Tributes to former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman continue to pour in, with many former colleagues pointing to his conviction in his stances.
President Joe Biden said Lieberman was “principled, steadfast and unafraid to stand up for what he thought was right.”
“Joe believed in a shared purpose of serving something bigger than ourselves,” Biden, who served 20 years with Lieberman in the U.S. Senate, said in a statement. “He lived the values of his faith as he worked to repair the wounds of the world.”
Friends aren’t surprised to hear the comments because that’s the same person they knew.
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“One of my favorite things about Sen. Lieberman was he the same man behind closed doors as he was in public,” former speechwriter and advisor Dan Gerstein said.
Lieberman’s convictions helped him rise from a state senator in 1970 to attorney general in 1983 to the U.S. Senate in 1988. He defeated then-incumbent Lowell Weicker to win the seat.
Lieberman continued his rise, becoming the first Jewish politician to secure a major political party vice presidential nomination when he joined Al Gore atop the Democratic ticket in 2000.
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“As the first member of the Jewish community to run on a major party presidential ticket, he broke barriers and showed us what was possible, and always did so while holding strong to his values and moral outlook,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford said in a Facebook post.
Gore and Lieberman lost, but University of Connecticut Associate Professor Emeritus Ronald Schurin said Lieberman’s faith likely won over votes in tightly contested Florida.
“It just set a stand – set a sign that somebody’s Jewish faith would not be a negative, not be a barrier,” Schurin said.
Gerstein said Lieberman was proud of the history he accomplished.
“If you spend any time with Senator Lieberman – he loved this country and he had incredibly gratitude,” he said.
Lieberman’s convictions also drew ire from his own party. He lost the 2006 Democratic nomination for his seat to challenger Ned Lamont. Lieberman won, though, as an independent candidate to secure a fourth and final term. While the public saw the savvy politician who stood for his beliefs, Gerstein saw another side.
In 1999, he helped Lieberman craft a standup routine for the funniest celebrity in Washington, D.C. Contest.
“He had a little more wine that he typically would have, I think to kind of calm his nerves,” Gerstein said. “And he got on stage and he was loose and he let it rip and had a great time and had the audience in the palm of his hand. And he ended up winning the funniest celebrity in Washington contest.”
Click here for more information about funeral arrangements for Lieberman.
