Joe Lieberman to Retire in 2012

Politically fickle Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is expected to announce today that he will not seek another term in the 2012 election season. Lieberman left the Democratic party after losing the democratic primary in 2006 due to his support for the Iraq War. He went on win another term as an independent candidate and has continued to play both sides of the political fence, often taking extremely liberal and extremely conservative positions that often baffle observers.

Last year Lieberman was given the task of overseeing the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell by President Obama, due to his bipartisan appeal.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday night:

Lieberman's office did not offer any comment on his plans, saying only that he would make an announcement tomorrow in Stamford, Conn. "The Senator's remarks tomorrow will stand on their own," said a Lieberman spokeswoman.

Lieberman will be the second senator who caucuses with Democrats to make public his plans to leave the chamber in the past 24 hours. On Tuesday morning, North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad said he would not seek a fifth term in 2012.

On the Republican side, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced her retirement last week.

Lieberman's long-awaited decision means an end to a political career that took him from the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nomination to a 2004 Democratic presidential candidacy to a speaking role at the 2008 Republican National Convention in support of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Lieberman's increased alienation from the Democratic Party -- primarily over his ardent support for the war in Iraq -- led to his defeat at the hands of cable television executive Ned Lamont in 2006. But Lieberman formed his own independent party and beat Lamont in a general election to win a fourth term.

His numbers among Democrats only declined since that time, however, making it next-to-impossible for Lieberman to run and win as a Democrat in 2012.

With Lieberman out, the focus will turn to a very tightly contested Democratic primary between Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and Rep. Chris Murphy. Bysiewicz announced her candidacy Tuesday while Murphy was expected to formally enter the race within days. Rep. Joe Courtney has also said he is considering a candidacy.

For Republicans, Linda McMahon, who lost an open seat race to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) in 2010, is considering another bid. Former Rep. Rob Simmons is also mentioned as is Tom Foley who was narrowly edged out in the gubernatorial race last fall.

Given Connecticut's Democratic lean, the party has to feel good about its chances now that Lieberman won't be splitting up the vote three ways and thereby lowering the win number for the eventual GOP nominee.

It's a rare bit of good news for Democrats who face daunting odds in 2012. They must defend 23 seats while Republicans have only 10 incumbents up for reelection in November 2012.

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Lady Gaga's New DADT Message to Senators: "Will you keep your word?" (Video)

Lady Gaga's latest video is making news around the world, but not for breaking new ground musically or for her butcher shop fashion sense. Monday night, on the eve of the release of the much-anticipated troop survey on the effects of getting rid of the discriminatory policy, Gaga is once again calling on our leaders to lead.

In the black and white video, which appears to have been shot in her dressing room, Gaga tells her little monsters, "Right now, we're looking at tomorrow [Tuesday] being a very important day for you guys all to really be paying attention."

The pop diva has teamed up with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) in an effort to launch a major last minute push for repeal during the current lame duck session. "Senators you have been put on notice by me and by the people of this country. You said you would debate and address this law when the Pentagon returned with a strategy and tomorrow morning you will have. Will you keep your word?"

SLDN has posted an instructional video, along with a sample script, to encourage all of us to call our elected reps in the senate to tell them DADT has got to go:

Call the Senate switchboard today.

(202) 224-3121

Example script for your call:

"Hello, my name is ______ and I’m a constituent from __________ (city, state).

I’m calling to tell Senator _______ to prioritize the defense bill with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal included during the lame-duck session. Fight back against Senator John McCain’s opposition and please vote for DADT repeal this year.

Thank you.”

So all you queer Virginians better get on the phone today and tell Senator Mark Warner and Senator Jim Webb, who both said they wanted to wait for the survey results before making up their minds about DADT repeal, to get on board with Senators Reid and Levin ~ and over 70% of the American people ~ and get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If you live outside of Virginia and don't know who your U.S. senators are, you can find a list of them here on the Senate web site. 

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Cool Site of the Week/Joe.My.God.: Sen. Chambliss Apologizes to Joe for Staffer's Anti-gay Threat

Blogger, Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God.

After the senate Republicans successfully scuttled the vote on this year's Defense Authorization Act, which contains language to repel DADT, a comment appeared on the popular blog, Joe.My.God, saying "All faggots must die." The commenter signed it only as "Jimmy".

Joe Jervis, the award-winning New York blogger behind JMG is not one to take something like that lying down. With the help of some contacts, Jervis was able to trace the IP address to the Atlanta  Senate Offices of  Republican Saxby Chambliss. You can follow the leads here.

