It's hard to think of a better measure of how extremist the Democrats have become than Joe Lieberman.
Within a short amount of time, Senator Joe Lieberman want from a pillar of Senate Democrats and a vice presidential nominee to being shunned and denounced as a Republican.
The original excuse was that Lieberman hadn't gotten on board with the anti-war express train. The unsubtle codicil was that he was also pro-Israel as the party was sliding into the J Street sewer. But by now the gap has dramatically widened to a whole range of issues. Conservative Dems have increasingly been purged from the party. Tom Perez is talking about abortion as a litmus test.
So the proposal to appoint Lieberman as FBI director is meeting with all the enthusiasm you would expect. From Republicans.
Many liberals flat out don't like Lieberman. In an interview, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) fumed about Lieberman’s efforts to undercut more generous Medicare benefits in Obamacare and his relative closeness to Trump. After a monologue on Lieberman's faults, Brown ended by telling a reporter: “That’s all on the record.”
And that comes from a lion of the Senate like... Sherrod Brown.
“He has a history of angering Democrats and Republicans, which is probably a good experience for being FBI director. But my concern is about someone with a political background. This is a moment for someone with a law enforcement background,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who holds Lieberman’s old seat. “
The new face of the Senate Dems. Obnoxious children.
Republicans are lining up behind Lieberman, who left the Senate in 2013 after four terms. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called him a "person of unquestioned integrity and that's what we need." Added Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has spoken to Lieberman about the job: "If the president picked Joe Lieberman he’d be doing [the] country a good service and I think the FBI a good service."
People say that JFK would be a Republican today. Forget JFK. That guy who was on the Gore ticket no longer qualifies as a Dem.