http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/11/joeidiocy/29432/Lieberman's seat was up that year, and he decided to run simultaneously for senator and Vice-President. Lyndon Johnson had taken out a similar insurance policy forty years earlier, but there was a difference. The governor of Texas in 1960 was a Democrat, so when Johnson resigned his Senate seat after the election a Democrat was appointed to replace him. The governor of Connecticut in 2000 was a Republican. If Lieberman had made way for the state's popular Democratic attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, who would have won easily, and if the Supreme Court had allowed Gore to take office, then the new Senate would have split 50-50, with Vice-President Lieberman breaking the tie in favor of the Democrats. But, by insisting on having it both ways, Lieberman single-handedly guaranteed that the new Senate would be Republican--either by a 51-49 margin under a Gore Administration or (as it turned out) by the tie-breaking vote of Vice-President Dick Cheney. This was more than just routine political expediency. It was what was known that year as a character issue.
A character issue. Joe isn't out for "real America." Joe isn't out for "the political center." Joe isn't out for moderates. Joe Lieberman is going for delf. It's that simple.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/11/joeidiocy/29432/
