Joe Lieberman defends possible 'unity' ticket
'No Labels' founding chairman ex-Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., joins 'Your World' to discuss dissatisfaction with GOP, Democrats.
Former Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-Independent who is the founding chairman of No Labels, told Fox News it may be several months before the group decides whether to run a third-party candidate, but underlined his belief the American people are fed up with President Biden and Donald Trump.
Lieberman, who was former Vice President Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election – one of a handful of races throughout U.S. history that third party nominees purportedly played a role in swinging the ultimate result – told "Your World" that there is mass dissatisfaction with the two established parties.
To those who are dissatisfied with Democrats and Republicans but believe a third-party vote is a wasted one, Lieberman has a message.
"The best way to change that and try to get two parties to come back from the left and right toward the center and common ground and try to solve our problems is to support (1) the policy agenda we put out yesterday, which is bipartisan. It's not about us and them. It's about we, the people," he said Tuesday on "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
LIBERAL MEDIA PANICS OVER POTENTIAL NO LABELS THIRD-PARTY TICKET: 'DEMOCRACY-ENDING'
"The second [reason] is if we decide to run a third ticket, a bipartisan unity ticket, to support the ticket, because other than that, the two major parties seem to have been working hard at shutting out the majority of people who are not to the left and the right, but really in that broad middle ground where they just want the country to do better than it's doing now."
Joseph Lieberman, I-CT (Fox)
In 2006 remarks around the time he struck out as an Independent Democrat, Lieberman touted his ability to work across party lines, including with then-Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and President George W. Bush.
Lieberman also broke with Democrats – who he still caucused with -- in 2008 to endorse then-Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., over then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president.
When asked if No Labels would "stand-down" if the 2024 race shapes up differently than a Biden-Trump rematch, Lieberman was noncommittal:
"It depends," he said. "And incidentally, that's why we say that the effort we're making now to get on the ballot of all 50 states with the third line is an insurance policy, like any insurance policy, you hope you don't have to use it, but it's there if you do."
"When the field becomes clearer, then we'll decide whether we have a constructive role to play by running a bipartisan unity ticket. We'll do it if we think we actually have a chance to win, which I think we might use the public distaste for the two parties and frankly, for these two candidates is so great."
Lieberman said the group will "probably not" be able to make "a sensible decision about this until next year -- certainly after the Super Tuesday primaries in March."
Lieberman's group however, has become the target of media scrutiny, with former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., decrying on his MSNBC program that recent "No Labels" speaker Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., would have "helped elect a fascist" as part of his epitaph.
Scarborough suggested a third-party Manchin run would ruin Biden's reelection chances.
On "Your World," host Neil Cavuto laid out how several races – including Gore's and Lieberman's – were affected by third-party bids. In their case, Green Party nominee Ralph Nader was accused of siphoning left-leaning votes in Florida enough to secure Bush's thin victory there.
Texas tech industrialist H. Ross Perot was considered to have similarly helped secure then-Arkansas Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton's win over incumbent President George H.W. Bush.
In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt became disaffected with the Republicans and launched an independent "Bull Moose" Progressive Party bid that split votes from GOP nominee William Howard Taft. Roosevelt ultimately scored more electoral votes than Taft, and the win went to New Jersey Democratic Gov. Woodrow Wilson.
In 1968, segregationist Democratic Alabama Gov. George Wallace launched a bid as an "American Independent," garnering 46 electoral votes to former Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey's 191. The split ticketing helped lead to a victory for former California Republican Gov. Richard Nixon.
Other political figures who have been associated with No Labels include former North Carolina Republican Gov. Patrick McCrory, former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and former NAACP Chair Benjamin Franklin Chavis.
McCrory told NBC News this week that he plans to vote in the GOP primary, but that neither party is currently "speaking to the majority of the American people."
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