Joe Lieberman has held his seat as Senator of Connecticut for four terms, beginning as a democratic senator and concluding his fourth term running as an independent democrat. Joe Lieberman's active support of Republican canidate John McCain has angered fellow members of his democratic party and caused voters to question his reliability in respect to the party's inclinations. Still, Senator Lieberman believes that McCain will prove more successful in uniting party values and eliminating intense bi-particianship (Watch Fox's interview with Senator Lieberman and John McCain on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeM7WI6snR8 about his decision to support McCain). His notable speech at the RNC merited the opinion of Joe Klein as "the weirdest speech I've ever seen at a Republican Convention in the Age of Reagan." But despite his personal dislike of Lieberman, Klein admits that "his testimony to McCain's bipartisanship and his anti-gridlock rant may have hit home in a country sick of hyper-partisanship." [Swampland/Time].
In recent news, Joe Lieberman has managed to secure a $15 million dollar embark for the city of Waterbury, CT under the pretense of one of Congress's budget-bill. The money will be sent to the Waterbury Industrial Commons Redevelopment Initiative and used to clean up an antiquated munitions factory and establish a city-owned industrial park. Also Senator Lieberman and Dodd secured $48,000 in Federal Grants for Stamford, CT Fire Department.
In the larger political sphere, Connecticut Democrats are discussing whether or not to censure Senator Lieberman and whether they should ask him to give up his position in the Democratic Party in light of his open support of Republican candidate McCain. This conference reflects the Democratic party's changing opinions involving Senator Lieberman, as he was a former Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC).
This is Joe Lieberman's Official Site:
It includes a biography and recent News
http://lieberman.senate.gov/about/
Sources:
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_10568973
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/09/joe_lieberman_pleases_confuses.html
http://rep-am.com/articles/2008/09/30/news/doc48da750477d62633158598.txt
2 comments:
It seems as though everyone these days is talking about how bi-partisan they are, and how they have "reached across the aisle" in the past (that statement has been used by both Obama and McCain in the past week). And yet, when someone actively shows that he is in facat bi-partisan, there are serious thoughts of censuring him, and pulling party membership. Maybe both sides should actually consider wether or not they want to have a reputation of being bi-partisan, before they let their presidential candidates inspire any more true bi-partisanship.
Good point, Eric!
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