Harry Reid Sharpens His Axe For Robert Byrd, Joe Lieberman

It's a Democratic year, but not so much for turncoats and geriatrics. Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may have some demotions up his sleeve when the next Congress is sworn in…

Reid is under pressure from his rank and file to strip the gavels from Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.).

Byrd, who will turn 91 next month, has been physically unable to perform some duties associated with doling out nearly a third of the federal budget, while Lieberman’s decisions not just to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president but also to go on the attack against Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has made him a turncoat in many Democrats’ eyes.

The party's case against Byrd…

* He has been in and out of the hospital all year, sending aides to handle much of his business as chairman.

* His increasingly frequent religious outbursts have given the Senate all the decorum of a tent revival.

* We all know Reid is boring, but did Byrd really have to sleep through his speech about the troops?

The case against Lieberman…

* He ripped Barack Obama at the Republican Convention after explicitly promising not to.

* He used his recent interview with right-wing Newsmax.com to advocate more Bill Ayers campaign references and to suggest that he may defect to the Republican Party.

* It is physically impossible to caucus with the Democrats when you are across the room, wedged halfway up John McCain's ass.

Even if the two men are stripped of their committee chairmanships, Reid will undoubtedly put them to good use. Lieberman could be asked to further denigrate all that he stands for by barnstorming right-wing megachurches and appearing in their Passion Plays.

Byrd, meanwhile, could be dispatched to drought-ravaged plains states to patriotically drool on parched agriculture.

You know, it might be a good year for all Democrats after all.