The following are excerpts from an Associated Press article entitled "Sen. Lieberman: Where He Stands" (Aug. 7, 2000).

Here's where Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman, Al Gore's running mate, stands on policy issues:

Abortion: Has supported requiring minors to have parental consent before having abortions at federally subsidized clinics.

Civil Rights: In 1994 crime bill, opposed letting prisoners on death row appeal by using the argument that sentencing statistics show they were victims of racial discrimination.

Crime: Backed anti-crime legislation pushed by Clinton, including mandatory sentences for crimes involving firearms. [Editorial note: the U.S. prison population nearly doubled during the Clinton presidency. There are now more people in prison in the U.S. than even in China, which has five times the population of the U.S.]

Also, Lieberman switched to favoring the death penalty after being against it early in his career.

Defense: Has sided with Republicans in supporting early deployment of a national missile defense system. Lieberman supported the Persian Gulf War.

Education: Championed experimental voucher programs, letting parents use federal money to send children to public or private schools of their choice. Gore says vouchers would undermine public education. More recently, Lieberman backed education changes that do not include vouchers.

He has also voted to expand tax-free education savings accounts to help parents cover education expenses in all grades and at public and private schools--an idea promoted by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush [and one that would benefit wealthy American at the expense of the poor--eds.]

Environment: League of Conservation Voters gave him 100 percent approval rating for eight of the last 11 years, based on his votes on environmental issues. [Editorial note: LCV is largely a Democratic Party institution; they endorsed Gore over Ralph Nader. LCV would not consider a Senator's support for military weaponry to be anti-environment, for example. They also carefully choose Congressional votes to make Democrats look their best. See www.counterpunch.org for more on the decline of Big Green.]

Gay Rights: Sponsored legislation to prohibit employment discrimination against gays. However, Lieberman has said "society should not be promoting the homosexual lifestyle," and he backed a 1994 bill to deny federal money to schools presenting material "supportive of homosexuality."

Lieberman has also voted to prohibit same-sex marriage in federal law, and provide that no state is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Health Care: Opposed the Clinton universal health care plan in favor of a more limited plan proposed by insurance companies, which are major financial supporters of his campaigns.

Legal Reform: One of only four Senate Democrats to side with Republicans in 1995 in voting to limit punitive damage awards in product liability cases.

Social Security: Has spoken in favor of partially privatizing Social Security, as proposed by Bush and opposed by Gore. Lieberman told The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1998: "A remarkable wave of innovative thinking is advancing the concept of privatization ... I think in the end that individual control of part of the retirement-Social Security funds has to happen."

Trade: Shares Gore's support for liberalized trade and normalizing trade relations with China. [Editorial note: in other words, he supports the World Trade Organization and NAFTA and sweatshops in China, just like George Dubya, Dick Cheney, and Al Gore.]

--Thanks to Mark Robinowitz for sending us this article and for his editorial comments.