PUNISH LIEBERMAN? A MONTH AGO, CONNECTICUT VOTERS SAID NO

Talk about not being willing to take your own side in an argument: even though a new (nationwide) poll finds a very different response, a month ago Quinnipiac found that an overwhelming majority of Connecticut voters didn't want Joe Lieberman stripped of his committee chairmanship if he filibustered the health care bill, with only a plurality -- not a majority -- of Democrats in favor of that punishment.

Quinnipiac, November 12, 2009:

Voters say 64 - 29 percent that Democrats should not strip Lieberman of his committee chairmanship if he joins Republicans in a filibuster against the Democrats' health care reform....



49%-42%? That's the most anger Democrats could muster? And independents backed Lieberman even more than Republicans overwhelmingly, in this supposedly liberal state?

Now, here's what a new nationwide poll says:

... The liberal action groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America commissioned a survey several days ago....

Eighty-one percent of Democrats said they would like to see the senator's chairmanship ... taken away should he sustain a filibuster. Only 10 percent of Democrats said there should be no punishment....

An additional 43 percent of independents agreed that Lieberman should lose his post, with 30 percent saying no. Only ten percent of Republicans, meanwhile, thought Lieberman should be punished under such a scenario -- while 66 percent said he should not.

All told, 47 percent of the public said Senate leaders should remove Lieberman from his chairmanship if he joins the Republican filibuster; 32 percent said they should allow him to keep the post; 21 percent said they weren't sure....

Maybe Connecticut public opinion is evolving more in this direction. But if it isn't, Democrats and moderate-to-liberal independents are spinelessly letting Lieberman skate.