Bayh: Leiberman Must Apologize… or Else

WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. Evan Bayh yesterday called on Sen. Joe Lieberman to apologize for his campaign-season criticisms of Sen. Barack Obama, noting that freedom of speech and entitlement to one’s own opinion “are not consistent with the values of the Democratic party as it is presently constituted.”

Bayh said that stripping Lieberman of his chairmanship position on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would be “pretty good payback” for the Connecticut senator’s support of John McCain in the general election, and that it would also serve as a “shot across the bow” to any other prominent Democrats or Indepedents who “might be tempted to blaspheme” the Democratic President-Elect.

Speaking on MSNBC, Bayh suggested that Democrats should sternly warn Lieberman, “Look, we’re giving you a chance here, but if you don’t do the right things as chairman, and if we see any continuation of this kind of dangerous free thinking, you’ll wish you were never born — uh, I mean, elected.”

Asked to comment on the rumor that Democratic Senate leadership might reassign an unapologetic Lieberman to oversee the closing of the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Bayh laughed and said, “If we do send Joe down there, I imagine we’ll want to keep it open.” 

Nov 14