Was Lieberman Good for the GOP?

Joe Lieberman came into power because conservatives in Connecticut dethroned liberal Republican Senator Lowell Weicker. Was it worth it?

Noah Kristula-Green writes that "Joe Lieberman’s retirement is a great time to reflect on the benefits of big tents and broad coalitions," and "the fact that the Democrats kept Lieberman in the caucus stands in stark contrast to the treatment of Mike Castle, Bob Bennett, and Arlen Specter."

That's one way to look at it! But it's more complicated than that, and to understand why, you have to go back to the beginning.

Let's keep in mind, amid the huzzahs, that Joe Lieberman came into power because conservatives in Connecticut couldn't countenance a liberal Republican, Lowell Weicker, for six more years.  The Democrats will end up holding down that seat for 24 years, with conservatives' blessings, and mostly because Lieberman held to one single aspect of conservative doctrine, foreign policy, when Weicker, admittedly, held to almost none.

And let's also admit that Lieberman wasn't perfectly consistent on foreign policy, either; North Korea comes to mind.

And finally, let's not forget Lieberman's behavior on the trail as a vice-presidential candidate in 2000, when every position he took against the Democratic consensus seemed to disappear when a shot at the ring came around.

So: was it worth it? Think about it: Weicker is still alive.  Assuming we could have possibly kept him in the fold (as unlikely as that may have been): would another Republican Senate seat have come in handy at any point in the last 28 years? After 2000, perhaps? After 2006? Would the 2000 election have looked different if Lieberman wasn't running for vice-president? Would it have been better or worse for Republicans?

Considering what may have happened differently if Weicker continued in the party after 1988, is probably approximately as far a limb as one can go out on, if one were to make the case for Republican pragmatist absolutism.  But, it's something to consider, as a soft, dissonant note, as we reflect on the end of perhaps the most unlikely political story of the post-Reagan era.

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