Weener-Whiner, Tomato-Tomahto; Whatever, Joe Lieberman

As he discussed with Imus the debate between Reps. Peter King and Anthony Weiner over the House’s failure to pass a health care bill for 9/11 first responders, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, an Independent, paused to consider a pressing issue.

“Is it ‘wee-ner’ or ‘whi-ner?’” he wondered, referring to the pronunciation of the Democratic Congressman’s last name.

Imus told his guest it was the former, then asked if Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, had a problem saying “weiner” on the air. He also pointed out that Lieberman possesses a weiner, in case that was somehow unclear to the Senator.

“This could lead to a series of jokes about what it means to be a mohel,” said Lieberman, referring to the person who performs the circumcision and bris ceremony for a Jewish baby boy. Those jokes, undoubtedly, would have been hilarious.

Putting the weener-whiner debate on hold, Lieberman went on to say that from what he knew, King had made a good point that the bill should have never been brought to a two-thirds majority vote.

“I frankly don’t know Congressman Weiner that well, so I suppose I have a slight inclination to go with Pete King,” Lieberman, the Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, confessed. King, a Republican, is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Whomever he supports or believes in this controversy, Lieberman observed that it is typical of the way Washington runs these days. “Two guys have the same goal,” he said. “And yet they’re screaming at each other as if they were enemies.”

Whatever King’s complaints about the Democrats implementing a two-thirds majority vote instead of a simple majority vote, Imus noted that King’s fellow Republicans should have voted in favor of this important piece of legislation regardless of procedure.  

“This is why people are so angry at Congress and why Congress is so unpopular,” said Lieberman.

Even less popular than Congress, at least for a time, was former President George W. Bush, who Lieberman believes deserves more credit, especially from President Obama, for not walking away from Iraq when it would have been politically expedient to do so.

Lieberman called the troop surge in that country “an amazing turnaround,” and predicted it would be viewed as “one of the greatest moments in American military history.”  Obama, he added, also deserves some recognition.

“He stuck with the program,” Lieberman pointed out, which is contrary to what many of his supporters thought he would do. Though Imus chimed in that Obama hasn’t done most of the things his supporters thought he would do.

Back to more important topics, Imus told Lieberman that Rep. Weiner had actually opted for the “wee-ner” pronunciation of his last name over “whi-ner,” though Lieberman observed either was vulnerable.

“He’s fine with it,” Imus commented about Weiner’s comfort with his last name. “I guess you and I aren’t.”

-Julie Kanfer