It appears that the threats Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made against U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman and his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee are 98 percent bark, 2 percent bite.

According to CNN:

Senate Democrats appear willing to let Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, keep his powerful Homeland Security Committee chairmanship, even though he campaigned vigorously for Sen. John McCain’s White House bid, two sources told CNN Monday.

But the veteran lawmaker will, according to the sources, lose a less prominent chairmanship of a subcommittee on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

“He’s not happy about it, but he accepts it,“ one of the sources said.

Yeah, Joe. You can’t chair a committee no one’s ever heard of anymore. Take THAT!

But wait! There’s more!

Several lawmakers involved in the discussions over Lieberman’s fate credited President-elect Barack Obama’s desire to keep Lieberman in the Democratic caucus and let bygones be bygones as being a key reason Democratic leaders have agreed to support allowing Lieberman to keep his committee chair.

Let’s read between the lines here:

Lieberman’s fate is due to one key factor, CNN says, but it’s really one key factor and one happenstance factor.

The key: President-elect Barack Obama’s desire to keep Lieberman in the Democratic caucus.

The happenstance: Let bygones be bygones.

Let’s be honest. It’s a lot easier to let bygones be bygones when you’re passing all your important legislation and getting all your federal court nominees confirmed without so much as a second thought as to those pesky, annoying minority filibusters.

And Lieberman has to stay in the Democratic caucus to ensure that the Democrats have a shot at the 60-seat majority to make it happen.

So! The president-elect may be showing some good will, it’s true. But it’s also true that it’s in his own best interests to do so.

By the time you’re reading this tomorrow morning, Senate Democrats will be weighing Lieberman’s fate, once and for all.

Democrats will meet behind closed doors in the Old Senate Chamber in the Capitol Tuesday morning. The Lieberman matter will be the first item on the agenda and a vote will be cast by secret ballot.

Lieberman and several other senators are expected to make presentations about Lieberman’s behavior during the campaign. Several senators who are angry with Lieberman told CNN they would question Lieberman in detail about what he said and why when he was campaigning for Republican nominee McCain.

Lieberman is going to MAKE A PRESENTATION about why he supported John McCain.

I bet that slideshow won’t be available on the web.

Just another meeting for the Don’t-you-wish-you-were-a-fly-on-the-wall series.

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