Kerry calls Lieberman 'out of step' with voters

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry yesterday blasted Senator Joseph I. Lieberman over his decision to stay in the Connecticut senatorial race as an independent, saying Lieberman ``is making a Republican case" to voters and is echoing the words of Vice President Dick Cheney in his campaign.

Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on ABC's ``This Week" that Lieberman is ``dead wrong" on the issue of the Iraq war, and said he is making a ``huge mistake" by aligning himself with Republicans who support it.

He urged Democrats to coalesce behind Ned Lamont, who defeated Lieberman in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary, based largely on his strong antiwar stance.

``I am concerned that he is making a Republican case, and he is uttering almost the same words as Vice President Cheney, and I think it's inappropriate," Kerry said of Lieberman, his Senate colleague for the past 18 years.

``The fact is, Joe Lieberman is out of step with the people of Connecticut," he continued. ``And to adopt the rhetoric of Dick Cheney, who has been wrong about almost everything he has said about Iraq, shows you just exactly why he got in trouble with the Democrats there."

Lieberman, appearing on CBS's ``Face the Nation," dismissed the criticism as part of Kerry's efforts to position himself for another run for the presidency in 2008.

``With all respect to John Kerry, an old friend, that's just plain politics by somebody who has ambitions of his own," Lieberman said. ``I am a Democrat. Look at my voting record. I voted 90 percent of the time with the majority of Democrats in the United States Senate. But when I disagree, I'm going to have the courage of my convictions to say so."

Kerry is trying to establish himself firmly as an antiwar candidate as he prepares for the possibility of another presidential campaign. Throughout his 2004 presidential bid, Kerry was dogged by a perceived inability to establish a clear, concise message on the war, and he maintained through the campaign that he did not regret his vote authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq.

But in recent months, Kerry has called for a quick troop pullout, and he authored an amendment in the Senate -- which failed in a lopsided vote -- that would have required the president to withdraw virtually all US troops from Iraq by next summer.

He strongly endorsed Lamont after his victory over Lieberman, and even sent a fund-raising appeal on Lamont's behalf last week to his network of political supporters.

Since Lieberman lost to Lamont, many prominent Democrats have endorsed the Connecticut businessman, including former president Bill Clinton, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and Lieberman's fellow Connecticut senator, Christopher J. Dodd.

Meanwhile, the White House refusal to endorse the Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, has been interpreted as a tacit GOP endorsement of Lieberman. Cheney has hinted that Lamont's win was a victory for ``the Al Qaeda types," and has offered praise for Lieberman while saying that Democrats chose ``a candidate whose explicit goal is to give up the fight against the terrorists in Iraq."

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week gave Lieberman an 11-point edge over Lamont in a three-way race with Schlesinger, with the senator benefiting from support among Republicans and independents in Connecticut.

Lieberman has cast his campaign as an attempt to reclaim the Democratic Party from the antiwar left. Yesterday, he reiterated his vow to caucus with Democrats in the Senate even if he wins a fourth term as an independent, and said voters should choose him to be a voice in Washington who can work with both parties.

``I represent a tradition in the Democratic Party, which is social progress here at home and strength in foreign and defense policy," Lieberman said yesterday. ``I think my party gains by having people like me in it. . . . If you want another partisan polarizer, vote for Ned Lamont."

Lieberman said setting a deadline for withdrawing US troops from Iraq would increase violence in the region. But he repeated that he has opposed many of the administration's post-invasion policies in Iraq.

Lieberman said Lamont distorted his record in the primary to suggest that he has been a ``cheerleader for George Bush," a remark that drew a swift rebuke from the Lamont campaign.

``Courage means having the ability to admit mistakes and take the steps necessary to correct them," Lamont said in a statement issued by his campaign. ``George Bush, Don Rumsfeld, and Joe Lieberman were wrong to get us into the war, wrong in the day-to-day conduct of it, and were wrong to take their eye off Osama Bin Laden, America's real threat."

On ``This Week," Kerry also asserted that Iraq is in a ``civil war," and said only by setting a timetable for troop withdrawal can responsibility for Iraq's security be transferred to the Iraqi people. But Lieberman said leaving Iraq now would be a ``a disaster that we will pay for for a generation."

Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, attacked Kerry for displaying ``defeatism" that is part of a ``fundamental misunderstanding of the war on terror."

``John Kerry's strategy of cut-and-run in Iraq plays right into the terrorists' plans," Jones said.