Roger L. Simon: My interview with Lieberman

I had the fascinating experience of doing a video interview with Senator Joe Lieberman late Wednesday afternoon. I confess to some nervousness beforehand because this was a big opportunity for our fledgling Pajamas Media. With the one-time Democratic Party vice-presidential candidate now fighting for his political life as an independent, there is little doubt that the Lieberman - Lamont race is the most interesting, certainly the most dramatic, of the 2006 election.

Some details: Producer Andrew Marcus and I met the Senator's staff at his office in the Hart Office Building. But since election laws prevent interviews from being conducted in congressional offices, we were led down the street to the small apartment of a friend in the lower floor of a Capitol Hill townhouse. There, our crew rearranged the furniture for shooting and set up the lighting while I fidgeted and made small talk with Lieberman's staff.

At about 5:15 the Senator walked in by himself, not surprisingly a little late. Lieberman's a busy man these days. We made some small talk of our own - Lieberman and I had attended Yale at the same time, he in the law school and I in the drama school, both of us participating in the active campus civil rights movement of the period. We both squinted at each other, pushing back in our minds forty misty years, trying to recognize a youthful face hidden behind decades of life. But then, no time to waste, we set about the interview.

What I thought of him: I have always admired the Connecticut Senator more than most politicians, but I must also confess that I was occasionally put off a bit by the earnestness - that Holy Joe thing, the whiff of sanctimony. But I saw no evidence of that in the time we were together. In fact, the reverse: I was impressed with his genuineness and warmth. Was I wrong before or is this a new Lieberman? I'm not qualified to say.

But I offer this observation: In response to one of my questions, the Senator allowed that he felt running as an independent to be "empowering." I could see in his eyes that he meant that in deep way. I empathized. I know from my own life how empowering shaking off the old clothes of rigid received ideas and alliances can be. At best, you can be reborn. Not a bad deal for someone whose age has a 6 in front of it.

I was also surprised at the honesty of his responses. The process of running for office makes people guarded in the extreme. His answer to one of my later questions particularly impressed me with its directness. I had been taken aback and moved by the decoration on the wall of his office reception room. Still lined up next to each other for the world to see were a number of smiling photos of Joe Lieberman cavorting with some great old friends in happier times - Connecticut's other Senator Chris Dodd (now said to have presidential ambitions himself), Teddy Kennedy and Al Gore. Not one of them is supporting Lieberman for reelection. They are all backing his opponent. I asked Lieberman if he could ever forgive them. His answer, I promise you, will interest you.

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Ned Lamont is a minor distraction. Senator Joseph Lieberman will be easily reelected. No, the real question is this: will he have to eventually leave the Democratic Party? How strained will his relations be with the other Democratic Party senators? Also, the Connecticut senator will never again be able to rely exclusively on Democrat voters. He will be compelled to form a closer alliance with Republicans. At least 1/3 of Democrat voters throughout the United States are out to lunch regarding the war on terror. Nothing is going to change anytime in the near future.

If Liberman proves that he doesn't need the party, could perhaps more sane people leave the dregs of the Democrats, who have forgotten what progressive means? Could people with a clue abandon the Republican party that has lost it's conservative values and instead fled into the arms of extreme views?

What Liberman is doing is what all politicans should be able to do. Be in a party if one desires... but be able to operate without having a party platform as a crutch.

The "empowerment" thing is deep, dark and delicious. Would that more Democrats could find such empowerment. Congratulations on a real coup for PJM. :)

Actually metting somebody like Joe is weird. Many years ago I had the chance to meet Rep. Luhan of NM (then) and was very nervous. But Joe is my senator dang it and therefore my employee. I have had two converstions with him and I was not a bit nervous. In the second I explained to him (calmly) that I didn't like a lot of stands he needed to take in his VP run and if he was going to still back these my vote would be in play. He was very respectful in both shorts talks.

And by the way, there may be a time when I will not vote for him, but I still will like him. He is certainly a giant step up from that ass Weicker.

Now if Joe would just do the "right thing" and restart the old Democrat Party and drop the progressive/marxists who now populate this thing they have now, what a great awakening that would be. The present Democrat Party has been taken over by the whacko's like Soros and in Ted's case the drunks but maybe someone like Joe Lieberman could get it back on track. Lots of people who now say "I didn't leave the Democrat Party, it left me" just might go back if sanity and patriotism prevailed.

"I asked Lieberman if he could ever forgive them. His answer, I promise you, will interest you"

Agree absolutely... I just wish more of these politicians would specify just what "progressive" really means!

I'm grateful to Joe for his stand on Iraq, for defeating the gasbag Weicker and for his predictable defeat of the dimwitted Lamont.

But I have no sympathy for Joe's apparent innocence of the potential treacheries of Dodd, Gore and Kennedy, three of the most unprincipled and self-serving men in public office. If Joe couldn't predict how easily he'd be thrown overboard by the three of them, maybe Lamont is finally smarter than Lieberman.

The Lamont-Lieberman contest in CT is simply a struggle between the Hard Left and Soft Left here, and nothing more.

GREAT JOB ROG'! AND THE NEW HAIRDO AGREES WITH YOU! I SUGGEST A NEW PHOTO FOR YOUR MASTHEAD.

I can only assume that the Clintons haven't done a lot of campaigning for Lamont.

Forgiving but not forgetting, vs. not forgiving (and obviously not forgetting), is a bit of a distinction without a difference to me. But good for Joe. As a NY'er whose life is intertwined work- and family-wise with CT, I am watching CT politics pretty closely. Furthermore there are a number of NY'ers driving around (I'm in the Hudson Valley) with Lamont bumper stickers. The idiots here do love to loudly proclaim their idiocy. Anyway, I do believe the CT Dems in particular and the national Dems in general are in for some very rude shocks come November. P.E.S.T part II, here we come.

As for nervousness talking to Congressmen and Senators, I wish that was my problem. I so loathe and detest my 2 Senators I would refuse help from them under any imaginable circumstance. Nor would I torture myself trying to bring an issue before them. I thought CA was bad but NY really is rock bottom when it comes to political representation. (And to add insult to injury, Maurice Hinchey is my Rep. It really doesn't get any worse than that.)

September 28, 2006: My interview with Lieberman

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