You did say you were from CT right? I concede. You make a valid point...I just think this guy has admirable traits for a leader and has seemingly been lampooned unfairly... good post, btw.
Yes. I live in CT. CT residents do not vote along party lines. We tend to lean left but our governer is a Republican as is the senator whom Lieberman replaced 16 years ago. Generally speaking, we are social liberals and fiscal conservatives. Most people are Independent voters - no matter the political affiliation.
Sorry, but some of this conversation puts him squarely in Zell Miller territory, even if he is a little more coy than Zell, the message comes through loud and clear. (And Chaffee is not more liberal than most Dems, he's just more liberal than most Repubs, though if anything is really important, he'll always go with the Repubs., as would Lieberman.) Hypocrite. One of the most disgusting images from Katrina was the replay of Brown's confirmation hearing where Joe was the Chair... he's sitting there yucking it up when the basic facts of Brown's incompetence were already known. He chose to not challenge the administration on an important confirmation because he ddin't want to rock the boat and the whole damn nation paid for it. A leader would have done everything possible to stop that confirmation, Lieberman rubber-stamped it. In my view, Katrina is so important and so devastating that any politician who contributed to that travesty ought to pay with their political life be they Dem, Repub, or some hideous combination of the two.
I'm still getting over this registered independent thing. Is that like a club for people who don't belong to clubs?
It means Lieberman is pulling a Carolle Keeton Rylander Strayhorn Jones Smith. He has no chance at winning as a Democrat, just like she has no chance at winning the Texas Governor's race as the Republican she has been for two decades, so they run as independents. In other words....politics as usual.
Why is Liberman taking this stand? He could switch his views on the war and win the election easily. But he would rather leave the party than switch. Liberman is part of the DLC which is heaily infuenced by the Israel lobby.
Well Zell Miller did vote for Bill Frist for majority leader. Something that is anathema to do for another party. Lieberman has yet to do anything like that. Chafee holds some views more liberal than Democrats like Ben Nelson. To be fair Lieberman wasn't the only Democrat to vote for Michael Brown and at the time of his confirmation Katrina hadn't occured. Its true that they should've taken FEMA more seriously but I have a hard time laying the devestation on Katrina heavily on Lieberman's shoulders. If it was that important and the Senators should've known ahead of time any senator, not just comittee chair could've put a hold on his nomination or pressed for more debate You seem to recognize that since you say any politician Dem or Repub shold be held responsible yet you are holding Lieberman particularly responsible. You accuse Lieberman of being in Zell Miller territory as someone who betrayed is party to vote for someone of another party to take leadership of the Senate and then became the keynote speaker at the Republican convention Lieberman has never done anything like that and for the vast amount of his political career has been a staunch supporter of the Democratic party.
This is one I would chalk up to him honestly believing in his position. The DLC isn't going to bale him out.
I think it's his honest position as well. My beef with Lieberman is what I have seen as him going out of his way, on different occasions, to voice support for the Administration when it hurt his political party. I may disagree with his support of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but he is not alone as a Democrat in that. What has me incensed now is explicitly stating that he'll run as an independent if his party, the primary voters of his state, vote for another candidate. That is dispicable, and unforgivable. In my opinion. Keep D&D Civil.
Why is it despicable to want to keep your job as long as it's done honestly? So now abandoning the Democratic Party is dishonest?
the one thing i admire about dubya is his loyalty. it gets him in trouble sometimes but he's loyal as hell. and thats incredibly rare in politics. gop joe has never heard the word.
I don't know much about CT nor do I claim I do. I do think the Repubs and Dems are squabblers who care more about hating each other than actually helping the freaking country. I absolutely think it is a travesty/sham/mockery that Lieberman claims himself as an independent. Usually an independent should be someone with fresh ideas and represents the people who support him. He is neither. His claim to fame is to continuously hate on video games and movies thinking everyone is from the 1800s like him.
I thought that the Republicans were pissed at President Bush. Doesn't that mean he was disloyal to them in some way. Same with Llieberman-- substitute Democrats for Republicans. Just maybe these guys have a loyalty to something bigger than the political party?
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/State Polls/June 2006/ConnecticutPrimary.htm "Leiberman 46% Lamont 40%...In the General Election, Lieberman wins handily as either a Democrat or an Independent." 6/16/06 -- three weeks ago
Lieberman was born in Stamford, Connecticut to Henry Lieberman (the son of Polish Jewish immigrants) and Marcia Manger (of Austrian Jewish background). He attended public schools in Stamford, received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1964 and his law degree from Yale Law School in 1967, after which he worked at the prestigious New Haven law firm of Wiggin & Dana. During Lieberman's time at Yale, he travelled to Mississippi to help African-Americans register to vote. Lieberman was elected to the Connecticut State Senate in 1970 and served there for 10 years, including the last 6 as Majority Leader. He suffered his one defeat in Connecticut elections in the Reagan landslide year of 1980, losing the race for the Third District Congressional seat to Republican Lawrence Joseph DeNardis, a state senator from suburban Hamden. From 1982 to 1988, he served as Connecticut's 21st Attorney General. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lieberman mister, we could use a man like Joe Lieberman in the Senate.
For crying out loud, "Mister" basso. I'm referring to the beliefs that brought him to the Democratic Party. The Party stands for something. Mister Lieberman felt strongly enough about what it stood for to spend decades working his way up through the ranks. He ran as it's candidate for Vice-President 6 years ago. Now, before he's even gone through the primary to see if his constituents still believe he is the right man to represent them in the United States Senate, Mister Lieberman chooses to play it "safe." He decides that who the members of his political party, all those men and women who have supported him through the years, want as a candidate doesn't matter, that he will run as an independent and ignore their wishes if they decide it's time for someone else. I find that despicable and hypocritical. Of course, one would have to have beliefs in what their political party stands for to care. I do. I don't know what you believe in, Mister basso. Where I come from, you don't toss aside your party like a worn-out shirt. If you think something is wrong with it, you try to fix it. You vote, and work to get those who share your beliefs the nomination of your party, whatever the office is that he or she is running for. The man hasn't even lost the primary, but he's ready to toss aside the party that got him where he is today to "cover all the bases." Mister Lieberman is a hypocrite. He has shown himself to be no different from the politicians most of us wish would hide under a rock when elections roll around. He has lost his way. It wouldn't surprise me if he lost the primary because he decided to run as an independent in the event that he lost. What irony. Keep D&D Civil.
