It’s time for Senator Joe Lieberman to take off the mask and come out of the closet. He is not a Democrat nor an Independent. He is, and always has been, a Republican. The evidence overwhelming even though he caucuses with the Senate Democratic majority. President Bush has no stronger or more vocal supporter for his failed Iraq war policies then the good Senator. Of course, during the short time he was running for re-election and losing in the Democratic primary, he had to waffle on the issue in order to get re-elected, but after election resumed his previous unwavering support of Mr. Bush. He won re-election with strong Republican backing. Not only has he been a consistent hawk on the Iraq issue, but he has gone out of his way to support every Iraq decision by the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld combine. In September of 2002 he announced that he backed President Bush’s call to take action against Iraq and cited the bogus "weapons of mass destruction" argument. But, in spite of the truth emerging and the death toll increasing, even today, he has not wavered in supporting all of the Bush war policies in Iraq. As the war drug out and more lives were lost, Lieberman cheered Mr. Bush on and criticized Democratic members of Congress by pointing out that "President Bush would be Commander in Chief for three more years" and said "it’s time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that." He went on to claim that "We undermine the president’s credibility at our nation’s peril." As you might expect, he was given warm public embraces by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a time the Democratic members of Congress were increasing critical of the three leaders. Does his "in your face" conduct look like someone who ran as the Democratic candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States?

Of course, as he was losing the primary election in his home state of Connecticut against Ned Lamont, he changed his tune by claiming "I want to get our troops as fast as anyone, probably more than most…" Losing as a Democrat, he simply continued to run as an Independent preaching a different Iraq talk. In fact, in his first campaign commercial after losing the Democratic primary in 2006, Lieberman said "I want to help end the war in Iraq" and was re-elected as an "Independent." Once elected, he changed his tune about Iraq again. When the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton Report was announced it called for a redeployment of t troops over a twelve month period to bring the troops home. It was widely endorsed by a majority of Democratic and even Republican members of Congress. However, President Bush promptly disregarded the significance of the report and the good Senator just as promptly jumped on Mr. Bush’s band wagon ignoring his previous statements to voters about bringing troops home. He has consistently been Mr. Bush’s best friend on the war and a majority of other Republican issues, while discouraging Democrats from dissenting about the war. When Rumsfeld’s job was on the line over the Abu Ghraib scandal, Lieberman published a op-ed in the Wall Street Journal subtitled "Why Rumsfeld Must Stay." In fact, he is the only remaining "Democrat" to continue to wholeheartedly support Mr. Bush’s policies in Iraq.

It’s not just his continuous strong public backing of every policy of the Bush administration in Iraq, but his overall record in the Senate that reveals who he really is behind his public political mask. He was the first Democrat to chastise President Clinton over Monica Lewinsky. He hired a former Christian Coalition member and Republican as his communications director. He abandoned the Democratic Senators to join the Republicans in supporting Mr. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. As a Senator there was no stronger backer of tort reform. In fact, his Republican voting record was made an issue during his candidacy for Vice President. Republicans took delight in pointing out that Lieberman’s voting record showed he held the same views as then candidate Bush on many important issues like school voucher programs, the need for a national missile defense system and privatizing the Social Security program. Lieberman voted for Bush’s energy bill which awarded huge tax cuts to big oil and his ninth largest campaign contributor was the energy industry. He sided with Republican energy policies benefiting big oil. Lieberman has consistently been critical of the impact of video games and television shows in his speeches to votes. But, then it was revealed he had been paid $73,000 by the industry while running as an Independent

Mr. Lieberman left his party position and sided with the Republicans and Bush Administration on every tort reform piece of legislation proposed while the authentic Democrats were opposing them. In fact, he has been the leading supporter of Republican tort reform in the Senate. In October of 2004 Lieberman took the very unusual step of publicly praising President Bush while chiding John Kerry during the election campaign. On January 28^th of this year, he said he may vote Republican in the next presidential election. Does that sound like a Republican party member to you? It sure does to me. So Senator, it’s time to come out of the closet and tell the truth about who you are and always have been – a Republican.