The Heresy of Sen. Joe Lieberman
As an Connecticut native, I’ve followed the career of Senator Joe Lieberman closely. Like all politicians on the national stage, he suffers from occasional hubris and is sometimes overbearing, but unlike the many ideologues who populate the two major political parties in this country, he is ideologically unpredictable, reasonably ethical, and unquestionably a man who follows his own convictions. For most of his political career, he was viewed as a liberal Democrat, until he made the fatal error (from the point of view of the Left) of supporting the war in Iraq.
As he announced his retirement commencing in 2012, I knew the ideological Left would rejoice. They did, with virtually every left-leaning pundit castigating the senator for his heresy. It seems that on the far-Left and the far-Right, no one can have a point of view that strays from ideological purity. No one.
Lieberman became persona non grata when he ran as an independent (after the Democratic party in Connecticut rejected him in 2006) in his very blue state and won. Many blue state Democrats believe fervently that the majority of this country is left of Center, and that in the blue states, virtually everyone except the troglodytes is a progressive. Lieberman’s victory reminded them that this delusional point of view is incorrect, and they never forgave him for it …