. Unless there is a dramatic turnabout by then, Smith said, the party's near-unanimity is almost certain to fracture.

But now, from over at TPM Election Central, comes this:

The Obey measure -- which would fund the war through July but make further funding contingent on progress in Iraq -- had stirred optimism among some Dem House staffers because it would allow Dems to keep standing up to the White House on Iraq while ducking Bush's charges that Dems weren't funding the troops.

Well, now Senate leader Harry Reid's spokesman has confirmed it: The plan is a non-starter in the Senate.

In an update, TPM adds:

It seems that the Senate hasn't ruled out this approach in general; just this specific one floated by Obey. [Reid spokesman Jim] Manley: "This is one of a number of options. There hasn’t been a decision on how to proceed."

So maybe this is like the infamous "Dems Back Down on Timetable" headline from last week, that ended up being mainly vaporware. But it still makes me nervous.

As Smith's slip (plus the fact that Mr. Thirty-two Percent is now Mr. Twenty-eight Percent) shows, Reid's hand should be awfully strong right about now.

What's the deal?