I was saddened to hear the news of the somewhat sudden death of Joseph Lieberman, a four-term senator from Connecticut (1989-2013) and the Democrat nominee for vice president in 2000, making history as the first Jewish candidate to grace a national party ticket.
During that very tightly contested 2000 presidential campaign, then-Senator Lieberman emphasized his Jewish faith, declaring that you could not understand him as a candidate or as a man without understanding the truly significant role his faith played in all areas of his life. He described himself as an “observant” Jew (rather than strict, orthodox). He observed Jewish dietary kosher practices and strictly observed the Jewish sabbath.
Mr. Lieberman once walked across Washington to the Capitol building on the sabbath to stop a Republican filibuster without violating strictures against disallowed sabbath modes of transportation.
Lieberman had a hard-won, well-deserved reputation as a good, decent man who loved his God, his wife, and his country.
Despite the fact that the Yale Law School student Bill Clinton was a tremendous help in Lieberman’s first successful run for public office in 1970, Lieberman was the first major Democrat figure to condemn publicly President Clinton’s illicit sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Lieberman condemned President Clinton’s behavior, acknowledging that while “I liked him,” “I really felt that what he did was truly awful.” Senator Lieberman later reported that President Clinton told him, “I just want you to know that there’s nothing you said in that speech that I disagree with.”
Click Here to Read More (Originally Published at the Christian Post)
