January 31, 2025 • 20 mins
A NEW FILM ABOUT JOE LIEBERMAN One has to think that Joe Lieberman just wouldn't get elected in today's environment. A true pragmatist and problem solver, the Jewish Senator left quite the legacy and it's the focus of a new film by Rob Schwartz called Centered: Joe Lieberman which you can find more about here. It's showing this weekend at the Denver Jewish Film Festival this weekend and next week. I'm talking to Rob at 1 about the film.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And pleased a bunch to have Rob Schwartz in with me.
(00:03):
He has got a new film about Joe Lieberman called
Centered Joe Lieberman. It's going to be showing this weekend
at the Denver Jewish Film Festival, which has been going
on this week and into next week. And first of all, Rob,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Andy, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So I said this earlier on the show, and I
just said it to you. But I was watching the
first half hour of this documentary on Joe Lieberman and
I was struck that I don't think he could get
elected today. How did you What were your thoughts about
Joe Lieberman before you started this and are they the
same after you finished this project.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Well, I met him over forty years ago when I
served as chief of staff.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Oh wow, so you got inside knowledge here.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
So I've been a friend of his for over forty years,
ran a couple of his campaigns, and so I had
a front row seat as a young man to see
the character, tributes and values that the world came to know.
And so what I would say is for those people
(01:07):
who are going to come and see the movie, you're
going to see a balanced, very honest and candid review
of a great man. But all great men also make mistakes.
So it's an honest and frank documentary about the successes
and some of the speed bumps in his career. But
(01:29):
there's a whole lot more good than not good in
his career. He was a man of incredible integrity and honesty, and.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
A pragmatist, very much in a profession where pragmatism is
not rewarded.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, and someone who dealt with people politically in a
very civil manner. And there are those, particularly in this
day and age, who believe that the politics is a
contact sport.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yes, like you need helmet to be a polo, which
kind of led me the comment I made. Do you
think Joe Lieberman could get elected in today's environment?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I think it would be challenging. For that matter, I
don't know if John F. Kennedy could get a Democratic
nomination in this world.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, if you watched.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
How his nephew was treated, Yeah by his fellow Democrats
at the hearing in the Senate.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It's a tough, tough environment.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I mean, we're not going to go down the rabbit
hole of what's going on with RFK. But to your point.
This is a guy who's been a reliable Democrat for
so long, you would think there would be a little
grace there. But it's almost like it's they're going after
him more viciously because of his history. That's just my speculation.
Let me ask you about the man. Yeah, And I
think this really comes across in the in the documentary
(02:46):
what you just said that he was a good person.
He was just a good person. Tell me a little
bit about or tell the audience a little bit about
his history. How he became that person that in this
very ugly business of politics, always seemed to be able
to rise above the fray for the most part.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, I think your listeners should know that he came
from a very lower middle class family in Stanford, Connecticut.
His dad, who only had a high school diploma, owned
a little liquor store. They were observant Jews, Orthodox, and
he grew up in a very religious family. And he
(03:25):
was very smart as a young man and got accepted
to Yale, and I think that that was an opening
for him in terms of intellectually saying a whole different
world and went to Yell undergraduate, was an honor student,
then went to Yale law school and truly became one
(03:45):
of the top law students at Yale. And that's he
says in the documentary. When as an undergraduate he ran
for student office, he said, quote, something was brewing.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I think public service and elective office was always there,
and I don't think the documentary says the election of
John F. Kennedy was clearly the key trigger to get
him moving in that direction.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
He never seemed to be motivated by the things that
sometimes motivate people to seek office that are not about
public service, that are more about personal service. And I
think we can all think of politicians from every party
that fit that mold. Was he truly looking at it
from a public servant perspective, very much so.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And I think one of the key things that I
knew about when I worked with him, but didn't totally
appreciate as I became a bit older and I became
more religious his study of the Torah, of the scriptures,
and he studied with a number of rabbis that clearly
(04:58):
influenced his values and how we looked at life and
how we looked at politics. He truly had a different
touchstone in terms of what guided him. And I saw
it when I worked for him, But it was really
later in life that I really came to appreciate how
(05:18):
much his study of the Bible influenced him.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Was being a Jew ever problem in his political career.
