#JosephLieberman, the doggedly independent 4-term #US#senator from #Connecticut who was the Democratic nominee for VP in 2000, becoming the first Jewish candidate on the national ticket of a major party, died March 27 in NYC. He was 82.
The cause was complications from a fall, his family said in a statement.
His full-throated support of the 2003 invasion of #Iraq & the increasingly unpopular #war that followed doomed #JoeLieberman’s bid for the Democratic presidential nom in 2004 & led to his rejection by #Connecticut#Democrats when he sought his 4th #Senate term in 2006. He kept his seat by running that Nov as an #independent candidate & attracting substantial support from #Republican & unaffiliated voters.
“I have not always fit comfortably into conventional political boxes,” #JoeLieberman 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 #AlGore’s running mate in 2000 on the Democratic ticket to high-profile cheerleader for #JohnMcCain 8 yrs later was a turnaround unmatched in recent American politics.
…#JohnMcCain seriously considered making #JohnLieberman his running mate, but his advisers warned that #Lieberman’s Democratic history & voting record, particularly his stand in favor of #AbortionRights, would anger convention delegates & split the party. McCain instead chose the #RightWing#populist gov of Alaska, Sarah Palin, a decision he later said he regretted.
Most observers, including Lieberman, doubted that his presence on the ticket would have saved McCain from defeat by Obama….
…In Washington, #JoeLieberman became known as a serious-minded legislator adept at working w/colleagues on both sides of the aisle. One of his earliest achievements was having a leadership role in the bipartisan amendment in 1990 of the #CleanAirAct, beefing up federal #regulation of #pollutants.
He was also proud of bipartisan govt changes he helped enact after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, most prominently the creation of the #DHS & the restructuring of the #intelligence community.
#JoeLieberman generally voted w/his party (#Democrats), but he sided w/ #Republicans on cutting the capital gains tax, vouchers for parents to send their children to private schools, & placing restrictions on consumer lawsuits against corps, the latter of special interest to #Connecticut’s large #insurance companies.
His willingness to buck his party put him at odds w/teachers, trial lawyers & other powerful Dem constituencies. But it gave him influence w/in the increasingly #polarized#Senate….
…in #JoeLieberman’s 2012 farewell #Senate speech. “The greatest obstacle I see standing between us & the brighter American future we all want is right here in Washington,” he told colleagues. “It is the #partisan#polarization of our #politics which prevents us from making the principled compromises on which #progress in a #democracy depends.”
[just take a look at the House of Representatives for confirmation. Not that I’d go along w/any of House Republicans inane performative policies.]
Add comment