Guys, we know that mistakes have been made in the past.
Failed leadership? You bet.
Poor decisions? Almost daily.
Public embarrassment? I mean, the dude was in the freakin' Straight Talk Express when it hit a minivan.
Associations with questionable individuals? Uh huh.
But none of that stuff matters! The important thing to remember is that Joe Lieberman is too important to let fail. We owe it to the entire Senatorial sector to make sure that this venerated institution isn't allowed to go under just because of some errors over the past few years.
Now, I'm hearing a lot of talk about how other Senators who misjudged the electoral markets aren't receiving bail-outs like this (who thinks we should give John McCain the White House? Put Ted Stevens back in charge of the Ethics Committee?), but let's be frank here: Joe Lieberman is no ordinary Senator.
The repercussions if Lieberman should fail are too great to imagine: Lieberman is invested in every area of the Senatorial sector (though he always invests conservatively). Just because he jumped on a sinking ship and put all of his political capital into a doomed enterprise doesn't mean that there aren't still people depending on him.
I think the current proposal of granting an extension to his chairmanship is just the kind of stimulus he needs to get his house in order.
Actions have consequences, but so do inactions. Think of all we could lose--of how much damage could really be done--if we don't keep Joe Lieberman afloat in these troubled times.
Can we really take that risk?