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Yelling at Clouds's avatar

I’m sure he was nice to his dog. But then again, so was Hitler.

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Martha Olivares's avatar

Lieberman was a pretentious and “holier-than-thou”. I see his stamp on the counter-productive No Labels malarkey we are enduring as we head to the 2024 election.

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Sei's avatar

>Yes, the Democratic Party has shifted to the left on certain issues, but most Americans support their policies.

The American public supports Democrats on many issues where the Republicans have simply gone insane, like banning IVF or gutting Medicaid. But a majority of Americans do not support Democrats on many social issues, especially issues where the Democrats have tacked left post-Obama. Most Americans do not support Democratic policy on immigration, trans rights, and some race issues:

"A poll from ABC News/Ipsos in February found that 26% of American adults trusted Biden to do a better job handling immigration and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, while 44% trusted Trump more." - ABC News, Feb 29 2024

"Roughly six-in-ten adults (58%) favor proposals that would require transgender athletes to compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth (17% oppose this, 24% neither favor nor oppose)." - Pew, June 28 2022

"A Gallup Center on Black Voices survey finds that about two in three Americans (68%) say the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling to end the use of race and ethnicity in university admission decisions is “mostly a good thing.”" - Gallup, Jan 16 2024

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Runfastandwin's avatar

He sucked and he was evil.

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The Strobis Weakly's avatar

No one should say anything nice about Joe Lieberman, unless every word is dripping with irony. What was Gore thinking? That setting himself apart from Clinton by elevating Clinton's most pious and repulsive Democratic critic was NOT the stupidest political move ever? Gore and Lieberman's lack of charisma was breathtaking, but they were at least able to rack up more votes than stupid Bush and horrible Cheney. Except where it mattered most.

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SethTriggs's avatar

Ah, good ol' Holy Joe. So yeah, I guess, condolences to his family.

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Dr. Jacalyn Royce's avatar

I have been waiting for him to stop blocking our energetic progress in the Good for too damn long.

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Linda1961 is woke and proud's avatar

Great post, Stephen, about the man trying to help trump win again. Maybe God has a message for America, by taking Lieberman now - reelect President Biden and give him majorities in both Houses of Congress.

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Eileen's avatar

YES!

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Stephen Robinson's avatar

Thanks!

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Kay-El's avatar

When I voted for Al Gore in 2000, it wasn’t because Lieberman was on the ticket. Just sayin’

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You Should Ice That Burn's avatar

Oh man! I remember when he picked Lieberman...I thought "well that's not gonna fly!"

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Eva Porter's avatar

Thank you for this rundown. I mainly knew Lieberman from his VP and McCain connections but not much else.

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vorpal's avatar

The WaPo obit had this to say about his resistance to the public option for the ACA:

"Mr. Lieberman generally voted with his party, but he sided with Republicans on cutting the capital gains tax, funding vouchers that parents could use to send their children to private schools, and placing new restrictions on consumer lawsuits against corporations, the latter of special interest to Connecticut’s large insurance companies."

And:

"He was also influential in shaping Obama’s health-care initiative, although in a way that once again infuriated some Democrats. Attentive to Connecticut’s insurance industry, Mr. Lieberman threatened to filibuster the bill if it included a government-run health insurance option. With the support of every Senate Democrat needed to overcome solid GOP opposition, the administration dropped the public option, and Mr. Lieberman voted in 2009 for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare."

Supporting the large Connecticut insurance companies... AKA dance with the one who brung ya.

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Eileen's avatar

I absolutely LOVE the tone all the "obits" take. Makes me laugh like hell....

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Eileen's avatar

EXCELLENT, SER!

Thank you for this article--thank you VERY much.

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Manic Pixel Dream Girl's avatar

Back in 2000, it meant a lot to me to see a Jewish name on the Democratic Party presidential ticket. It still does, but unfortunately, as you lay out so well here, Stephen, his legacy is best upheld as a symbol in that moment. His actions after an ACTUAL stolen election tarnished that legacy irreparably. If I recall correctly he was actually willing to work within the Trump administration as well, although that obviously didn’t happen. President Biden knows how to “centrist” as much as that can even exist today. Though Biden has fond, rose-colored memories of how Republicans used to be (as flawed as those recollections may be), he seems to have woken up to the fact that a klatch of any of today’s elected Republicans would make a viper’s nest look comfortable and is finally acting accordingly. Lieberman was presented with enough evidence by now to know which way the wind blows. Just look at all the torn roofs! For now, I’ll just say I am grateful to him for that one moment in history, and would hope that maybe, if he had the chance, eventually, he would have followed Biden’s example. But probably not.

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Brando's avatar

Good point. I think it won't be long before we finally have our first Jewish (and god willing, Italian) President, and hopefully it'll be someone we can be proud of!

/Goldwater...just ugh. Al Smith, getting warmer....

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Stephen Robinson's avatar

Thank you. Well said

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Manic Pixel Dream Girl's avatar

Thanks, back at you!

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Mavenmaven's avatar

exactly right (even more, a close friend of mine worked closely with Gore at the time).

However, as Nietzsche said, people exert a retroactive force in history, his recent years sadly discolor his earlier achievements

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Manic Pixel Dream Girl's avatar

So sadly true

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AJ Milne's avatar

This is fair. This is what he was.

I had honestly already written him off by the time of ‘No Labels’. That was just the neofascism enabling icing on the cake.

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Brando's avatar

His net effect for Democrats was negative compared to who they could have gotten in deep blue Connecticut. He didn't help Gore's ticket one bit (admittedly Gore did plenty to screw his own candidacy), got the Iraq War wrong (which a lot of people did, but Lieberman never owned up to it) then in a fit of pique at his party for not re-nominating him, lent McCain some "bipartisan cred" in 2008 despite picking Palin as his Veep.

Finally he pushed the absurd lie that Biden is equivalent to Trump, when Biden has bent over backwards to appeal to Republicans for bipartisan support, which Lieberman supposedly gives a shit about. He left a swathe of damage across the country and while he was by no means the greatest political villain of his era, his effect on it was pretty consistently negative both for liberals and the country at large. Just can't think of anything positive to say about him.

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Lesley's avatar

seems like all that brimming-over integrity and disinterested public servant stuff that's flooding the airwaves at present elide Lieberman's petty retribution (public option) and lack of imagination (supporting his quixotic pursuit of the perfect "moderate" candidate).

thanks for a dose of truth. the treacle out there is awful thick.

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