The Lieberman -- Weicker Race of 1988

[Sharm]

I looked up Joseph Lieberman and Weicker in google (and then findarticles.com) to see what the press was saying about the 1988 election battle between a liberal-oid Republican and a conservat-oid Democrat. What I found were, mostly, several articles from the National Review.

The magazine hated Weicker -- about as much as we (for the most part) can't stand Joseph Lieberman.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/search?qt=Joseph+Lieberman+Weicker&tb=art&qf=free

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n20_v40/ai_6701986
In favour of Joseph Lieberman.

He is a Democrat who: Applauded the use of military force in Grenada. Applauded the anti-terrorist strike in Libya. Applauded the deployment of naval forces to keep open the sea channel in the Persian Gulf All these positions, Republican Senator Weicker opposed.

Lieberman favors a moment of silence in the public schools; and-as he put it, "in order"-he believes in God, in love of country, and in the work ethic. By contrast, Lowell Weicker prays every day only that there shall never be prayers said at school.

<...>

On abortion (Lowell Weicker will be satisfied only when the Federal Government provides a bonus to any woman who aborts her child), Lieberman looks and sounds genuinely distressed by the subject. It is, he says, a profound moral question. He opposes abortion. But he would not outlaw it. And then he points out that Roe v. Wade, which turned the country's laws around on the subject of abortion, recognized the right of the state at some point during pregnancy to extend protection to human life. He was saying, in effect, that although it developed under Roe v. Wade that anyone can get an abortion at any time, in fact, the Supreme Court only meant to license it for early in the pregnancy.

LIEBERMAN spoke with that degree of ideological modesty which highlights the imperial obnoxiousness of the Republican for whose seat he is competing. If politics is heavily a matter of character, as we all are urged to believe in the matter of Dan Quayle, then many independents, and even some Republicans, are going to look at the two alternative candidates and say: Better a Democratic Lieberman, than a Republican Weicker.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n17_v40/ai_6600582

William Buckley's oh-so-witty endorsement of Joseph Lieberman.

Q. So that it is primarily the retirement of Weicker rather than the election of Lieberman that you wish? A. You can't have the one without the other. As for Joe Lieberman, he is a moderate Democrat, and it is always possible that he will progress in the right direction. There is no such hope for Lowell Weicker.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n20_v40/ai_6701944

In a public debate with Democratic opponent Attorney General Joe Lieberman last week, Weicker attacked the Pledge of Allegiance. "Ronald Reagan tried to take us down a lot of wrong paths . . . and only one man stood up." (He meant Lowell Weicker.) Asked about Buckpac (Buckleys for Lieberman), Lieberman said, "Buckley and tens of thousands of others can't stand you for your political grandstanding."

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n24_v40/ai_6859622

Upon the election of Joseph Lieberman:

Hmm. Suppose that, on swearing-in day in January at the Senate, Mr. Lieberman were to announce that, on mature reflection, he had decided to become a Republican?

Ironic, it is.

[WI_DEM]

1. I have no doubt that Lowell Weiker was a much more liberal

Senator than Lieberman has been. It is a shame he didnt' become a democrat, though he later did become an Independent. Didn't he serve as Gov. of Ct. as an Independent or did he just run for it?

[Sharm]

3. Yes. Governor

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Weicker

Weicker was then a professor at the George Washington University School of Law before returning to Connecticut to run for Governor in 1990, this time as an independent. He gained national attention with his upset victory in November, but did not run for reelection in 1994.

Weicker's political career appeared to be over after his 1988 defeat for reelection to the Senate by Joseph Lieberman, but two years later he ran for Governor of Connecticut as a member of A Connecticut Party against Republican John Rowland and Democrat Bruce Morrison. The most volatile issue facing Connecticut at that time was the attempt to implement a broad-based state income tax. Connecticut had traditionally had no state income tax except for a fairly steep one imposed on "unearned income" such as interest and dividends. Weicker ran on a platform of being able to solve the Connecticut fiscal crisis without the implementation of a broader-based income tax to include the taxation of earned income.

However, shortly after his inauguration Weicker reversed his field totally and became an advocate of such a tax. Liberal forces applauded his "political courage" and his willingness to "face reality", while conservative forces were equally quick to denounce him in no uncertain terms as a "liar" and a "traitor." The broad income tax he had come to favor passed the General Assembly. However, a huge protest rally in Hartford held shortly after it was implemented and the withholding for it begun alledgedly attracted over 50,000 participants. After this, the Assembly passed a measure repealing the broad-based income tax, which was subsequently vetoed by Governor Weicker. The override of the veto fell a vote short, and the massively unpopular tax was in effect permanently. Weicker's critics are quick to blame his implementation of the state income tax for Connecticut being the only U.S. state actually to lose population between the 1990 census and the 2000 census. However, Weicker also has a cadre of supporters who insist that he was the only person who could have solved the state's ongoing fiscal problems and had the courage to address them directly and forthrightly, and also note that the enactment of the income tax was coupled with a reduction of the state's sales tax to a level comparable to that of surrounding states, benefitting Connecticut merchants. Critics respond that since the income tax was implemented that studies show that Connecticut has gone from being one of the lowest-taxed per capita of the fifty states to one of the highest, if not the highest. However, Weicker supporters contend that only since his implementation of the income tax has their been an adequate stream of state revenue, including funding for areas which Connecticut voters had previously expressed support for in theory but then were unwilling to pay for, and note that Connecticut still has the highest per capita income of any of the 50 U.S. states. Weicker has a reputation in any event for courting controversy, and as such is well-liked by his friends and deeply disliked by his detractors. The income tax controversy may well have prompted Weicker not to seek any further term as governor, but there seems to be little indication that he had ever intended to make that office

[virgdem]

2. As one who actually voted in that race...

I lived in CT since 1974 and voted for Lowell Weicker. Why? He always had a reputation as a maverick within the Republican Party. His positions were moderate and I liked some of his positions. I was not really impressed with Lieberman, so I cast my vote for the only Republican I have ever voted for in my life. It appears that I may have been correct in how I perceived Lieberman. Now, I can't stand him.