Posted on 12/15/2005 9:00:27 PM PST by LdSentinal
Having known U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman since the early 1970s, when he served as chairman of my American Jewish Committee chapter in New Haven, I recall how much I respected him as a young, liberal, public-spirited lawyer who really cared about the poor and disadvantaged in our society.
Joe helped me distribute flyers on behalf of Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers union. We ate lunch each week at the local vegetarian restaurant because, being an Orthodox Jew, he could not eat out anywhere else.
Then again, I also sadly remember Joe's first run for statewide office, attorney general of Connecticut, in the mid-1970s. I was based in New London, where state Rep. Patricia Hendel, a close friend of mine, wanted to run for secretary of state.
Unbelievably, Joe felt that two Jews on the ticket were one too many. I learned this when I got a call from a Lieberman family member asking me to discourage Pat from running, which I refused to do. I told this family member that this was America, and we did not have religious quotas for high office.
Joe was dealing the religious card from the bottom of the deck, and I never felt the same way toward him afterward.
But that was only the beginning. When Joe ran for vice president on the 2000 Democratic ticket headed by Al Gore, he ran for his U.S. Senate seat in the same election. In some states, candidates can't do that; they have to choose. But not Joe - he hedged his bets.
I was ashamed of Joe for running for both offices and told him so in a long letter, but I also forgave him for what he had become. All of us change with time, some for the better, some not.
Over the years, Joe has positioned himself as a "centrist Democrat," which means that as the Republicans moved far to the right, he moved with them, but not as far. He would not make a good Republican, but today he is certainly not a Democrat.
Point in fact: his enthusiastic support of George W. Bush's war in Iraq, a war based on lies, deceit, false premises and a thirst for Iraqi oil that has not been slaked. Long after the infamous "Mission Accomplished" photo-op with the president crowing and boasting, some 2,000 additional American lives (and countless Iraqi lives) have been lost. But Joe still opposes any kind of firm exit strategy, even though one is desperately needed.
Joe is not only out of tune with his own Democratic Party but with the American people as well. He should follow the lead of former U.S. senator and Connecticut governor Lowell Weicker, who formed a Connecticut Party when he ran for governor.
Lowell felt that neither of the two major parties represented where he stood - and so it is with Joe Lieberman. But in Joe's case, he often appears as a betrayer of Democratic stands and values in foreign policy, even if he is supportive of Democrats' domestic agenda.
It is one thing to be a maverick, a role Joe loves, declaring himself "the conscience of the Senate." It is another thing entirely to be a turncoat.
Hey, Joe, form your own party.
Apparently Democratic values in foreign policy are to cut and to run.
The long knives are out for Joe.
It's nice to know that he is deeply saddened.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
He's right Joe, come to the light! Come to the light! I'd LOVE to see Joe Leiberman switch parties and run for president in 2008.
Can you imagine the caterwauling on the left?
Oh, I forgot - only when sniveling Republicans bite the pillows for Dems do they get media/Dem approval - but when a Democrat does it's verboten....
Hypocrisy, thy name is socialists....
They sure are from this guy:
Bush/Lieberman in 2004?
Love It or Leave It
by Advocate Readers - January 1, 2004
Letters to the Editor
As the self-appointed Alpha male of the Anybody-But-Dean wolfpack ("The Anybody-But-Dean Syndrome," Dec. 18), Joe Lieberman continues to blast Howard Dean for Dean's honest statement that the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made the world safer.
Perhaps it is Joe's unique combination of sanctimonious posturing while treating fellow Democratic candidates as the enemy which cost him Al Gore's endorsement -- or perhaps it was Joe's running for the Senate and the Vice Presidency simultaneously in 2000, just to make sure he stayed employed in the District.
On the other hand, judging from the Lieberman ads running here in New Hampshire, Joe is proud that he has picked up the backing of some former McCain supporters -- not surprising, since Joe is as good a Republican as Sen. McCain. It's too bad that Joe claims to be a "new Democrat" -- otherwise, when Dick Cheney falls due to the Halliburton scandals, Joe would make a great running mate with George Bush in 2004. Eugene F. Elander
Wow, this says it all, a US Senator decides not to be a turncoat to his country, and is asked to leave his political party.
"a liberal weasel. It's nice to know that he is deeply saddened."
Heh, that's great. You took the words right out of my mouth!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
When Joe Lieberman published his Op Ed a few weeks ago, my first response was... "God Bless Joe Lieberman" Joe is one of the last "America First" Democrats left in his party and he should turn his back on them before it's too late. The Democrat Party is bankrupt and openly supports policies that will result in our defeat and gives aid and comfort to our enemies.
Or to run and hide
You know these rabid moonbats are off in outer space criticizing their own as not leftist enough even when they score a goose-egg from the ACU.
Delightful. What a disaster this would be . . . a GOP candidate with a lifetime rating of 17 by the American Conservative Union and annual ratings of 0 in both 2003 and 2004.
For the life of me, I can't understand why anyone on this site has any use for this Marxist jack@ss.
This is what Joe is being compared to.
Ooh..it's like a soap opera. More infighting as the rats continue to eat their own. HAHAHHAHA!
I must admit a grudging respect for Lieberman, if only for his blatant honesty in supporting President Bush on the war on terror. But Joe is deep down, a major libnut with regard to every other issue. He never toes the party line and I have not heard him use the lame DNC talking points, at least not lately.
The rats hate anything or anyone that loves their country and tries to do the right thing.
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