Christopher Ruddy
Monday, July 23, 2001

The question is: Can the Democrats stomach Joe?

I am not so sure.

Let me say, I like Joe Lieberman. He reminds me of former New York Mayor Ed Koch. I don't agree with either of them on every issue, but I believe America would be a better place with a few more politicians like them.

You may have caught Lieberman's recent speech at the Democratic Leadership Conference last Monday. It was brilliant.

Senator Lieberman spent most of the time scolding the Democratic Party for getting too cozy with wayward Hollywood, too cozy with entrenched special interests.

He talked a lot about the need to return God to the public square. He's not talking about making America a fundamentalist nation. But banning things like prayer from schools or the Ten Commandments from government buildings shows just how far we have come. Most Americans, I believe, think that America without God is not a country.

It takes guts for Lieberman to espouse the views he does often, since the Democratic Party is held hostage to the extreme left.

The extreme left of the Democratic Party knows that to gain power it must hide its true agenda. The left can accept the fact that Bill Clinton was in Arkansas and Al Gore represented Tennessee and both acted as conservative Democrats.

But when Gore and Clinton got to top power positions in Washington, they were expected to move the left agenda and fill out the government bureaucracy with fellow leftists.

But Lieberman is a different breed. He comes from a liberal northeastern state, Connecticut. He doesn’t need to espouse these views to succeed or please the folks "back home." Yet he does take on politically incorrect positions and has the courage to articulate his views before the very people who control the Democratic Party.

For example, liberal Jews were angered that Al Gore picked Lieberman to be his running mate last year. Some Jewish groups got even angrier when Lieberman took the stump talking about God and his faith. One influential Jewish leader issued a public statement demanding Lieberman stop talking about his faith.

Clearly Lieberman is a Democrat and espouses an agenda in keeping with the likes of Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. Still, he has taken some bold policy positions completely at odds with the Democratic Party's agenda.

For example, Lieberman came out last month saying he favored a continued embargo against Fidel Castro. That probably cost him any number of cocktail party invites in Washington and New York.

To the chagrin of fellow Senate Democrats, Lieberman is embracing many of George Bush's initiatives, including his plan to use religious groups to help improve the lives of ordinary people. Previously, he antagonized key Democratic special interests by calling for education reform and limited school choice programs.

Lieberman also has taken a strong position for strengthening our defenses. This weekend Senator Lieberman was on television warning the Bush administration not to cut nuclear arms too quickly or too drastically. This is good advice to heed.

With such views, it is clear to me that Joe Lieberman was the main reason Al Gore came from way behind to almost win the presidency. Because Lieberman had criticized Bill Clinton during the impeachment, he helped Gore cut his umbilical cord to the Clinton White House.

He also helped in Florida. The Bush campaign first thought Florida was in its hip pocket. But Lieberman worked the state hard and made it the horse race it became.

In 2004, the presidency may turn again on Florida, and Lieberman may just be in the catbird seat.

The Democrats really don't like him, and he's definitely not a Republican, but he gets high marks in my book for his candor, for being bold and for challenging the left wing of his party.

See Democrats Vow to Mute Leftism.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Great Speeches
DNC
Presidential Race 2000

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