Senate Democrats are leaving no doubt that Republican Sen. John Cornyn was very, very wrong when he claimed that “Joe Lieberman is probably the only person that could get 100 votes in the Senate” if Donald Trump nominates him for FBI director. Because, yes, Joe Lieberman—Joe f’ing Lieberman—is one of Donald Trump’s finalists for FBI director, though Trump’s staff are reportedly trying to put on the brakes:
… members of Mr. Trump’s staff — alarmed by his rapid embrace of Mr. Lieberman, a charming 75-year-old political operator with no federal law enforcement experience — have quietly urged him to take more time to make such a critical hire. By late Thursday, the president appeared increasingly likely to leave Friday for a nine-day foreign trip without picking a new director, according to three senior administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.
In other words, Lieberman sucked up to Trump and persuaded him he’d found an FBI director who wouldn’t investigate him seriously, and the New York Times also reports that Jeff Sessions told Trump that Lieberman would be easily confirmed. If that belief is swaying Trump, he should think again. Several Democrats cited Lieberman’s lack of law enforcement experience and his background in politics as both making him an inappropriate choice. Sherrod Brown joined others in pointing to Lieberman’s lack of law enforcement, but he had a few other things to say:
“Joe Lieberman has no real law enforcement credentials. Look where he works now, a Trump law firm. That tells me a lot,” Brown said, referring to the law firm where Lieberman now works that represents Trump.
Lieberman also opposed a Democratic proposal to extend Medicare to people 55 and older, infuriating liberals. “He’s the reason we lost Medicare at 55 … Couldn’t have had anything to do with the insurance industry lobbying in Hartford. I’m sure Lieberman couldn’t succumb to that,” Brown said sarcastically.
So when Republican Sen. Susan Collins insists that Lieberman is “a person of unquestioned integrity,” apparently she wouldn’t have to look far to find questions. There are also reasonable questions to be asked about Lieberman’s judgment. After all, in 2008 he backed the candidate trying to put Sarah Palin a heartbeat from the presidency and in 2010 he said “everybody should listen” to Palin. In 2016, he was already sucking up to Trump when he praised the choice of Michael Flynn as national security adviser. You know, the guy who had to resign after less than a month because of his Russia ties, who subsequently turned out to have been on Turkey’s payroll and making foreign policy decisions that benefited Turkey. Judgment and integrity!
Will Trump follow through and put Lieberman in charge of the FBI? Shoot, probably not even Trump knows that. But if he doesn’t, it’s the perfect coda to Lieberman’s political career that he proved so eager and successful at sucking up to Trump. And his status as a finalist has been a test for Democrats—bow to “but he was a Democrat” and support him, or look at reality—and it’s one they’re passing, with even conservative Democrats like Claire McCaskill and Joe Manchin throwing cold water on the idea.
from Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/5/19/1664008/-Joe-Lieberman-is-a-terrible-pick-for-FBI-director-and-Democrats-aren-t-taking-the-bait
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