Former senator and former vice presidential candidate of the United States Joe Liberman died in New York. He was 82 years old.
Joe Lieberman in an appearance in Washington last January. Photo: AP/José Luis Magaña
NEW YORK ap | Former United States vice presidential candidate and Senator Joe Lieberman died Wednesday in New York from complications resulting from a fall, his family reported. He was 82 years old.
Lieberman became known far beyond the borders of the US as a vice-presidential candidate alongside Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000. Both almost made it to the White House, but during the controversial vote count in Florida there was a dispute. the presidential election.
In the end, the Supreme Court intervened and handed George W. Bush a narrow victory in the southern state. This meant that he and his running mate, Dick Cheney, prevailed over Gore and Lieberman in the race for the White House. Otherwise, Lieberman would have become the first Jewish vice president in American history.
In 2008, Lieberman almost became a vice presidential candidate again, this time alongside Republican John McCain. He was leaning heavily towards his close friend; Both were considered hardliners in security and defense policy. At the last minute, McCain chose then-unknown Sarah Palin as his running mate after conservatives criticized Lieberman's left-liberal views on social and environmental issues, recalled Steve Schmidt, McCain's campaign manager at the time.
Out of line
Lieberman was known as a politician who was not afraid to deviate from the party line. The veteran senator from Connecticut caused controversy in 1998 when he was the first federal Democrat to publicly criticize then-President Bill Clinton over his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton had exhibited “disgraceful behavior,” Lieberman complained in a speech on the Senate floor. However, in the final impeachment vote against Clinton, he voted against his removal.
When Lieberman lost the party primary for the Connecticut Senate seat in 2006 because of his support for the Iraq War, he quickly ran as an independent candidate and ultimately won a fourth term as senator. In 2013 he announced his retirement from the chamber.
For the past ten years, he has played a leading role in the centrist “No Labels” party movement, which wants to field its own candidates for the presidential elections in November this year. Some groups close to Democrats fear that “No Labels” could play into the hands of former President Donald Trump.