So there was our friend Joe Lieberman last night in a Dem debate in Detroit, managing to go most of the evening without getting booed by the audience.
Responding to complaints that he can’t appeal to Dem primary voters, Lieberman contrasted himself to Wesley Clark by saying, “I’ve been a lifelong Democrat. I’m a proud Democrat.”
No offense, Joe, but talk is cheap.
In a three-day span last week, Lieberman helped demonstrate exactly why he’s not going to win the Democratic nomination.
* On Wednesday, Lieberman voted with the Republicans on a key piece of legislation — a GOP effort to restrict the right of citizens to bring class action lawsuits. This is part of a long trend for Lieberman, who has literally won awards from the American Tort Reform Association and has been named by the National Law Journal as “unsurpassed among Senate Democrats in supporting tort reform.” Way to stand up for big business over the little guy, Joe.
* The same day, Lieberman endorsed the efforts of Jeb Bush and other Florida Republicans in the Terri Schiavo matter.
* On Friday, Lieberman said he’d nominate Arizona Republican John McCain as his Secretary of Defense if he’s elected next year.
These moves prompted the AP to note that Lieberman is “doing little to dispel the criticism that he’s a closet Republican.” The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank suggested that Lieberman might be comfortable challenging Bush in the 2004 Republican primary.
Yet Lieberman has the nerve to accuse Wesley Clark of not being sufficiently loyal to the party?
In the wise words of Al Sharpton, it’s better to be a new Democrat that’s a real Democrat, than a lot of old Democrats who have been acting like Republicans all along.