Over the last two days I've discussed the candidacy of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D.-Conn.) and the difficulty he faces attempting to gain the Democratic nomination (see here and here). Lest anyone be fooled into thinking Lieberman is anything but a liberal, here is some evidence of his leftist tendencies.
Partial Birth Abortion
On six occasions, Sen. Lieberman voted against a ban on partial birth abortion. Two of those votes were attempts to override the veto of President Clinton, a name Lieberman frequently invokes as the model of Democratic leadership the U.S. needs.
International Criminal Court
Last year, Sen. Lieberman was one of 19 Senators who voted against the American Servicemembers' Protection Act. The Act, which was added as an amendment to a supplemental spending bill to respond to terrorism, provides protection for American servicemembers, and other Americans acting in official capacities, from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
Ashcroft Nomination
After President Bush nominated John Ashcroft for the Attorney General slot, Democrats went into full attack-mode. Under the guidance of Senators Ted Kennedy (D.-Mass.) and Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) and at the urging of their leftist core constituency, they railed against Ashcroft and pushed for his defeat. They failed to kill the nomination, but were able to get enough votes to sustain a filibuster had they wanted to attempt one.
Liberals saw the nomination vote as a "shot across the bow" to the President that the Senate Democrats would filibuster anyone perceived "too conservative" to serve in the federal government. Joe Lieberman was one of those Democrats.
Filibuster of Miguel Estrada
The Democrats' filibusters of the judicial nominations of Priscilla Owen, Miguel Estrada, and William Pryor have been well documented, both in HUMAN EVENTS and other publications. This unconstitutional blockade of three superb nominees to the nation's circuit courts has been prompted, like many other Democrat efforts and campaigns, by the leftist core of the Democratic Party, especially the pro-abortion crowd.
Sen. Lieberman, not surprisingly, has agreed to the demands of the liberal establishment and has voted to sustain the filibuster of Miguel Estrada. And though he has missed all three cloture votes on Priscilla Owen and the cloture vote on William Pryor, he has not stated anything to indicate he would have acted contrary to the demands of the Democratic leadership and liberal advocates regarding the nominations.
ACU Ratings
Sen. Lieberman's lifetime rating by the American Conservative Union is a meager 20. Who is his company in that area? Well, here's a list of a few other Senators' ACU ratings:
Lincoln Chafee (R.-R.I.) - 47
Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) - 42
Robert Byrd (D.-W.V.) - 31
Jim Jeffords (I.-Vt.) - 26
Blanche Lincoln (D.-Ark.) - 23
Tim Johnson (D.-S.D.) - 21
Joe Lieberman - 20
Minority Whip Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) - 20
Bob Graham (D.-Fla.) - 18
Maria Cantwell (D.-Wash.) - 16
John Edwards (D.-N.C.) - 15
Herb Kohl (D.-Wis.) - 15
Joe Biden (D.-Del.) - 14
Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) - 14
Quotes
Finally, though he likes to sound like a moderate, Sen. Lieberman has said many things that have given away the fact that, at heart, he adheres to much of the big-government, liberal Democratic mantra and the special interest groups that control the party.
