https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-lieberman-dies-age-82-7488ccf3?mod=opinion_lead_pos8
Joe Lieberman, who died Wednesday at age 82, was the kind of Democrat who can’t be found much these days, and there aren’t many like him in the Republican Party either. He was a foreign policy hawk who believed in the necessity of American military power and diplomacy to expand the zone of freedom in the world.
Lieberman rose in Connecticut politics as a moderate Democrat in a more moderate age. We first met him in 1988 when he ran for the Senate against the liberal Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker. He ran to Weicker’s right and won in an upset.
That set him on a 24-year Senate career notable for promoting pro-growth economic policies and a strong national defense, in addition to Democratic domestic priorities such as gay and abortion rights. He supported a low tax rate on capital gains, and his opposition to the “public option” was crucial to its removal from ObamaCare in 2010.
Lieberman was the rare Democratic office holder to criticize President Bill Clinton’s ethical misadventures in the 1990s, which made him a logical choice as a running mate in 2000 as Al Gore tried to move out of Mr. Clinton’s moral shadow. He was the first Jewish candidate on the national ticket of a major party.
As a Senator, Lieberman supported Presidents regardless of party in promoting U.S. interests abroad. He backed George H.W. Bush in the first Gulf War, in contrast to most other Democrats at the time, including then Sen. Joe Biden. The Vietnam syndrome was still prominent on the left, and the authorization to use force passed only 52-47.