Democrat seeks to dump Lieberman over Iraq

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

GREENWICH, Conn. - Joe Lieberman has come a long way since the Democratic Party nominated him as its vice presidential candidate in 2000. 

Then, Democrats from Florida to Oregon cheered the Connecticut senator and praised his decency. But today the party’s intense, left-leaning bloggers — such as Matt Stoller of MyDD.com — vilify Lieberman, mostly for his support of the war in Iraq.

In August the anti-Lieberman forces may get their chance for vengeance, as Ned Lamont, a Greenwich, Conn. cable television entrepreneur, tries to knock Lieberman off in the Democratic Senate primary.

Lieberman “sincerely supports the president’s war in Iraq and I sincerely think he’s wrong,” said Lamont in an interview in his Greenwich office Wednesday.

He added, “There was a rush to war. They didn’t ask the tough questions going in.  Sen. Lieberman cheered on the president every step of the way. I think people should be held accountable for getting us into this mess.”

Lamont does give Lieberman and President Bush credit for seriousness in thinking about the potential danger of Saddam Hussein.

Invading Iraq 'for serious reasons'
Bush “invaded for serious reasons,” Lamont said. “I’m not saying they (Bush and Lieberman) went in (to Iraq) because they were cowboys. I’m saying they didn’t think it through in a serious way. Sometimes all that career in Washington doesn’t translate into common sense.”

Lamont also scolds Lieberman for not filibustering Bush’s Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

“He never took a leadership position on Alito…. He voted almost reluctantly against Alito, when the vote really didn’t matter that much,” he said.

So is Lieberman closer to being a Republican than a Democrat? “On a lot of the big issues of the day he really is, yeah,” said Lamont.

Yet if one puts Iraq aside for a moment, most of Lieberman’s record belies Lamont’s portrait of him as a Republican:

• He voted against Clarence Thomas in 1991 and against convicting President Clinton on impeachment charges in 1999.
• He voted “no” on Bush’s tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.
• The nonpartisan magazine Congressional Quarterly recently rated senators on party unity, assessing roll call votes in 2005 in which a majority of Democrats opposed a majority of Republicans. Congressional Quarterly rated Lieberman a 90 out of 100, only a bit less than Democratic Leader Harry Reid’s 92.
• The gay rights group Human Rights Campaign gives Lieberman an 88 out of 100 rating, a better score than 30 other Democratic senators.
• The leading environmental advocacy group the League of Conservation Voters, which mostly backs Democratic candidates, enthusiastically endorsed Lieberman last week and gives him a lifetime rating of 86 out of 100.

Gonzales and Schiavo
But Lamont takes issue with Lieberman’s vote to confirm Alberto Gonzales at attorney general.

And he criticizes Lieberman's statements about the Terri Schiavo case. “Sen. Lieberman said, ‘I understand where Tom DeLay is coming from. And the federal government does have to intervene in cases of life and death.’ On big issues, he’s not with the Democrats.”

A graduate of Harvard and Yale Management School who is 52 but looks ten years younger, Lamont is the scion of a family of blue-blood Republicans, going back to his great-grandfather, all of whom worked for the J.P. Morgan investment firm.

Easygoing and genteel in manner, Lamont doesn’t radiate the crackling energy of the bloggers’ hero, Howard Dean.

But the Lamont-Lieberman clash does have some element of a grudge match between the old Deaniacs and their tormentor, Lieberman.

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