Joseph I. Lieberman, the doggedly independent four-term U.S. senator from Connecticut who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, becoming the first Jewish candidate on the national ticket of a major party, died March 27 in New York City. He was 82.
The cause was complications from a fall, his family said in a statement.
Mr. Lieberman viewed himself as a centrist Democrat, solidly in his party’s mainstream with his support of abortion rights, environmental protection, gay rights and gun control. But he was also unafraid to stray from Democratic orthodoxy, most notably in his consistently hawkish stands on foreign policy.
His full-throated support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the increasingly unpopular war that followed doomed Mr. Lieberman’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and led to his rejection by Connecticut Democrats when he sought his fourth Senate term in 2006. He kept his seat by running that November as an independent candidate and attracting substantial support from Republican and unaffiliated voters.
I was not a fan of Joe Lieberman. He was a Democrat and was Al Gore’s vice president running mate. He supported some gay rights, abortion rights, a war against climate change, and gun control.
But he also supported and was a cheerleader for George W Bush’s war in Iraq and campaigned for McCain and Palin in 2008 against Obama and Biden. And part of the odious No Labels group flirting with a presidential run to reelect Donald Trump.
He also sabotaged President Obama's healthcare efforts. We did not get government-run health insurance to set up a competition with private health insurance, as he was the deciding vote to strip the provision from the bill.
In other words, his record was that of a Corporate Democrat, which is too frequently referred to as a moderate.
Senate leaders agreed to drop the public option for all in favour of allowing people over 55 to buy into an existing government-run scheme for the elderly. In September, Lieberman supported the measure, as he had when he was Al Gore's running mate. But just as it seemed that a deal was done, Lieberman scuppered it by announcing that he had changed his mind and would block any bill that expanded government insurance coverage. Obama gave way.
Some of Lieberman's critics see his stance on healthcare as shaped by his acceptance of more than $1m in campaign contributions from the medical insurance industry during his 21 years in the Senate. The blocking of public-run competition is a huge relief to an industry that has been increasing premiums far ahead of costs and making huge profits while individuals are bankrupted by chronic illnesses. Many of the medical insurance companies are based in Lieberman's home state.
Lieberman vigorously denies that campaign money influences his votes, and he is far from alone in accepting money from vested interests. But it has raised questions as to why insurance companies donate to Lieberman's campaign if they are not buying influence.
It has also not gone unnoticed that Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, works for a major lobbying firm as its specialist on health and pharmaceuticals. She previously worked at drug companies such as Pfizer and Hoffmann-La Roche.