By now, many of you may have heard that Senator Joe Lieberman has decided not to run for re-election in 2012.
That means that one of the last voices of sanity in the Democratic Party is retiring.
Lieberman was a principled liberal in the old sense of the word, one of the last remnants of the Scoop Jackson Democrats who coupled his liberal social views with a belief in American exceptionalism, common sense and patriotism. In Stephen Hayes' excellent biography of Vice President Dick Cheney, he recounts how newsmen watching the substantial 2000 vice presidential debate between Cheney and Lieberman remarked that the wrong two guys were running at the top of the ticket.
In the end of course, Lieberman's refusal to get in line with the Democrat parade demonizing President Bush over the Iraq War while our troops were under fire cost him his party's nomination. In spite of that, he was able to win re-election as an independent thanks to his record, his essential decency, and the fact that in Ned Lamont he was running against an absolute loon. But he was increasingly out of alignment with the kind of Connecticut Democrats that felt Dick Blumenthal was a worthy choice for Senator, and his options were to either swap parties or to run again as an independent in a three man race, both of which carried pretty long odds, especially after Lieberman erred on the side of principle and supported his old friend John McCain for president.
So after 4 terms in the Senate, Joe Lieberman is leaving the building. America will be poorer for his absence.
You think a lot more highly of him than I do. His support for the war efforts and for Israel is almost insignificant when you think of all the other things he stood for. He might be missed by some, but not by me.
ReplyDeleteamerica may be poorer for his absence, but is america is poorer still considering the types of people he represents.
ReplyDeleteyou know.
socialists.
24 years service is long enough.