The Curmudgeon meets political royalty!!!

The Curmudgeon met Vice President, uh, um, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) last night at a small gathering of old friends and supporters in a very nice suburb of Chicago. It must have been a wayward invitation that landed in the lap of the Curmudgeon but I wasn't going to ask any questions. Perhaps my status as an "A-list political blogger" preceded me or they just got the address wrong. Either way, I cleaned up nicely and pretended I had more in common with his supporters than with the valet parkers. I think I succeeded.

Loyal readers of the Curmudgeon will remember my brushes with greatness when I hung out with Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Robert Wexler. After Sen. Lieberman, I have only 98 to go in the senate.

Sen. Lieberman is too nice and too reasonable to be in the U.S. Senate but thank god he's there. He is widely regarded as the most likeable and respected Democrat in the Senate by Republicans and Democrats alike and its easy to see why. He is not without a smile for long and once you're a friend, you're a friend for life. His friendly disposition even put a brief smile on the Curmudgeon's face.

Lieberman has been in the Senate since 1988 after spending ten years as a Connecticut state senator and six as state attorney general. He has been for regime change in Iraq since before W knew were Iraq was on a map. He is also considered a centrist or liberal "hawk" and some Democrats don't like it when he works across the aisle with Republicans to get things done like when he joined in the "gang of 14" that brokered a deal on judicial filibusters this past summer. Lieberman's approach is correct. Simply being against W and the Republicans isn't going to get Democrats votes with independents. W's job approval numbers may be as low as my blog readership but that doesn't mean the Democrats numbers are rising. Supporting Iraqi regime change, the military including veterans and retirees, Israel, reproductive rights, access to health care, labor and strongly opposing terrorism and Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are not just good politics, they're good policy. Democrats should spend more time listening to Lieberman rather than Howard Dean.

There is a fight inside the party between the liberal "Dean" wing of the Democratic party and the liberal "hawk" wing of the party represented by Sen. Lieberman. For the good of the party, the country and the world, let's hope Lieberman wins that fight.

As for the 2000 election he recalled waking up and hearing a t.v. news report that he was Gore's vice presidential pick. He said he thought his wife, hearing the same report say "why?" although she claims she said "what?" He broke up the room and put another brief smile on the Curmudgeon's face.

After trolling the kitchen for some remaining hors d'oeuvres I left but not before Sen. Lieberman shook my hand with a smile and all I could think about was that I never shook the hand of a Vice President before...before tonight.