So his complete refusal to do any oversight as the committee chairman doesn't count against him? He runs the committe like heckuvajob Brownie ran FEMA.

and will probably cause the republicans to dig in and man their trenches in preparation for a partisan congress.

Erik, everything causes the republicans to dig an and man their trenches. That's pretty much the definition of the social-conservative movement. The same one that controls most of the GOP.

I had a different thought. The Democratic party needs to make Lieberman their bitch. At this point, if they want him, they own him. The only good Lieberman can do is acting exactly according to the wishes of Pelosi and Reid. He steps out of line and his usefulness vanishes. His usefulness vanishes and his chairmanship and caucusing leverage vanish. Since Joe's first concern is Joe, Joe should not step out of line.

Of course all this is moot if they don't make it to 59 votes. If he's the 60th vote, he's our bitch. If not, no need to hold onto him. See about getting Collins to vote for cloture. Maybe reward her with a plum committee assignment?

A recent case in point was a Ruth Marcus piece in the Washington Post. Her narrative was that neither candidate was perfect, and that both had their problems. Fair enough. However she needed a convenient problem narrative for Obama, and so asserted that Democrats are the party of large government and deficits.

Consider the size of government and deficits over the last 16 years. Consider which parties were in power and what effect their policies had on the size of government and deficits. Then explain to me why I should take the narrative seriously given the current size of government and deficits?

Until broadcasters and publishers decide that skepticism and fact checking should come before narrative, the 'news' will remain entertainment rather than journalism.