Lieberman now in the running for 2004 -- And?

Well, apparently Joseph Lieberman has decided to run for President in 2004. Zippity-doo-dah.

His statement sounds pretty typical:

Nothing we haven’t heard before here, from either side of the aisle.

To me, this changes very little. I sincerely doubt Lieberman has a decent shot. He might win the party’s nomination, though up against both Kerry and Edwards I somehow don’t think he’ll even manage that much.

My questions for my fellow Dopers:

Do you think Lieberman has a chance?

Do you think Lieberman will be substantively different (better or worse) than what we currently have?

Than what we have? George W.? Yeah, I think he’d be a helluva lot better. At least he understands the issues at hand.

Is he the best candidate this country can produce? Probably not, but then those people know better than to want the job.

Lieberman ??? Who’s that ?

:smiley: Rah rah! Fight fight fight!

OK, what’s better about Lieberman? I don’t really see anything appealing about him, and he doesn’t seem to match with what most of the people around here who don’t like ‘shrub’ seem to want.

For what it’s worth, if I had to vote for a Democrat, Leiberman would get my vote (out of the current declared crop of candidates.)

From what I know, it seems that he doesn’t appeal to the leftists among the Democrats, which can hurt him in the primaries. But since he is center enough, he can grab votes in that oh-so-important undecided middle, assuming he makes it through the nominations.

To put it another way, he is the John McCain of the Democrats. (Since Zel decided not to run…)

Is this that clown who wanted to abolish violent video games a while back, because they make our kids violent?

Yup, that’s Uncle Joe for you. Linked is his Senate webpage with links to his legislation regarding media violence.

I find Joe Leiberman to be absolutely repulsive.

Lieberman is a shallow stupid person, and the most nauseating aspect of his act is the way in which he uses his “piety” as a political lever, sending out the message that if you do not share his faith and moral conception of the world, you are a sinner. This is the essence of demogogery. Then there’s his abject support for Israel’s worst colonialist tendencies, his uncritical and cowardly stance toward Bush, and the huge amount of money he has taken from big wigs in the accounting industry. It goes on and on.

I used to be a democrat, but no longer. I cannot fathom the degree to which this party has lost its soul to the point where a guy like Joe Lieberman is even taken seriously. Lieberman is a measure of just how low the democratic party has sunk since Ronald Reagan managed to transform cynicism – cloaked in the veil of self-righteousness – into the national ethos.

I’ll second Brutus’s take on it. I think Leiberman is a decent enough guy, videogame crusade aside, and if I had to be stuck with a democrat in the White House, he’s the one I’d want out of the front runners. That being said, he’s waaaaay to conservative to receive good backing from the DNC in the primaries, even though he’s probably the party’s best bet to go up against Bush in '04.
Jeff

Well, no offense lout, your little speech makes you sound more repulsive than anything I’ve heard Lieberman say, but that is purely imo. Not that I’m saying you are factually wrong anywhere(or right), just really ugly language. Clearly, YMMV.

In a perfect world(that lacked a Lieberman ego) Lieberman would be the man reminding people what Gore would be campaigning for if Gore could campaign. That should be his sole role, reminding people subtly that Gore can’t be here today but this is what he’d say.

But of course L. does have an ego and figures to get something out of this run; I’m not sure what it is but he’s got to know he ain’t getting the presidency.

I guess I should mention that I am Canadian so my opinion of Lieberman’s optimum role is from the POV of a pure spectator.

What “ugly language” did I use? I consider my post to be an exercise in self-restraint. Explain yourself, please.

I didn’t find anything wrong with Lout’s language. Admittedly, much of what he expresses is opinion, but I was under the impression that he was entitled to one.

Then again, he bashed Ronald Reagan, and for some reason that seems to REALLY piss some people off…

I have to side with Wang-Ka on this one… I
personally see nothing wrong with Lout’s post…
in fact…I wish I had written it myself!

I’m guessing that “abject support for Israel’s worst colonialist tendencies” was the culprit – as it is the most loaded language in lout’s post. But this isn’t about lout.

Lieberman has no chance. The Democrat’s McCain? Well take away any charisma, and put in a Democratic version of Christian fundamentalist views wrapped up in a Talmud for variety sake, (but still the basic idea that Rock and Roll and video games are evil, and that the State has a business endorsing religion) and maybe you’d get there. I don’t see him any more or less loyal to Israel as a good and reliable freind to the US than the vast majority of other serious candidates, but he would possibly have to bend over backwards to disprove any untoward favoritism to Israel, which makes me, an ardent supporter of Israel, uncomfortable with his candidacy as well.

Well, he’s smarter than Dubya, but so is my pet rock.

I don’t care much for Lieberman either, but at least he’s not Bush.
Frankly, I don’t see any of the Dems winning the election in '04 unless Bush really screws up in Iraq, and that’s going to be difficult to do. Iraq was picked for Junior’s war precisely because it is idiot-proof. It requires no poltical courage, no strategic skills and no leadership to carpet bomb Iraq. It’ll make Gee Dubya really, really popular for with Joe Sixpack who likes to blow stuff up and kill Ay-rabs. Enough of America can be manipulated by the Bush political machine that it’s going to take the continued flat-lining of the economy before Americans figure out how incompetent this guy is. The only Democrat who could beat W. would be Bill Clinton. When it comes to pure politicking, BC has chunks of guys like W. in his stool. Too bad we can’t change the constitution…or can we?

I align pretty well with Lieberman on the issues, but I wouldn’t vote for him solely because he is an Orthodox Jew. Not that there is anything wrong with Orthodox Jews, I used to be one, but I’m a strong believer (NPI) that there is such a thing as having to much faith. I’d take Kerry over him or possibly even McCain if he gave me a belated birthday present and ran as an Independent.

Frankly, things aren’t looking good for the Dems. They have no convictions, no message, and no pretty face and slick tongue to sell it if they did.

Hmm…how interesting would it be to see Bill beat both George Sr. and George Jr.?

I have to admit, I don’t know a whole lot about any of the other possible candidates. If I were a democrat and a moron, I would probably vote for him just out of sheer name recognition. Perhaps that’s what the DNP is counting on?