An open letter to fellow lefties (if we may call you that):

Friends, a great disservice has been done to our cause. After months of pulling together, blogging, organizing, calling, walking, mailing, and doing the myriad things a movement must do to get real change in place, we’ve crossed the finish line in victory only to be punked in the end zone. By one our own team captains.

We refer, of course, to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader in the United States Senate. Senator Reid has been an occasional friend to our movement, supporting things like net neutrality, health care, a higher minimum wage and federal judges who think stare decisis also applies to rulings such as Marbury v. Madison.

But Senator Reid has been an inconstant friend: He voted for the war in Iraq, failed to end that war even after Democrats gained a bare majority in the Senate and supported terrible things such as the USA Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping.

But now, he’s done something even worse: He’s allowed that traitorous rat U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman to keep his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (Lieberman, you’ll recall, said he would not attack Barack Obama on the campaign trail, and then did nothing but for weeks.) And those weren’t mild attacks, either: He told the American public that Obama was unfit to serve as commander in chief.

Of course, Lieberman’s antics have been rejected by voters, not just in the 2008 election, which Obama won decisively despite Lieberman’s attacks, but in his own home state of Connecticut, where Democrat Ned Lamont bested Lieberman in a Democratic primary in 2006. Lieberman only survived because he ran as an independent, and was supported by plenty of Republicans.

Our sometimes-friend Harry Reid, however, has not rejected Lieberman. Despite his treachery, despite being wrong about the central foreign policy issue of our time — the Iraq War — and despite slurring the Democratic standard bearer all over the campaign trail, including at the Republican convention in September, Reid allowed Lieberman to stay in the Democratic fold.

Sure, Reid was rumored to be mulling a punishment for Lieberman, repeatedly, in fact, but in the end, he caved.

And even worse, he’s cool with it: “I am very satisfied with what we did today. I feel good about what we did today. I don’t apologize to anyone for what we did today,” he told reporters after the Democratic caucus voted 42-13 in secret ballot not to dump Lieberman.

He’s satisfied? He feels good about it? And this is the guy who’s in charge?

“We’ve moved forward, recognizing that there’s a period of time in Joe Lieberman’s political career that I will never understand and approve. But I also recognize that he’s been in public service for decades,” Reid said.

You know who else was in public service for decades, even longer than Lieberman? Ted Stevens of Alaska. And he still got bounced after being convicted of seven felonies related to concealing gifts from a contributor. But Lieberman, whose felony douchbaggery is manifest, gets off with a weak statement of censure and losing the chairmanship of a subcommittee?

Friends, the question we must ask now is this: Can we find it in our hearts to forgive Harry Reid for forgiving the traitorous rat Joe Lieberman? Can we simply say there’s a period of time in Harry Reid’s political career that we will never understand or approve? (Actually, make that several periods, including the time he voted for war in Iraq; the time he said he relied on Colin Powell’s presentation for his war vote, even though that presentation happened several months after the aforementioned war vote; the time he voted for the USA Patriot Act; the time he compromised on offshore drilling; the time he compromised on warantless wiretapping; the times he’s failed to bring an end to torture, gulags and war; … well, you get the idea.)

Reid is up for re-election in 2010, and, even with all the new Democrats in Nevada, he’ll still need us lefties if he’s going to win yet another term. The Republicans are bound to come up with somebody credible to run against Reid (don’t think they’ll actually nominate Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki — they may be bruised, but they’re not stupid). Does the left join with other Democrats to put Reid back in office, despite his shortcomings?

We invite discussion, because at this point, we’re just not sure.

P.S. The editorial page of the Review-Journal, which is a regional newspaper published in Southern Nevada, praised Reid for showing restraint. Can there be greater evidence that he’s wrong?