It was 1998 and Bill Clinton was excited that Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel had requested one of his (Clinton’s) favorite musicians for his up-coming state banquet. He told his social secretary to call me to make the arrangements with the great Lou Rawls. I had no idea how to get in touch with Lou Rawls but the social secretary insisted that the president said I did and implied that if the president said I did, I did. I asked what it was all about; maybe I could figure out what was going on. Nope, it’s secret. Tell President Clinton I can’t help if I don’t know what this is about. She called back a few hours later and said the president said she could tell me but it had to be in strict confidence. OK, go for it. Vaclav Havel was coming to the White House for a state banquet and he had requested Lou Rawls as the musical guest. Ah… President Clinton heard it wrong. Havel worships Lou Reed; he named his revolution against the Soviets the Velvet Revolution based on Lou Reed’s band, the Velvet Underground. Lou Reed is his favorite musician. She called back. President Clinton said I should make the arrangements to have Lou Reed at the White House.
So I did and I’ve written about that event several times. Ten years after, I had noted that after Lou had played and after coffee was served, everyone repaired to another room where there was dancing. “Tipper Gore's social secretary approached me and asked if she could introduce me to the second lady. I guess she didn't remember that we had already met in less pleasant circumstances, six years earlier when I had been at Sire Records and was executive producer of Body Count's eponymous album (the one with Cop Killer) and she was the self-proclaimed censorship czar with Joe Lieberman. But at the party she wanted to know if I would be supporting Al in the election. I was so rude that I'm still embarrassed.
Tipper wanted to know if I would be supporting Al for president and if I would help with the music community. I almost laughed in her face. You’re hated by the music community but Al’s running mate is even more hated. By picking Joe Lieberman as his running mate, I’m in the uncomfortable position of not voting for the Democratic ticket for the first time in my life. I had even voted for Hubert Humphrey. But Joe Lieberman? That’s a bridge too far. So… no, I won’t be supporting Al, or even voting for him. Roland knew there would be some kind of scene like that so he opted to not come. I had another guy with me; we went back to the dance floor.
I didn’t vote for Gore-Lieberman, my first time refusing to vote for a less-of-two-evils Democratic ticket. It was harder than I thought it would be. After all… George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. When it was announced on Wednesday that Lieberman had died at 82— complications from a fall— I was happy. I hate being happy when someone dies. It’s better to just have the grace to ignore it. Instead, I tweeted an invitation for my Twitter followers to listen to the classic Bauhaus song, the band’s debut, Bela Lugosi’s Dead. (My label indie had released a version by Until December in 1986. It’s so good.)
On Twitter Wednesday, someone stretched to find something positive today about Lieberman. He had supported ANWAR. Yesterday, The Forward noted that the Lieberman family’s longtime rabbi, Daniel Cohen, would be officiating at today’s funeral. “In his eulogy,” wrote Louis Keene, “Cohen will of course highlight Lieberman’s commitment to Orthodox observance as he rose through the ranks of American power to become Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. But in an interview Wednesday, Cohen said that at the synagogue, the late senator would be remembered as a ‘mensch par excellence’ who— in spite of his lofty position— hung around to schmooze after services… He was one of us.”
At the same time that Cohen was writing about Lieberman’s spiritual side, Ron Kampeas, was dealing with the politics in the same newspaper. “A moderate— some would say conservative— Democrat turned independent, Lieberman was known for his attempts to build bridges in an increasingly polarized Washington, sometimes losing old friends and allies along the way… Lieberman’s reputation for outreach to the other side defined his career in the Senate after he arrived in the body in 1989, having been elected after serving as Connecticut’s attorney general. His break with Democratic ranks in backing the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 helped him later in the decade, when he rallied Republicans to support Clinton’s military actions in Kosovo… He delivered an ineffective— some said even deferential— performance in his debate with Dick Cheney, George W. Bush’s running mate. And during the recount, he undercut one of Gore’s best arguments— questionable absentee ballots from the military— when he told NBC’s Meet the Press that they should be honored. The real turning point came after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when the Bush administration launched a political and diplomatic campaign to make the case for war against Iraq. Like many other Democrats, Lieberman steadfastly backed war. But while many of his Democratic colleagues came to regret their decision, he stuck by it, and even made it the centerpiece of his 2004 campaign for the presidency. He was bitter when Gore, who opposed the war, endorsed Howard Dean for president that year. Lieberman’s adamant backing of the war led to an insurgency in Connecticut. Liberal Democrats descended on the state to back his anti-war opponent, Ned Lamont, helping him win the primary. It didn’t help that at this late stage, when the Iraq war’s failure had become conventional wisdom, Lieberman wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal backing Bush’s strategies. Establishment Democrats, including a freshman senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, supported Lieberman in the primary but could not see a way to support him once Lamont prevailed. Lieberman ran as an independent, and with the Republican Party refusing to back its candidate, he won with votes from the GOP and independents.”
Lieberman later repaid Obama by endorsing McCain for president at the GOP convention. Obama forgave Lieberman and propped him up. Lieberman then turned ObamaCare from something that was on track to being great into something… mediocre with a few good provisions. Obama made a big mistake. He should have crushed Lieberman when he beat McCain in a 365-173 electoral vote landslide.
My own hatred for Lieberman, most recently seen trying to help Trump’s election efforts via No Labels, on whose board he presided, never abated for one second. One of my proudest moments as a board member of People for the American Way was to persuade the board to forgo policy and endorse Ned Lamont’s insurgent Senate race against Lieberman. Most on the board didn’t agree— until Norman Lear bought into my arguments.
Our old friend Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, tweeted that "Up until the very end, Joe Lieberman enjoyed the high-quality, government-financed healthcare that he worked diligently to deny the rest of us. That's his legacy.” Yep, killing the public option on behalf of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies that financed his filthy, disgraceful career in politics… that and his support for Israel over America, his support for all wars all the time and for his backing of the genocidal AIPAC. I tremble to say this for the first time about anyone’s death: Rot in Hell for Eternity, Asshole.