Lieberman insists he is "devoted" Democrat

Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:13 PM ET

By Stuart Grudgings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Joseph Lieberman, seeking to slip out of a perceived White House embrace, insisted on Sunday he was a loyal Democrat and criticized the Bush administration's post-invasion Iraq war policy.

The 2000 vice-presidential candidate lost the Democratic primary vote in Connecticut to an anti-war rival this month, but is now running for re-election as an independent candidate in a contest that has exposed deep U.S. divisions over the unpopular war.

Some Republican officials have shifted their support to Lieberman, and the White House took the rare step of declining to back the Republican nominee, leading critics to accuse him of becoming the de-facto candidate for President George W. Bush.

Lieberman, who according to a poll released last week now leads the Senate race in the Democrat-leaning state, said in an interview on CBS television that he was "devoted" to his party and would remain in its congressional caucus if elected.

"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," he said.

However, he said, "I feel I allowed my opponent to distort my position on Iraq," he said. "What I mean is he made me into a cheerleader for George Bush on everything that's happened."

Lieberman reiterated his call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign due to setbacks in Iraq and said that despite his own support for overthrowing Saddam Hussein, he thinks Bush has mishandled Iraq policy after the invasion.

"I've been very critical over the years, particularly in 2003 and 2004 about the failure to send enough American troops to secure the country," he said.

But he said there would be all-out civil war and a "disaster we pay for a generation" if Washington sets a deadline for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, a call that helped his Democrat rival Ned Lamont win the primary vote.

"The position that my opponent and others take to set a deadline by which we will get out is the surest way to get to a civil war, which would be dangerous for our troops, a disaster for Iraq, the Middle East and for the United States of America."

He said the president and Congress may need to consider a troop withdrawal in the event of "all-out" civil war in Iraq.

Leading Democrats said the senator's defeat showed voters' anger at Bush and the war ahead of November mid-term elections, while Republican and administration officials have painted it as an example of Democratic weakness on national security.

Democratic party Chairman Howard Dean has called for Lieberman to drop out after his primary loss.

Lieberman's decision to shrug off the defeat and run as an independent has ensured the war will stay in the election spotlight as Democrats try to wrest control of the House and the Senate from Bush's Republican Party.

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