The media filled the airwaves and wasted tons of paper reporting on the endorsement of independent Senator Joseph Lieberman of Republican Senator John McCain. While Lieberman does have a stronger base in the Republican Party than he has among independents or Democrats, he has very little support anywhere.
Lieberman is, like McCain, a fanatic hawk on Iraq. Both men are leaders in the eternal war movement. They are frankly dangerous extremists when it comes to foreign policy, military adventurism and establishing police state powers in our federal government. In my opinion, they are two of the biggest threats to the Bill of Rights that exist in the U.S. Senate.
I am delighted that Lieberman did not support one of the Democrats I really like in the Democratic Presidential primary. If Lieberman had endorsed John Edwards or Joe Biden, I would have been really worried. Luckily, all the Democratic Presidential candidates dodged a bullet by not getting a Lieberman endorsement.
If Connecticut had a mechanism to recall a member of the U.S. Senate, Lieberman would likely lose his seat in the Senate in 2008. Unfortunately, Connecticut voters will have to wait until 2012 to retire Lieberman. Lieberman has very high negatives in his home state.
Historically, Lieberman often received significant support from organized labor. Union activists will be very upset with Lieberman for supporting the militantly anti-union Senator McCain.
The Republicans in Connecticut, who basically elected Lieberman in 2006, are getting a bit of a payback for abandoning their Republican Senate nominee. Lieberman is now mucking around in their Presidential nominating process although he is not a Republican. He is just an opportunist. Connecticut Republicans, who support candidates other than McCain, must be livid.
Lieberman has no significant national following. His endorsement is a nothing endorsement. It is nothing but funny! Democrats are really enjoying all the media created fuss.
Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com).
