Joe Lieberman

Last night, I wrote about Senator Joe Lieberman’s appearance at a panel discussion on John McCain’s foreign policy. Lieberman’s appearance made the news, but some of the most notable comments actually came from Robert “Bud” McFarlane, the former national security adviser to Ronald Reagan and current member of the McCain campaign’s national security advisory board. (He also pleaded guilty to charges of misleading Congress in connection with the Iran-Contra affair, but that’s another story.)

In speaking about relations with Russia, McFarlane called its government a “criminal regime” and “Russian thugs,” and suggested freezing the bank accounts of Vladimir Putin and others. Whatever the merits, it’s mighty undiplomatic language—and an indication of how the old Cold Warriors, and their rhetoric, have made a comeback since the outbreak of the Georgian conflict last month.  read more »

Andrew Rice writes up a fairly grim appearance by Joe Lieberman at a Council on Foreign Relations forum.

MINNEAPOLIS—Senator Joe Lieberman sat on an auditorium stage, surrounded by Republicans, and beamed like a satisfied heretic.

It was less than 24 hours since the former Democrat’s convention speech in praise of his friend John McCain, and Lieberman was speaking as part of a panel discussion on the prospective McCain administration’s hypothetical foreign policy. The room was packed full of journalists, Republican officials and internationalist types, eager to hear from a man who has largely ostracized himself from his colleagues on Capitol Hill. Three other McCain advisors were sitting onstage, but it was Lieberman—whom Barack Obama endorsed just two years ago, when he faced a primary challenge—who volubly took the lead in criticizing the Democratic candidate, whom he described as unprepared to lead the country through a Manichaean global struggle.  read more »

Since John McCain sewed up the Republican nomination, it's been obvious that Joe Lieberman - his constant campaign traveling companion and one of his closest personal friends and political allies - would address the G.O.P. convention. What wasn't so obvious was which Joe would show up.

The answer hinged on the outcome of McCain's vice-presidential search. Probably from the beginning, McCain was inclined to tap Lieberman - and as the end of the process approached, it became clear that that's where his heart was.

If McCain had followed through on that instinct, then Lieberman would have shown up in St. Paul ready to spew red meat.  read more »

The last speaker of the second night of the Republican National Convention was former Democrat Joe Lieberman. He was also the first speaker tonight to utter the words Barack Obama. He did not do so admiringly.

Throughout his remarks, he contrasted Obama negatively with John McCain and even with Bill Clinton.  

Asked how he thought the speech went as he left the Xcel center, Lieberman told the Observer "I believe it went well."  

Here are his remarks as prepared.

Thank you for that warm welcome. I am honored to be here.

We meet tonight in the wake of a terrible storm that has hit the Gulf Coast but that hurts all of us, because we are all members of our larger American family.

 read more »

ST. PAUL—Word that Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant was easily the biggest bit of non-Gustav-related news to emerge from the opening day of the Republican convention.

It’s doubtful that this revelation will end up hurting the G.O.P. ticket in the fall—Ms. Palin’s statement made it clear that her daughter plans to keep the child and marry the father, the least politically explosive denouement for such a dicey situation—but it nonetheless seems to confirm a widespread suspicion: Ms. Palin was not thoroughly vetted by John McCain’s team.

Otherwise, this news would not be leaking on the convention’s opening day.  read more »

Karl Rove apparently phoned Joe Lieberman last week and demanded that he withdraw his name from consideration as John McCain’s running mate, a request that the Connecticut senator ignored. (For what it’s worth, Rove – as is his wont – denies this.) This prompts the question: If McCain ultimately decides not to pick Mitt Romney for VP, might Rove’s intervention be the reason?

Rove has made no secret of his support for Romney as McCain’s VP. He is not alone in this among powerful Republican establishment figures, many of whom (whether openly or quietly) preferred Romney back in the primary season.

