Senator Joe Lieberman, 1942-2024
The 2000 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee turned maverick is gone at 82.
Washington Post, “Joseph Lieberman, senator and vice-presidential nominee, dies at 82“
Joseph I. Lieberman, the doggedly independent four-term U.S. senator from Connecticut who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, becoming the first Jewish candidate on the national ticket of a major party, died March 27 in New York City. He was 82.
The cause was complications from a fall, his family said in a statement. He fell at his home in the Bronx and was pronounced dead at a hospital in Manhattan.
Mr. Lieberman viewed himself as a centrist Democrat, solidly in his party’s mainstream with his support of abortion rights, environmental protections, gay rights and gun control. But he was also unafraid to stray from Democratic orthodoxy, most notably in his consistently hawkish stands on foreign policy.
His full-throated support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the increasingly unpopular war that followed doomed Mr. Lieberman’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and led to his rejection by Connecticut Democrats when he sought his fourth Senate term in 2006. He kept his seat by running that November as an independent candidate and attracting substantial support from Republican and unaffiliated voters.
“I have not always fit comfortably into conventional political boxes,” Mr. Lieberman said near the end of his Senate career, an understatement that tiptoed around the anger his maverick ways stoked among many liberals.
His transition from Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 on the Democratic ticket to high-profile cheerleader for Republican presidential candidate John McCain eight years later was a turnaround unmatched in recent American politics.
In a prime-time speech at the 2008 Republican convention, Mr. Lieberman hailed McCain, a senator from Arizona and former Vietnam War POW, for his courage and accomplishment. He dismissed Barack Obama, the one-term senator from Illinois and Democratic nominee, as “a gifted and eloquent young man” who lacked the experience needed in the White House.
New York Times, “Joseph I. Lieberman, Senator and Vice-Presidential Nominee, Dies at 82“
Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut’s four-term United States senator and Vice President Al Gore’s Democratic running mate in the 2000 presidential election, which was won by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney when the Supreme Court halted a Florida ballot recount, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 82.
[…]
At his political peak, on the threshold of the vice presidency, Mr. Lieberman — a national voice of morality as the first major Democrat to rebuke President Bill Clinton for his sexual relationship with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky — was named Mr. Gore’s running mate at the Democratic National Convention that August in Los Angeles. He became the nation’s first Jewish candidate on a major-party presidential ticket.
In the ensuing campaign, the Gore-Lieberman team stressed themes of integrity to sidestep the Clinton administration’ scandals, and Mr. Lieberman urged Americans to bring religion and faith more prominently into public life.
[…]
Mr. Lieberman sought the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination but lost multiple primaries and withdrew from the race in February. He believed his support for the war in Iraq had doomed his candidacy.
Even his standing with Connecticut voters had slipped. Running for a fourth Senate term in 2006, he lost the Democratic primary to an antiwar candidate but won in a stunning upset in the general election as a third-party independent on the “Connecticut for Lieberman” ballot line.
[…]
During his Senate tenure from 1989 to 2013, Mr. Lieberman was an independent who wore no labels easily. He called himself a reform, centrist and moderate Democrat, but he generally sided with the Democrats on domestic issues, like abortion choices and civil rights, and with the Republicans on foreign and defense policies.
He supported Israel and called himself an “observant” Jew but not an Orthodox one because he did not follow strict Orthodox practices. His family kept a kosher home and attended Sabbath services. To avoid conveyances on a Sabbath, he once walked across town to the Capitol to block a Republican filibuster after attending services in Georgetown.
Many Democrats criticized Mr. Lieberman’s support for the war in Iraq, but admirers said his strengths with voters lay in his rectitude, his religious faith and his willingness to compromise.
Associated Press, “Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP pick in 2000, dead at 82“
Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in the disputed 2000 election and who almost became Republican John McCain’s running mate eight years later, has died, according to a statement issued by his family.
[…]
Lieberman’s independent streak and especially his needling of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential contest rankled many Democrats, the party he aligned with in the Senate. Yet his support for gay rights, civil rights, abortion rights and environmental causes at times won him the praise of many liberals over the years.
“In an era of political carbon copies, Joe Lieberman was a singularity. One of one,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat. “He fought and won for what he believed was right and for the state he adored.”
Over the last decade, Lieberman helped lead No Labels, a centrist third-party movement that has said it will offer as-yet-unnamed candidates for president and vice president this year. Some groups aligned with Democrats oppose the effort, fearing it will help presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump win the White House.
The group on Wednesday called Lieberman’s unexpected death a “profound loss,” describing him as “a singular figure in American political life who always put his country before party.”
[…]
Gore said in a statement Wednesday night that he was profoundly saddened by the death of his one-time running mate. He called Lieberman “a truly gifted leader, whose affable personality and strong will made him a force to be reckoned with” and said his dedication to equality and fairness started at a young age, noting Lieberman traveled to the South to join the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
“It was an honor to stand side-by-side with him on the campaign trail,” Gore said.
