Joe Lieberman’s new betrayal: The transparent cynicism in his Iran warmongering

[DonViejo]

The progressive reformer I met in the '70s has morphed into a self-righteous fear mongerer

BILL CURRY

When I was 26, I was elected to the Connecticut State Senate from the 9th district, a swath of slightly Republican-leaning Hartford suburbs. We’re a small state –100 miles across, 60 or so up and down — but due to robust gerrymandering, my 10th district seatmate was from New Haven, a city 40 miles from my home. He was the majority leader and in his last term. He was smart, funny and self-deprecating, and right away I liked him. His name was Joe Lieberman. Seeing Joe back in the news leading the charge against Obama’s Iran deal brings back memories; some good and some very bad.

As a freshman senator, I wrote or sponsored bills to bar investment in South Africa, give workers advance notice of plant closings, end job discrimination against the mentally ill and housing discrimination against families with children, help women get restraining orders against violent spouses, and require consumer contracts to be written in plain language. Joe was for all of them, in the end if not always at first.

He and I became friends; not real friends, but not what politicians mean when they call whoever’s next up on a speaking program “my good friend.” Fresh out of law school, with eight years of draft deferments under his belt, Joe had entered politics in the late `60s as a foe of the Vietnam War and a friend of measures to open up politics to women, minorities, and other outsiders. (It was not till the late `70s that reformers turned their gaze from party bosses to the big money guys who pulled their strings.)

From the first, Joe’s observant Judaism was a hallmark of his public persona. In an America that felt awash in people like Horatio Alger’s father — whom Christopher Lasch described as “a man who knew both himself and God and usually elected to speak for both” — some found Joe’s religiosity off-putting. But when Joe skipped state conventions to observe the Sabbath, I admired him for it. Joe hadn’t yet taken to advertising his close personal ties to the Almighty. I believed then, and still do, that a force for goodness animates the universe and if Joe did too it was fine by me.

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http://www.salon.com/2015/08/23/joe_liebermans_new_betrayal_the_transparent_cynicism_in_his_iran_warmongering/

[Laurian]

1. That was a great read. I'd all but forgotten

about Joe until he resurfaced to fight the Iran deal. I wish he would disappear, again. What a slimy character. Again, someone using the guise of religion to push dangerous policies that run counter to all of my beliefs that religion should promote compassion and peace. I just don't get all these "religious" warmongers.

[beltanefauve]

2. K & R