But why are they so adamant? A logical explanation: More than usual, this year’s Republican VP nomination is seen as a stepping stone to the 2012 nod – especially if the nod goes to Romney, who already laid a solid groundwork for a ’12 campaign this year.  read more »

I promise I’ll let the Lieberman/V.P. angle go after this, but I can’t resist pointing out the kooky logic employed by Newt Gingrich earlier this week in an effort to shoot down the Lieberman talk. In an appearance on Hannity and Colmes, the former Speaker said:

I like Senator Lieberman a great deal. I admire him a lot. I think he'd be a great secretary of state. I think he would be terrific as an attorney general, but I think the idea of him being the Republican vice presidential nominee would split the convention, would probably mean that Bob Barr would get about 15 percent of the vote.  read more »

NBC’s First Read claims that Joe Lieberman’s chances of landing on the G.O.P. ticket effectively ended yesterday, when the leaders of various social conservative groups reacted with fury to John McCain’s suggestion that a pro-choice stand wouldn’t disqualify any potential running-mate. According to First Read:

That thud you just heard was the Ridge/Lieberman VP trial balloon that social conservative activists quickly popped. They couldn't find reporters fast enough to denounce the prospect of McCain adding a pro-choice pol to his ticket.

I disagree.

First, of course social conservative “leaders” are going to react this way. Their status in the world of Republican politics (i.  read more »

A weekend report in the Financial Times stated that Joe Lieberman is being vetted as a potential running-mate by John McCain's campaign and is now on the Arizonan's "short list."

Still, conventional wisdom says this has a snowball's chance in hell of actually happening. Lieberman is pro-choice, still pro-gay rights and votes with the Democrats on more issues than not in the U.S. Senate. How could any Republican nominee, least of all McCain, motivate the conservative base to place him a heartbeat away from the presidency?

Even if this weekend's report actually is an intentional leak from the McCain campaign- a questionable assumption to start with - it could easily be a simple thank you gesture to Lieberman, a staunch and valued McCain ally, and not a real trial balloon.  read more »

Every four years, just as the speculation over potential running mates reaches a fever pitch, contrarian voices speak up to dismiss it all as much ado about nothing. They are wrong.

Take, for example, this Sunday’s Meet the Press. After discussing this year’s usual VP suspects with the shows’ other two panelists, moderator Tom Brokaw turned to Judy Woodruff, cited the example of 1988 – when the Democratic ticket received no tangible Election Day boost from Lloyd Bentsen’s utter dominance of Dan Quayle in the VP matchup – and asked: “In the final analysis, Judy, how much difference does it make?”

Woodruff took the cue.  read more »

Yesterday, Barack Obama lost one of his better V.P. options when Jim Webb backed out of the running, apparently deciding that the rigorous vetting process and the intense scrutiny of a national campaign weren’t for him.  read more »

Around the same time, one of John McCain’s most intriguing options might also have removed herself – but not intentionally. That would be Carly Fiorina, whose nonchalant mentions of Viagra and birth control at a breakfast with reporters yesterday are reverberating in the blogosphere today, seemingly confirming the conventional wisdom that the ousted Hewlett Packard C.E.O. would simply be too risky an addition to the G.O.P.’s national ticket.

Every four years, involving one party or the other, it seems that we get a batch of stories just like today’s Washington Post write-up on a possible platform fight between John McCain and the G.O.P.’s right wing.

It’s almost always much ado about nothing. Tension between the nominee of either party – who is interested in projecting a moderate, inclusive image to the general-election audience – and that nominee’s red-meat-hungry party base are inevitable. But party platforms themselves do not influence mass opinion – the pictures and sounds that come out of the convention do.  read more »

You’ve probably seen or read about the new poll in Connecticut that gives Joe Lieberman his worst marks ever – a 45-43 approval rating. A second poll released this morning finds that Lieberman’s addition to John McCain’s ticket would actually turns off far more Connecticut voters than it would excite.

The numbers can be partly attributed to Lieberman’s prominent role in the presidential campaign as a McCain surrogate. Elected officials often pay a price in their backyard for venturing onto the national stage. Not surprisingly, Chris Dodd – who spent most of 2007 and the first three days of 2008 waging a hopeless presidential campaign – also scored his worst-ever job approval numbers in the same poll.  read more »

Consider, if only for fun, the theoretical possibility that Al Gore and Joe Lieberman – allies and running mates eight short years ago – end up running against each other this fall.

