Snake in the Grass

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Joe Lieberman acknowledged that he might switch parties if the going gets tough with the Democrats. While characterizing the election as a win for moderates, Lieberman also thanked the 70 percent of Republicans who voted for him for their support.

The Progressive:

Lieberman claims to be in the center, though he won 70 percent of the Republican vote, which gives you a better indication of his leanings.

And he may tip over soon.

I’m sure Democratic leaders in Congress were not delighted by his response to the following question from Tim Russert: If the Democrats “ask for discipline in the Democratic caucus, and you start to feel uncomfortable with it, would you consider going across the aisle, and joining the Republicans, if they gave you the same chairmanship that you had, and respected your seniority?”

Lieberman responded: “Yeah, well, that’s a hypothetical, which I’m not going to deal with there. I’m going to be an optimist, and take some encouragement from the fact this was an election in which, in the House and Senate, Democrats came to the majority of both chambers by electing moderates mostly.”

Russert pressed him by asking, “You’re not ruling that out at some future time?”

To which Lieberman said, “I’m not ruling it out, but I hope I don’t get to that point.” And then he added that he appreciated the support he had received from Republicans.

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