Matt Yglesias

The Department of Lieberman

Peggy Noonan revives the long-simmering issue of why we’ve given our border security and disaster recovery agency the creepy and un-American name “Department of Homeland Security”:

By the way, [Barack Obama] should both reorder the Department of Homeland Security, that hopeless bureaucracy, and change its name. Homeland is a Nazi-ish word, not an American concept at all. And at this point “Homeland Security” is associated more with pointless harassment than safety. No one knows who came up with it.

Steve Benen observes that there’s no mystery here — it was Joe Lieberman. I say we call it “The Department of Lieberman.”

Meanwhile, I saw Punisher: War Zone last night. Predictably, it’s bad. But beyond that, you can add it to the pile of the large number of films that portrays the Department of Homeland Security as some kind of incredibly badass intelligence or paramilitary outfit. I don’t understand why this keeps happening. We have all kinds of badass agencies — intelligence, special forces, SWAT teams, etc. — but DHS does border security and disaster relief, not the FBI’s counterintelligence and counterterrorism functions.

Lieberman

I’m not sure I understand what leverage Joe Lieberman is supposed to have in his battle to save his committee chairmanship. The Democrats get to pick the committee chairs in virtue of having won a majority of Senate seats. Lieberman didn’t campaign for any Democratic Senate candidates but IIRC he did campaign alongside some GOP candidates. And, of course, he not only endorsed John McCain but he stood behind McCain applauding as McCain described standard-issue progressive economic policy as socialism. And as chair of the committee charged with government oversight, he declined to hold any oversight hearings. So Democrats might want to get rid of him. But Lieberman wants to stay:

Lieberman believes he should remain in the Democratic caucus because he helped give the party its majority in the past two years in the Senate, and because he has been “a very reliable Democratic vote” on most issues, except the war in Iraq, the aide said.

“Sen. Lieberman prefers to remain in the Democratic caucus,” the aide said. “However, he believes he should remain as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. … He thinks that political retribution should not go ahead of homeland security.” [...]

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has approached Lieberman about joining the Republican caucus, but Lieberman’s first preference is to remain a Democrat, according to the aide.

“He’s keeping all his options open,” the aide said. “He has made no decisions whatsoever. No one knows how this is going to be resolved.”

But look. Lieberman can’t swing control to the GOP. And presumably Lieberman isn’t going to adopt liberal views on foreign policy to make Democrats happy and keep his seat. Is he saying that if Democrats decide to put a more loyal partisan in charge of the committee he’ll disavow his previous views on domestic issues and become an opponent of Roe v. Wade and a climate change denier? It’s in his power to make that threat, I suppose, but if he wants to make it he ought to say so plainly and squarely for everyone to hear — that would be a pretty dishonorable kind of threat to make. But if that’s not what he’s saying, then he ought to be asking for forgiveness not “keeping all his options open.”

As it stands, Lieberman seems to be saying that he deserves to stay in charge of the committee in virtue of his moderately progressive domestic views, but that continuing to hold those views is contingent on him getting favors from the Democratic leadership.

Don’t Count on Joe

As everyone knows, Democrats can’t kick Joe Lieberman out of their caucus because they want his vote to reach 60 votes in the senate. But Satyam Khanna’s got the audio of Holy Joe saying that he fears America “would not survive” a 60 vote Democratic Party supermajority. First, Lieberman demonstrates that he has no decency or integrity by going on the odious Glenn Beck’s radio show, and then he says:

BECK: But do you agree that Senator Hatch said to me that if we don’t at least have the firewall of the filibuster in the Senate that in many ways America will not survive?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I hope it’s not like that, but I fear.

I’m sure he’ll be a loyal ally of the progressive agenda.

Lieberman’s LD Quits

Joe Lieberman’s Legislative Director quit today just as the Senator returned to Capitol Hill for the first time after a while spent on the campaign trail. His statement sounds perfectly amicable, but it’s a bit odd to leave a job like that with no firm post-Hill plans.

Afghanawhere

Tuesday night’s three GOP headliners — Fred Thompson, George W. Bush, and Joe Lieberman — all get through speeches that don’t mention the war in Afghanistan at all.