Jervis reported yesterday that he received a personal phone call from Sen. Chambliss apologizing for the actions of his staffer. Joe was not going to let him off the hook so easily. Following is Joe's account of the conversation:

CHAMBLISS: "Joe, I don't know if you're Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, but none of that should matter. Because what was said on your blog by someone from my office is just not acceptable, no matter who is saying it and who it's being said to. I just want to offer my sincerest apologies. There has been some talk about how long it's taking to find the person behind this, but we just wanted to be very careful and handed this off to the Senate Sergeant at Arms, because this is going to seriously impact somebody's life and we wanted to make sure we got this right. So again, I just wanted to call you and personally apologize."

JMG: "Thank you, Senator. I do appreciate the call and I do accept your apology on the condition that your office issues a public statement repeating what you've just said to me. I'd also like the disposition of your staffer's job status to be made public."

CHAMBLISS: (Speaking to someone in his office: "Has that gone out yet?) "Joe, I believe our statement is ready and will be going out this afternoon."

I love it! Joe totally rocks! This is why I he's one of my favorite bloggers. He doesn't take any shit and never backs down. For all of these reasons -- plus getting a homophobic asshole fired -- I am bestowing Joe.My.God. the coveted Cool Site of the Week award. JMG was one of the first queer blogs I discovered a few years ago. Joe inspires me every day to dig deeper and go farther than I otherwise might do. Mazel tov, Joe!

MSNBC's Keith Olberman also weighed in on the story and had this to say:

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Sen. Mark Warner's Office to Hold Meeting on GLBT Issues in Roanoke

Roanoke Equality has received an invitation from the office of Senator Mark Warner inviting members to attend a meeting in the senator's Roanoke office on Salem Ave. to address our concerns. The invitation reads as follows:

Lou Kadiri
Constituent Services Director for Senator Mark Warner

Beatriz Ibarra, legislative counsel to Senator Warner, will be in Roanoke Friday, Sept. 3. We are hosting a meeting with Beatriz at the Senate office from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. that Friday and invite the local GLBT community to discuss any legislative concerns/issues they might have (including DADT).

We look forward to seeing you there.

Best,

Lou Arnatt Kadiri
Office of Senator Mark R. Warner
129B Salem Ave SW, Roanoke VA 24011
(PH: 540-857-2676 FX: 540-857-2800
http://warner.senate.gov/public/

Please do what you can to attend this meeting. This is a rare opportunity for Roanoke's LGBT community to air our concerns to someone who can do something about it. Visit the Roanoke Equality FaceBook event page to RSVP to this event. Tell Senator Warner that you want him to move forward on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell and urge him to push for the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

September is Pride Month in Roanoke. Parties and festivals are great, but this is a chance for you to step up and make your voice heard. Support Roanoke Equality's efforts. Support your community. Show your true pride and attend this very important meeting.

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GetEqual Protest on Capitol Hill Today at Noon over Lack of Movement on ENDA

GetEqual the direct action LGBT rights group announced yesterday via press release that they will be staging a protest on Capitol Hill today calling on congress to move forward and vote on the much delayed Employment Non-Discrimination Act. ENDA, which would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT people in the workplace has suffered setback after setback, even though there appears to be enough support in Washington to pass it.

The clock is counting down on the current legislative session. There are less than 45 days left before congress adjourns for the mid-term election season in November.

GetEqual posted this statement on their website:

“We’ve heard all we can stand to hear from leaders in Congress, they promised a vote this calendar year and we expect them to honor their word,” said Robin McGhee, co-founder of GetEQUAL. “As the window continues to slowly close on available legislative calendar dates to vote on ENDA in the House and in the Senate, we will continue to hold Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid accountable for the direct promise they made to the LGBT community. Our community has done the work to lobby and educate members of Congress on the need for a fully inclusive ENDA and now is the time to stop the talking and start the voting.”

The picketing is scheduled to last for two hours from 12p - 2pm  near the Library of Congress, at the intersection of Independence Ave. SE and 1st St. SE. If you're in DC today and can lend your support to the effort, please be there.

GetEqual is responsible for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell protests where Lt. Dan Choi and others chained themselves to the White House fence and for staging sit-ins at the district offices House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. John McCaine.

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Joe Lieberman to Inroduce "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal Today

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will introduce a bill today calling for the repeal of "Don't, Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) The Advocate's Kerry Elveld reports:

The legislation, called the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010, would repeal the 1993 law that banned lesbian and gay soldiers from serving openly in the military and replace it with a policy that prohibits discrimination against service members on the basis of their sexual orientation. Lieberman explained that the nondiscrimination provision would make the change “more permanent legislatively,” so a future administration couldn’t revert back to something akin to “don’t ask, don’t tell” by executive action.

Read the full story here.

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