Should Jews Support Joe Lieberman For FBI Director?

Waving Goodbye: Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced on Janury 19 that he would not run for a fifth Senate term. Best known for his 2000 candidacy as the first Jewish vice presidential nominee from a major political party, Lieberman has been embattled since 2006, when he lost a primary race and left the Democratic party. He is 68. Image by Getty Images
News recently broke that President Trump considers former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, 75, the frontrunner to succeed James Comey as FBI director. If the BDS-battling, yarmulke-wearing Lieberman actually gets the job, it would mark a watershed moment, since the FBI has never had a Jew in charge.
But should American Jews celebrate or fear Lieberman, given his rightward shift over the years?
Michael Powell, The New York Times: Lieberman Endorses McCain For President
“Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, not so long ago the Democratic nominee for vice president, has become chief endorser, campaign companion and all-around champion for his buddy Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential standard-bearer.”
During the 2008 presidential election, only eight years after he ran with Al Gore on the Democratic ticket, Lieberman wholeheartedly backed Republican candidate John McCain over Barack Obama. McCain also debated selecting Lieberman as his running mate instead of Sarah Palin.
Patrick Healy and Jennifer Medina, The New York Times: Lieberman Explains His Stance On Iraq
Mr. Lieberman said that while he believed his vote to authorize the war in 2002 was correct, he now felt a “heavy responsibility” to end the war quickly. He said he wanted to withdraw American troops “as fast as anyone,” yet insisted that leaving Iraq now would be a “disaster” that could worsen the sectarian violence there. And while President Bush may share that view, he added, Connecticut voters were free not to.
Lieberman initially supported President George W. Bush’s foreign policies, including the invasion of Iraq.
Dr. Susan Berry, Breitbart News: The End Of An Era: Sen. Joe Lieberman, The Last Moderate Democrat
In addition, as Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman, Lieberman reacted strongly two years ago to the Pentagon’s failure to mention “Islamist terrorism” in its report on the Fort Hood massacre.
When Lieberman left the Senate, he received a hearty send-off from Breitbart News. The “alt-right” publication applauded Lieberman’s hawkish national security policies.
J. Taylor Rushing and Alexander Bolton, The Hill: Sen. Reid Bows To Centrists, Will Drop Medicare Buy-in Provision To Pass Bill
“That’s just reality. You play the hand that’s dealt you.” Lieberman told reporters Monday that he still supports passing legislation — on his terms. “The important thing is: I’m for healthcare reform. And if we get together, we’re going to deliver a healthcare reform bill that will provide the ability to get health insurance to 30 million people who don’t have it now,”
In 2009, during the Obamacare debate, Senate Democrats came close to passing legislation that would have allowed Americans between 55 and 64 to buy into Medicare. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needed 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster, but he managed to wrangle just 59. Only Lieberman — known as the “Senator from Aetna” for his longtime support for Connecticut insurers — stood in the way of a law that arguably would have improved the health of many vulnerable Americans.
Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article stated that there had never been a Jewish CIA director. In fact, two previous directors, James Schlesinger and John Deutch, had Jewish lineage.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.