Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore Lieberman is the Junior U.S. Senator from Connecticut well known for his support for the Iraq War and neoconservative policies.
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Unsuccessful Vice Presidential candidacy
Lieberman was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Vice-President in 2000, when he served as the running mate for former Vice President Albert Gore. Lieberman acquiesced to what many Americans still regard as the stealing of that election.
Neoconservative Democrat
Subsequently, he moved farther to the right, and he represents the most right-wing member of the Democratic Party and its leading supporter for the Iraq War. Lieberman is known as "every Republicans favorite Democrat." [1] One of the most conservative members of Congress on the death penalty, Lieberman has made public statements favoring capital punishment for minors.[2]
Disloyal Critic of Bill Clinton
Lieberman was the first Democrat to criticize former President William Jefferson Clinton during the Lewinski scandal. [3]
Religious orthodoxy
A devout and orthodox Jew, Lieberman was deemed to have the gravitas necessary to aid the Democratic ticket in 2000. Thus, he became the first Jewish candidate for the office of either President or Vice-President of the United States. Although an orthodox practitioner who refuses to campaign on the sabbath, Lieberman has attracted the ire of fundamentalist Jews who have "excommunicated" him.[4]
Darling of Bush and the neoconservatives
Following the State of the Union address in 2006, President George Bush kissed Lieberman and the resulting photographs caused a firestorm of controversy that weakened both politicians.[5]
Darling of the Democratic Leadership Council
Lieberman is the darling of the Democrtic Leadership Council (DLC), an organization that - from its inception in the late 1980s - has moved the Democratic Party decisively to the right.[6]
Dissipation of political power - Primary challenge
In the aftermath of stinging election defeats in 2000, 2002 and 2004, the DLC and Lieberman have lost credibility. With his political powerbase weakening, Lieberman is now facing the first serious primary opposition in his political career. He is being challenged for the Democratic nomination for Senate by Ned Lamont, a progressive who opposes the neoconservative policies of the Bush administration and the Iraq War.
In June, 2006, one of America's leading political consultants, Dick Morris, predicted that Lieberman would lose his primary fight against his progressive challenger, Ned Lamont.[7]
