by Evie Stone

Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman made his GOP Convention debut tonight just eight years after addressing the Democrats as their Vice-Presidential nominee in Los Angeles. The Connecticut Senator isn't world-famous for his bombastic speaking style, but he was facing a friendly audience tonight and they welcomed him warmly.

Lieberman decried Washington partisanship, saying that "being a Democrat or Republican is important, but it is nowhere near as important as being an American." And he talked up McCain's credentials as a reformer and an aisle-crosser, contradicting the Democrats' convention-week argument that McCain has gone from onetime maverick to Bush boot-licker.

If John McCain is just another partisan Republican, then I'm Michael Moore's favorite Democrat. And I'm not. And I think you know that I'm not.

Lieberman praised Democratic nominee Barack Obama as "gifted and eloquent." But he immediately added that "eloquence is no substitute for a record." Lieberman said that during his short time in the Senate, Obama hasn't written any important bipartisan legislation or stood up to powerful interest groups.

 

Then he did something weird but maybe canny in this fight for independent voters — he compared Obama unfavorably to Bill Clinton (who it's safe to say is not the kind of person one usually praises in a hall filled with members of the vast right-wing conspiracy). Even more weirdly...the audience seemed to dig it:

Let me contrast Barack Obama's record to the record of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups, worked with Republicans, and got some important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements and a balanced budget.

After a speech predicated almost entirely on wooing the sizeable American center, Lieberman closed with an even more overt appeal to Independents and moderate Democrats:

I want to ask you whether you are an independent, a Reagan Democrat, a Clinton Democrat or just a plain old Democrat, this year, when you vote for president, vote for the person you believe is best for the country, not for the party you happen to belong to.

One person who seemed not-quite-converted: Senator Lieberman's wife Hadassah. NPR's Ken Rudin, who spent the evening on the convention floor, noticed Mrs. Lieberman sitting next to Cindy McCain and not doing too much applauding during most of the evening's proceedings. She has not indicated her presidential choice.