Pelosi: Freedom of Speech Only If I Agree

To put it mildly, Joe Lieberman is somewhat of a sore spot in the Democratic party's side. First, he left the party, and despite the DNC's best effort and lots of money, he managed to win his Senate seat. Now, he's on the campaign trail for McCain and, as such, routinely criticizing Obama.

You've got to respect Joe Lieberman. I don't agree with everything he says or every position he's taken, but he has somehow elevated himself above blind allegiance to the Democratic party. In a stunning example of how politicians should behave, he uses his own beliefs to shape his positions, and he actually stands up for them when it comes time. Unlike many other politicians (Democratic and Republican alike) who all to often change opinions based on public opinion polls or political expediency, Lieberman has a record of sticking to his guns.

Unfortunately, this is not how the Democrats want to run their party. They want Senators and Representatives that essentially function as a rubber stamp vote for whatever the leadership decides is the hot topic issue of the day. Furthermore, they want lock-step support of Obama's candidacy and absolutely no mention of the pesky shortfalls of Obama's past and complete lack of experience.

Lieberman, probably because he's been liberated from the Orwellian control of the DNC, doesn't play by those rules anymore. The Dems and Pelosi, for whatever reason, think they still have some sort of authority over Joe, and are threatening to remove his committee chairmanship as punishment for speaking his mind.

While I'm sure Joe enjoys the position, I don't think that threat is going to do anything to keep him from attacking Obama. I wouldn't be surprised that if the Dems do remove Joe from the chairmanship, he switches from Independent to card-carry Republican.

I find it fascinating that the Democrats who claim to be the party of the people and often support the application of Constitutional rights to the point of absurdity regularly engage in practices and policies that are anything but. They advocate the return of the Fairness Doctrine which is nothing more than government censorship, and they can't stand it when someone says something they disagree with.