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Archive for January, 2011
Lieberman and McCain get the band back together
Senate Armed Services Committee members, U.S. Sen John McCain (R-AZ) (L) listens as U.S. Sen Joe Lieberman (I-CT) speaks during a press conference on Gen. Stanley McChrystal and the war in Afghanistan on Capitol Hill on June 23, 2010 in Washington, DC. The senators were in support for President Barack Obama's decision to name U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus to replace McChrystal.
The Straight Talk Express and Joe-mentum will be reunited for tonight’s State of the Union address by President Obama.
Just days after John McCain suggested that Joe Lieberman would make a worthy candidate for secretary of defense, the Arizona Republican and self-proclaimed independent Democrat from Connecticut plan to sit together for tonight’s speech.
“Senator Lieberman will sit with Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., (one might call that “tri-partisan”),” said Erika Masonhall, Lieberman’s spokeswoman.
You’ll recall that Lieberman supported McCain for president in 2008 over Obama.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., plans to sit with fellow new kid on the block, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. You might recall that Blumenthal and Ayotte were among the first four senators to be sworn in on Jan. 5.
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., doesn’t have plans to sit with anyone specifically at the moment.
Beam Me Up Scotty
Greenwich resident and incumbent state senator for the 36th district, L. Scott Frantz, smiles as he is nominated as the Republican state senate candidate for the 36th district, during a Republican nominating convention at The Arch Street Teen Center, Greenwich, Thursday evening, May 13, 2010. At right is Frantz's wife, Icy Frantz, and his daughter, Brady Frantz. Photo: Bob Luckey/Greenwich Time
Another name that the prognosticators and talking heads can throw out there for U.S. Senate in 2012: Republican L. Scott Frantz.
Elected in November to a second term in the state Senate’s 36th District, which encompasses Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan, a coy Frantz didn’t exactly deny his interest in a bid for the seat of Joe Lieberman when reached by Hearst Connecticut newspapers on Saturday.
“I think anybody involved in public service is doing their party, their state and country a disservice by completely ruling out the possibility of running for an office because no one can tell you with certainty what future circumstances will be,” Frantz said. “We’ve got to find the very best person on the Republican side to go up against the Democrats, who will undoubtedly have a bitter primary to determine who will be the Democratic nominee.”
A top GOP fundraiser and venture capitalist, Frantz, 50, has been active in state affairs, serving as board chairman of both Bradley International Airport near Hartford and the Connecticut Development Authority.
In 2007, Frantz, who is married with four children, won the Prescott Bush Award, the state GOP’s highest honor named for the late Connecticut senator and former president’s grandfather, who was a Greenwich resident.
“My interest is always serving the public to the highest possible degree that I’m capable of,” Frantz said. “The business of politics is full of serendipity, as well as a whole lot of road blocks. Connecticut desperately needs an outstanding leader in the U.S. Senate going forward after Senator Lieberman retires to make up for the loss of seniority that both Senator Dodd and Senator Lieberman give up as they retire.”
Hold the bacon, please
The words senator and pork-barrel seem to go hand in hand.
But Joe Lieberman doesn’t dig on swine — think of the scene from the movie “Pulp Fiction.”
An orthodox Jew, the senator follows a strict kosher diet, unbeknownst to some of his constituents.
One of my favorite Lieberman anecdotes was during one of his ubiquitous Cup o’Joe diner stops in Greenwich in 2005 when one prominent Republican who shall remain unnamed innocently offered Lieberman a strip of bacon from his breakfast plate.
Lieberman handled the faux pas with total class, simply saying, “No thanks.”
WARNING: The fellow scene contains expletives and may be offensive to some.
POTUS chimes in on Lieberman’s retirement
You’ll recall that Joe Lieberman supported Republican John McCain over Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
The White House press office just released the following statement from President Obama on Lieberman:
Statement by the President on Senator Lieberman’s Retirement
“I want to congratulate Senator Joe Lieberman on an extraordinary career in public service. Joe has spent four decades fighting for what he believes in on behalf of the people of Connecticut. From cracking down on polluters and deadbeat dads as Connecticut’s Attorney General to his years of work defending our nation’s security on the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees to his relentless efforts in recent months to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, his work has touched countless lives in his home state and across the country. Even if we don’t always see eye to eye, I always know Joe is coming from a place of principle. I know he will carry with him that integrity and dedication to his remaining work in the Senate and to whatever he chooses to do next.”
Joe, “Is that your final answer?”
Joe Lieberman opened his news conference Wednesday with a moment of levity, drawing comparisons between himself and Greenwich’s own Regis Philbin, who announced his retirement plans from show business a day earlier.
“It’s not easy on the spouses, and Hadassah said to me, ‘Joey, how long are you going to stay in the Senate?’ I promise you, when Regis leaves television, I’ll leave the Senate — and here we are!” Lieberman said in a detour from his prepared remarks that drew laughter from his supporters at the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa.
“Maybe he and I will be hanging out together now.”
