Lieberman deserves re-election
Kos has a post today that says Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) would run as an independent were he to lose in the Democratic primary.
I realize a lot of Democrats and left-leaning types are quite unhappy with Lieberman given his position on the Iraq war, and I agree that he's wrong on that. However, name me a US Senator that you haven't disagreed with from time to time. When I worked on the Hill, I had a chance to work with Lieberman's office on different legislative initiatives.
If you're an environmentalist, losing Lieberman's place in the Senate would be a major loss. Do you know who has been the primary sponsor of legislation in the Senate designating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness? Answer: Sen. Joe Lieberman.
He's also been a vocal opponent of the president's tax policies, opposed his efforts to privatize Social Security, and has been a proponent of campaign finance reform. There are reasons to be ticked at him, and people are rightly vocalizing their feelings when he's on the wrong side of an issue. I don't see him losing the primary anyway so this whole debate could be moot. Out of a desire for some balance, I thought it worth mentioning that he's not simply a Republican posing as a Democrat.
Maybe this is how many Republicans feel about Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). On most issues he's reliably conservative, but on others he makes their blood boil.
posted by Scott @ 7:02 PM
3 Comments:
I think the problem with Lieberman is that he gives "bi-partisan" cover to so many Bush administration policies. This quote is part of the problem:
I and some other journalists had lunch with Senator Joe Lieberman the other day and we listened to him talking about Iraq. Either Senator Lieberman is so divorced from reality that he's completely lost the plot or he knows he's spinning a line. Because one of my colleagues turned to me in the middle of this lunch and said he's not talking about any country I've ever been to and yet he was talking about Iraq, the very country where we were sitting.
Joe's stands on environmental issues are admirable, but those issues are moot in a senate that disregards Democratic priorities. Instead, Joe's attempts to appear as a maverick are misguided and only inflame doubts about his commitment to the party.
I agree this all could be moot, but I see no problem in challenging him to prove his commitment to actual Democratic principles and not himself.
Right on! Lieberman is one of the best democrats we have in my opinion.
Good guy or not, our disastrous and dangerous foreign policy is the single biggest issue that we face right now and we need people on our side who understand the truth behind the occupation. Otherwise, what’s to stop this from happening again? I won’t go as far as to call America's war supporters war criminals but they need to be held responsible for what’s happened.
If there’s someone better out there who’s consistent on liberal issues and who won’t provide Fox News with a ton of Democrat-bashing sound bites then I don’t see the harm with supporting that other person. And with respect to John McCain, if he ever acknowledged that he agrees with Ted Kennedy on the occupation, his political future in the Republican Party would be finished. Would it kill us to weed out our weaknesses too? In the words of the Cobra Kai, we need to “show no mercy” with Lieberman.
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