Gore, of course, is back in the news again this week after delivering a high-profile endorsement of Barack Obama in Michigan. The sight of the two of them together was enough to stir wishful thoughts of an Obama-Gore ticket among the Democratic grass roots. Some pundits had fun with the idea, too.

Lieberman, for his part, has taken an increasingly active and visible role in John McCain’s campaign. He clearly has McCain’s trust and friendship – the two have traveled together extensively this campaign season – and is a highly valued surrogate because of the authority with swing voters that his perceived independence supposedly gives him.  read more »

Barack Obama has drawn some criticism from left-of-center blogs today for cutting a radio ad in support of Representative John Barrow of Georgia, a conservative Democrat who is facing a primary challenge from a more liberal candidate next month.

"One of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration," writes Glenn Greenwald, citing Barrow's positions on Iraq and the FISA debate.

There are two things worth noting about this.

One is that Obama's endorsement of Barrow probably shouldn't be seen as an endorsement of Barrow's politics.  read more »

Ordinarily, the “most endangered incumbent” label applies to an office holder who is standing for reelection. In 2008, however, the most endangered member of the U.S. Senate’s Democratic Caucus won’t be on any ballots. It’s Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman just won his fourth six-year term in 2006, but no member of the Senate majority – with the possible exception of Mary Landrieu, the lone Democratic senator facing a tricky reelection fight this year – stands to lose more this November than Connecticut’s junior senator.

Since the ’06 elections, Lieberman’s supposed role as the Senate’s ultimate power broker has been touted endlessly. Rejected by the party that once nominated him for vice president in the August ’06 primary, he nonetheless won reelection in the fall as a self-described “independent Democrat,” promising to caucus with Democrats and to side with them for organizing purposes in the Senate.  read more »

Theories abound about what qualities Barack Obama and John McCain should be looking for in a running mate. Does Obama need someone who'd bring instant credibility on national security and foreign policy to off-set McCain's charges of inexperience and naïveté? How important is it for McCain, 24 years Obama's senior, to fill out his ticket with someone considerably younger?  read more »

Joe Lieberman, who made history as the first Jewish candidate on a major presidential ticket in 2000, said he once was confronted the storyline about Barack Obama being Muslim and not a strong supporter of Israel.

“I’ve heard about it,” Lieberman told me just now in a telephone interview.

“The one time that I confronted it, I was campaigning in Florida for Senator McCain. I spoke to a large group and a man stood up and asked me about it, or he referenced it. And I said, of course, that I know Senator Obama pretty well. Obviously one’s religion is a matter of choice. Everything I knew said he was Christian. So, I don’t know how widespread it is but that’s the one time I confronted it. And of course the most important thing is that Senator Obama said it’s just not true.”  read more »

Joe Lieberman paid a visit to a John McCain phone bank at 35 Worth Street this morning, where I got a chance to ask him about Michael Bloomberg’s presidential prospects:

“I would say, having a measure of Mayor Mike, I feel he’ll only run if he feels he has a real chance to win," Lieberman said. "He’s not going to run just to make a symbolic race."  read more »

Shortly after reports that John McCain would consider Joe Lieberman as a running mate, and that Lieberman is making the Jewish case for McCain, Giuliani aide Ken Kurson sends out this strongly worded, Jewish-supporter-targeted reminder of the mayor's bona fides:  read more »

The woman spearheading the effort to draft Michael Bloomberg into the presidential election is pleased that former Democrat, current Independent Joe Lieberman has endorsed Republican John McCain.

“If you think about it, the argument can be made that McCain is quite the long shot,” Karin Gallet told me. Gallet thinks Lieberman is basically saying, “it’s more important we endorse the right person than just elect a Democrat.”

“That’s his demographic. That the purpose of voting [within one's] party hasn’t achieved the objective of running America.”

Gallet also said a national campaign strategist from a 2004 election will announce their support for Bloomberg later this week, if not sooner. Gallet, who declined to identify this person, said she learned of the endorsement during a more than hour-long conference call on Sunday with Bloomberg supporters in New York, Washington D.C., and Boston.