HEY JOE: DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT. Here is my plea to Senator Joe Lieberman, a politician I've admired since I was seven years old: Please switch parties. We're tired of the game where you keep dancing ever close to the edge, hoping someone will pay attention to you. Just switch. The issue of our moment is the Iraq war, the pro-war side is the Republican Party. That's your side. Don't do Harry Reid any favors -- he'll manage just fine without you.
(Since writing this post, I've learned from Time that "last month, after Lieberman told Reid he had stopped attending the weekly Democratic lunch because he didn't feel comfortable discussing Iraq there, Reid offered to hold those discussions at another time. Lieberman has started attending again." If I'm parsing this sentence correctly, Reid agreed not to discuss Iraq at the weekly Democratic lunch -- which is absolutely the only time that all or most Democratic Senators get together for any kind of discussion -- because you "didn't feel comfortable"? It's one thing to disagree with most of your party on the central issue of our time. But if you don't even feel comfortable discussing it with them, then what are you doing in that party?)
You've always prided yourself on honor and principle, so please retain a sliver of that dignity by modeling yourself on your new party-mate, former Senator Phil Gramm, and respect that the voters of Connecticut chose to elect you on the belief, and on your own insistence, that you were a Democrat. When Gramm switched parties in 1981, he did the honorable thing of resigning from the House and running again for his seat in a special election. You don't even need to go that far. Here is what you can do: Resign from the Senate, leaving a vacancy that can be filled by Republican Governor Jodi Rell. Ask Governor Rell to appoint you to the seat as a Republican. I'm sure she would be happy to do so; she's spoken highly of you, and you share political consultants. And then, in November of 2008, let the voters of Connecticut decide whether they want to be represented by their incumbent Republican Senator Lieberman or someone else.
If you're not willing to do that honorable thing, then please just quit talking about how you just might possibly have to consider, with deep regret, switching parties, not because you've changed but because of the tragedy that the party has left you, become objectively pro-terrorist, blah blah blah. It's an act that got old a long time ago.
-- Mark Schmitt
