Lieberman Retains His Position - UPDATED

I am not the least bit surprised.

The secret-ballot vote was 42-13.
Lieberman is losing his chairmanship on an environmental subcommittee.

A slap on the wrist. He'll be gone in 2012 anyway - they don't like him too much in Connecticut anymore. We'll see what transpires before then.


UPDATE (4:20pm): I'm torn on this one. Those of you who have read my previous posts probably already know that.

No one wanted to see Lieberman's balls cut off more than I did. Hell, if they'd asked I would've sharpened my knife and gone down to DC to do it myself - and paid for my own airline ticket for the pleasure. But we have to look at a few things:

1 - Obama's perceived power would have been undercut tremendously if the Senate had gone against his wishes even before he gets into office. Remember that Obama was the first one to say he hoped Lieberman would remain in the caucus.

2 - Lieberman is on thin ice and according to Evan Bayh, he can be removed from his Committee chairs at any time. So one wrong move, and they gut him like a gefilta fish.

3 - Lieberman is a man without a state. He'll be gone in 2012 if not before due to defection or some other such shit. He betrayed his constituents and they're not going to want him back. In the meantime, the Democrats have four years to prop up and back someone to run against Holy Joe in 2012.

Lieberman's job approval was down to 36 percent. With numbers like that, Lieberman only has one choice for the next four years. He has to move to the left, and he has to do it fast. Given his vulnerability with the Connecticut voters, it wouldn't surprise me if Joe Lieberman turns out to be among the strongest allies Barack Obama has in the U.S. Senate.

I think he'll die a slow, painful, insignificant death in the Senate soon enough (metaphorically speaking of course, for those reading this post from the NSA - Hi guys!).