Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman has passed away at the age of 82 after succumbing to complications from a fall. First elected in 1988, Lieberman was essentially the Democratic version of John McCain, being solidly liberal on core issues but never afraid to stray away from the party line. In 2000, Vice President Al Gore chose Lieberman as his running mate, making him the first Jewish candidate on a national ticket.
Being more of a foreign policy hawk led to Lieberman disagreeing with his party on national security and foreign policy issues. Does this sound familiar? It’s no wonder Mr. Lieberman endorsed John McCain in the 2008 election. He even addressed the Republican National Convention that year, which undoubtedly gave heartburn to many of his Democratic colleagues in the US Senate. His foreign policy disagreements led to a primary challenge two years prior, especially when the Iraq War went poorly. Lieberman lost the 2006 CT Democratic primary but cruised to re-election as an independent (via WaPo):
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.
Mr. Lieberman viewed himself as a centrist Democrat, solidly in his party’s mainstream with his support of abortion rights, environmental protection, 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.
The Iraq War remains a radioactive subject for the Democrats who voted for the 2002 authorization to use force. In 2008, it plagued Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. There are still anti-war progressives who continue to rant about this vote, so there might be some grave-dancing on social media.
Mr. Lieberman was one of the more sensible members of the Democratic Party. He later revealed that he turned down McCain’s offer to be his 2008 running mate. Facing appalling approval numbers in 2011, he announced he wouldn’t run for re-election and left the Senate in 2013.