... and good riddance to ya. Lots of good posts around the 'sphere today trying to sum up the noxious career of the Senator from Connecticut who announced he is calling it quits in 2012.
The photo above is from Juan Cole's contribution to the Lieberman-leaving meme.
For a sharp history of this opportunist's trajectory, I strongly recommend Steve Kornacki's "The making (and unmaking) of Joe Lieberman." This reminded me that Lieberman was the occasion of one of my most atypical political acts: when this misogynist enthusiast for the death penalty first sought a senate seat in 1988, I made a small contribution to his opponent, a Republican!
The senator Lieberman defeated, Lowell Weicker, was everything Lieberman was not: pro-choice, a critic of Reagan's Central American wars, a supporter of school integration through busing if necessary, and an advocate for AIDS funding when that was a tough stand. He had put country above party as member of the Watergate Committee that formulated charges against Richard Nixon. After losing his senate seat, Weicker went on to serve as governor of Connecticut.
Kornacki sums up Lieberman neatly: he
settle[d] into the same role nationally that he first perfected in Connecticut back in 1988: Every Republican’s favorite Democrat.
They should be setting off fireworks in CT.
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