Lieberman is perhaps the archetype of the dramatic shifts that have taken place in our parties over the last quarter century. He went from being his party’s vice presidential nominee in 2000 to losing in his party’s Senate primary in 2006 to endorsing the other party’s presidential nominee in 2008.* It’s hard to think of a figure so prominent in his party who became an outcast with shifting ties so quickly. Mitt Romney, perhaps?
Then again, the editors of National Review remind me that Lieberman first got elected to the Senate with some help from that magazine’s founder, William F. Buckley, Jr. It’s perhaps fitting that he’s remembered more fondly in that magazine than those on the left. Indeed, as of this writing, neither The New Republic nor The Nation mention his passing at all.
Indeed, I still maintain that John McCain should have followed his gut and put Lieberman on the ticket rather than the ignoramus Sarah Palin. He would almost surely still lost but it would have been a closer and more dignified race.
Lieberman was Manchin before Manchin – an egotistical scold and a hideous choice by Gore to be VP. Gore didn’t need a polarizing “centrist” to tut tut about Bill Clinton, he needed someone who could inject some passion into the cause. The GOP used Lieberman to pump up John McCain and then, to no one’s surprise, tossed him aside. I’m trying to think of the times I might have said, “Lieberman’s a good guy,” and drawing a blank.
@Charley in Cleveland: As you note, the selection was apparently an attempt by Gore to place some distance between himself and Clinton’s moral failings, as Lieberman was the first Democrat to publicly rebuke Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal (though he voted against conviction). He also expected the historic nature of putting the first Jew on a ticket to work to his advantage. Maybe he thought it would help him among retirees in the Miami area. And who knows, maybe it did.
If Gore had picked either Florida Senator Bob Graham or New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen, the world would be a different place today. But that’s with the benefit of hindsight. Selecting vp candidates in order to win a specific state has a mixed track record historically. It’s also not especially common for an election to come down to a single state.
Reading about the selection process, it seems the Gore team passed over Graham because they thought he was too old (though he was only five years older than Lieberman) and because they thought they didn’t need him to win Florida.
@Charley in Cleveland: I have nothing but negative memories from this guy, but the one that made the most lasting impression was his pathetic performance in the VP debate against Cheney. It wasn’t just his fawning puppy dog demeanor, where it was obvious he viewed Cheney as the alpha to his wanna-be beta, but he was also so ill prepared that he left Cheney unchallenged as he made one false and misleading statement after another.
When I moved to Connecticut I was looking forward to voting against him, but he retired before my first election there.
Those encomiums from WAPO, NYT, and AP epitomize everything that’s wrong with the supposedly liberal MSM, elevating style and drama over real world consequences. For a palate cleanser may I recommend Erik Loomis at LGM? After a detailed history of Holy Joe’s political career Loomis concludes,
@gVOR10: Not everyone is fawning. Is it just me, or do Gore’s comments (quoted above) sound a little wanting in warmth?
I think the two had a falling out after Gore endorsed Howard Dean for president in 2004. It made sense given his views on the Iraq War, as well as the fact that Lieberman’s candidacy wasn’t going anywhere by that point. But Lieberman was reportedly angry about Gore’s endorsement of Dean, viewing it as a betrayal.
@Charley in Cleveland:
What you said.
@Charley in Cleveland:
100%. The bothsiderism of Lieberman got tiresome. As of last week, he was still trying to get Chris Christie to run as the “No Labels” candidate a the top of the ticket. Chris Christie??? Seriously? Dems hate him and the GOP hates him. WTF?
@gVOR10: People always say you shouldn’t kick someone when they are down (and dead is as down as you can get), but this obit is perfect for Lieberman. Everyone should read the whole thing, if for no other reason to never forget what a weasel he was. Also, his wife, Hadassah was a lobbyist for pharma and health care companies, so Lieberman might just have been holding up things like the public option because he was benefitting financially.
Perhaps his finest hour was when Brave Brave Sir Lieberman sacrificed his political career, in service of his home state cash cow AETNA, to screw up the AHCA.
The old Knight of AETNA stood alone, outnumbered, surrounded and trapped, in despair within the fortress of Health Insurance Deep. Would Palin The White arrive with her horde of wild Tea Men in time? Would it make any difference if She did?? This could not be known. So he gathered himself, and with a mighty cry, did his One Last Ride into glory.
Lieberman’s fervent support for using American military muscle in the “war on terror”, which in practice meant killing and immiserating millions of Muslims, made him in my mind an accessory to war crimes. God knows how many people around the world formed negative opinions of the United States after seeing the “three amigos” – McCain, Liebermen and Graham – standing resolutely in some barren corner of the Middle East or Africa or Asia, demanding that America drop more bombs on it.
It was a fittingly cynical end to his political career that he spent it looking for a “bipartisan” third party candidate to head a pipedream “unity ticket”, but all the names he mentioned bar one were Republicans.
@EddieInCA:
Christie is the perfect candidate for a both sides fanatic. Both sides despise him. He would be a perfect mascot.
Lieberman’s vote killed the public option portion of the PPACA. I understand he was in Aetna’s pocket, but that doesn’t excuse it. As a Gulf War veteran, I am one of those who thinks supporting the later Iraq war should disqualify anyone from being taken seriously.