Lieberman fears for country if Senate Dems get to 60

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he fears
that America will be hurt if Democrats achieve a 60-seat, filibuster-proof
majority in the Senate as a result of the elections.

{mosads}Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate on the 2000
Democratic ticket and sought the party’s nomination four years later, became an
Independent after losing in the 2006 Connecticut primary. He still caucused
with Democrats in the 110th Congress and gave his old party a slim majority in
the Senate. However, the rift between Lieberman and his colleagues widened when
he not only endorsed Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain
(Ariz.), but also repeatedly slammed Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama
(Ill.).

His remarks Tuesday could further damage his relationship
with his former party. The Democratic base is already calling for him to be stripped of his chairmanship. However, it could also be an indication that Lieberman could deny his former party the 60-seats it seeks.

Lieberman was asked on the Glenn Beck radio show whether
he agreed with GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) that “if we don’t at least have the
firewall of the filibuster in the Senate, that in many ways America will not
survive.”

“Well, I hope it’s not like that, but I fear,” Lieberman
responded.

Hatch, in an earlier appearance on Fox News, had said:
“If we don’t have the right to utilize that filibuster rule and force the Democrats
to have to get 60 votes, you’re going to get some of the worst legislation in
the history of the country.”

Lieberman touted the filibuster rule.

“[I]t was really put there, a 60-vote requirement, as
somebody said to me when I first came to the Senate, to stop the passions of a
moment among the people of America from sweeping across the Congress, the
House, to the Senate and to a likeminded president and having us do things that
will change America for a long time,” Lieberman said. “So the filibuster is one
of the great protections we have.”