Desperate to appease Lieberman, lest he defect, the Democrats gave him the committee chairmanship he wanted, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. From his perch as ranking minority member in the last Congress, he staved off the charge from Lamont supporters that he was a Bush puppet with some tough talk about the White House failure to turn over relevant documents about its bumbled handling of the Katrina crisis.
At the end of last week, Newsweek reported that Lieberman had decided to back quietly away from requesting the missing Katrina documents. "The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House's role in Katrina," a committee spokeswoman told Newsweek.
This news followed the president's Wednesday night speech in which he mentioned the names of three people -- the prime minister of Iraq, his own secretary of state and Lieberman -- to whom he blew a verbal (this time) kiss for inspiring the idea of a bipartisan Iraq work group. No other relevant Democrat wants to be part of the group.
It's not surprising that Lieberman is feeling Veronica's pull. His own party chose Lamont in its primary. Connecticut's other senator, Chris Dodd, made a commercial for Lamont, and Ted Kennedy stumped the state with the Nedheads. During the heat of the campaign, the kind words Lieberman heard came from Bush, from Vice President Dick Cheney, from Karl Rove, from paleo-con pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. GOP donors took the hint. The Hartford Courant and the New York Times did extensive reporting on the money flowing to Lieberman from Republican sources. Not many Democrats have ever nicked Bill Kristol for $500 before. Who loves you, baby? The latest analysis on the site OpenSecrets.org shows 80 percent of Lieberman's campaign money coming from outside Connecticut, which is very unusual for an incumbent senator in a densely populated, wealthy state.
What is surprising is the loneliness of Lieberman's current stance. He made a career out of testing the waters pretty carefully. Even his most celebrated maverick moment, the denunciation of Bill Clinton in September 1998, was a pretty secure position.
"I was disappointed," said Lieberman on the Senate floor, "because the president of the United States had just confessed to engaging in an extramarital affair with a young woman in his employ and to willfully deceiving the nation about his conduct."
He went on to call the conduct immoral and to say Clinton should have addressed it with candor. Really. You think?
In this case, Lieberman seems not to have understood what a sharp turn public opinion was taking. A recent AP-Ipsos poll showed 70 percent opposition to the troop surge and only 29 percent supporting Bush's handling of the war.
These days, I assume Lieberman drifts blissfully off to sleep picturing ecstatic crowds screeching as a historic McCain-Lieberman "fusion" ticket is announced. Lieberman turns 65 next month. I doubt very much he'll run for Senate again at the age of 70, but I think he'd leap at a chance to run with McCain or to serve prominently in the next White House, an opportunity he will not have if a Democrat wins. Lieberman has proven to be a man of considerable vanity and ambition, and his best chance to slake those thirsts now seems to be, as Democrats turn away from him, at the Republican trough.
Unless Chuck Hagel punches him out first.
About the writer
Colin McEnroe hosts an afternoon radio show on WTIC-AM in Connecticut. He blogs and writes columns for the Hartford Courant.
Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)
Salon Directory (browse by topic)