Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut needs to go. To the Republican Party. Now.

He met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday and for some reason Reid didn’t throw him bodily from the party or take away his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, or at the very least paste him one in the kisser for endorsing John McCain at the Republican Convention.

First, the little weasel loses in the Democratic primary, so he flops over to run as an independent, winning to retain his Senate seat and chairmanship.

Meanwhile, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has reached out to Lieberman about joining the Republican Conference. But since the Dems haven’t gotten up the gumption to give him a swift kick in that direction, Lieberman is still bargaining with Democratic leaders to keep his chairmanship.

And make no mistake, as usual with Lieberman, it’s not about party or personal loyalty, it’s all about Lieberman. Lieberman’s just out to negotiate the best deal for Lieberman — on Liebermanian terms, of course:

A Republican Senate aide said Friday morning that there was little McConnell could offer in terms of high-ranking committee slots, which is why Lieberman is resisting overtures from the Republican side.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Lieberman met Thursday, yet Reid is waffling over whether to revoke Lieberman’s chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee and may instead hold a secret vote among Democratic members on whether to kick Lieberman out of the caucus.

Senate aides from both parties caution that Lieberman’s state is still truly up in the air and Reid could still craft a scenario where Lieberman keeps his chairmanship.

Yeah, and if you pull on my finger, monkeys will fly out of my butt.

Lieberman should be toast, not the prom queen everybody wants to date. If the Republicans want him for a mascot, the Democratic Party should leave him twisting in the wind. Trouble is, here just a few days after the election, the majority is not acting like a majority and the minority is still acting like the majority.