Lieberman for Sec of Defense

Rumors are flying around DC that Joe Lieberman might replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. Andrew Sullivan and Bob Schieffer fanned the flames with their Lieberman prediction yesterday and it's now the talk of all the blogs.

If Lieberman goes, Gov Rell would obviously place a Republican in the spot so who would it be? Whoever it is, they would have to be a moderate or else he or she would be booted out in the 2006 election.

In any case, I'm sure many Democrats would eb happy to have Lieberman gone from the senate once and for all.

Kos adds his two cents into the rumor with some interesting points.

If this happened, Ct. Gov. Jodi Rell would nominate his replacement, who would then have an incumbency advantage heading into the 2006 election. Who would that be? One of the state's existing Republican congressman, either Shays, Johnson, or Simmons? Would their "moderate" status protect them against the state's rabid anti-Bush mentality? Rell is now the nation's most popular governor, so being a Republican isn't necessarily the kiss of death in Connecticut.

Then again, this would be the best chance to get rid of someone who is corrossive to Democratic unity. And someone who is tragically wrong on the war. Would he better than Rumsfeld at the Pentagon? Yeah right. They're two peas from the same pod. The job should go to someone who has a firm grip on reality, not someone who will keep pretending we are turning corner after corner in Iraq.

So things would be a wash at the Pentagon. We'd lose a seat in the Senate, and add a seriously contested Senate race to the 2006 calendar. But, we could finally get rid of Lieberman and we'd stand a good chance of replacing him with a better Democrat, one who isn't typecast as the go-to Democrat for Fox News and the Wall Street Journal when they need a Democrat to bash other Democrats.

Not an easy call.

I think it's a EASY call. Lieberman is out of the senate picture and there is no way a Republican would survive the 2006 elections in a heavy anti-Bush state like Connecticut unless that person is a moderate like Shays or Simmons. If he wants to jump on that sinking ship and be a part of the Bush administration, I'd say let him go.

Not to throw out the race card, but how would a Jewish person in charge with the occupation of Muslim country play out in the Arab world? Does the Bush administration want to open up Pandora's box further with appointing someone who not only is a strong supporter of Israel, but who is also Jewish?