Will Lieberman Address GOP Convention?

Is Joe Lieberman going to speak to the Republican convention in September?

That -- to use a phrase of which my late mother was fond -- would be a real "show stopper."

Lieberman, of course, was the Democrats' nominee for vice president on Al Gore's ticket in 2000. But Lieberman supports John McCain for president this time -- apparently because Lieberman shares McCain's position on the Iraq War.

And now, according to Manu Raju in The Hill, the now-independent senator from Connecticut "is leaving open the possibility of giving a keynote address ... at the Republican National Convention."

If it seems odd that a prominent member (or, in this case, former member) of one party would give a speech at the convention of the opposite party, it shouldn't.

Former Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, a Democrat, spoke to the Republican convention four years ago, Raju points out. And, Raju continues, "Miller, who was planning to retire from the Senate at the end of 2004, had little to lose by crossing his party."

If Miller's objective was to "cross his party," then he was to be congratulated for doing such a good job. Raju rightly observes that Miller's speech was "scathing" in its criticism of Democratic nominee John Kerry.

Miller, it might be noted, has not -- to my knowledge -- been invited to so much as attend either of this year's conventions.

After Connecticut's contentious Democratic primary in 2006, it was somewhat doubtful that Lieberman would be invited to this year's Democratic convention. And it became less likely when Lieberman endorsed McCain's candidacy in December.

But, as Raju observes, Lieberman's "decision to caucus with Democrats ... allows them to hold their narrow 51-49 majority." Aside from the war, Lieberman's voting record seems to be in line with most Democrats in the Senate.

Lieberman could be expected to be somewhat restrained in a hypothetical speech to the Republicans later this year, if only to protect his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

After all, if the Democrats add to their majority in the Senate this year, as expected, they would be free to replace Lieberman as a committee chairman.

And, even if things remained unchanged in the Senate, if the Democratic nominee for president is elected, the party wouldn't lose its control of the Senate if forced into a tiebreaker. The new vice president, as president of the Senate, would be expected to support the party.

So Lieberman has plenty of incentive to avoid burning any bridges with the Democratic leadership -- unlike Zell Miller four years ago.