Never see, that's heartening because I wonder if now it
is a bigger problem. I mean to talk about the
arc of where we are now, and we're in such
a sort of an ugly space.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
You know, Connecticut had a huge Roman Catholic electorate and
he was beloved in the state. And it was only
until later when really left wing Democrats turned on him.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I was going to ask about that because I didn't
make it there in the documentary. Yea, And I want
to know he eventually became an independent.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He did. He ran.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
For his third nomination and lost to Ned Lamont, who
is now the governor. He wasn't happy with that outcome
and decided that he was not just going to walk away.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
He decided he'd run as.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
What he called himself, an independent Democrat. He never changed
his registration. He always remained a registered Democrat.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, neither did I. To be counted, we never.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Left the party, but the party really did leave him.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
They really did.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And you know, just a little anecdote went I went
to work for him. He was the state Senate majority
leader in the Connecticut State Senate and that was the
key position that really ran the show. And the first
thing he asked me to do was to travel the
state and meet with all elements of the Democratic Party
(06:55):
and to listen to them. And he particularly encouraged me
to meet with left wing Democrats in the greater New
Haven area where we lived, and it was an eye
opener for me in that way.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, they didn't like him, nor did they trust.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Him, even because he was too moderate.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It was a part of it.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
He didn't moderate on a lot. I mean, no, do
you look at him. He held some very conservative I
would say conservative positions when it came to national defense
and things of that nature. But then he was also
very socially liberal.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
He voted with the Democratic Party ninety percent except on
foreign policy, and they wouldn't cut him a brake candidly,
you know, he had to be one hundred percent on board,
and he viewed what was happening in the Middle East
as a direct threat, particularly after nine to eleven. He
(07:54):
felt that we had a lead with strength and that
he wasn't going to allow politics to be the cause
of him not backing the Bush foreign policy, which he
agreed with, right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
And the other part was, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
His best friend in the Senate and really his kindred
spirit was John McCain and they voted very, very alike
in terms of foreign policy.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So you know, personally, I think the Democratic Party in
Connecticut made a huge mistake by turning on them. But
you know, that's history now, and the documentary tells the story.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So going back, because this was how many years ago
that Democrats thought he wasn't democratic enough? Thirty I mean
that's you think this is a relatively new development, the
kind of polarization that we've seen within the parties. And
it's not just the Democratic Party, but I mean here
in Colorado you have leadership of the Colorado GOP that
seems hell bent on blowing apart any sort of coalitions.
(08:57):
And now you're telling me thirty years ago they were
suspect because he dared to break on foreign policy. That's
just it's kind of depressing.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I agree with you. You know, the people who would agree.
I'm going to use John Fetterman as an example.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I got to tell you I have a little bit
of a crush, a political crush on him right now.
If he would just not I can't with the hoodies
and the Jim Schwartz. But he's kind of taken this
position of I'm going to say what I think is.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Right, and he he went to mar A Lago and
met with Trump. You know, if you don't sit and
listen to each other, which was a major message from
Senator and Lieberman to me. He urged me to spend
as much time in the Senate Republican caucus as I
did in the Democratic caucus.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
All that dog wall hunt now will it? I mean?
Speaker 3 (09:51):
But I spent I spent a considerable amount of time
and developed close friendships with Senate Republicans so that when
Joe running a bill or the Democrats were and they
wanted bipartisan, they were willing to sit and talk right,
they were treated with respect, and that you know with
the cancel culture, now you know people do not want
(10:14):
to cut each other if you will a break, to
sit down, listen with respect, truly listen, yep, and then
to have a civil discourse.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Even what's interesting, Rob is you know I'm on X
all the time, the social media platform, and I have
a very diverse group of people that I follow, right,
so I have people on the hard left, mid left, center,
you know, same on the right. There's there's a bubbling
up right now on social media of people that are saying,
I've had enough. I've had enough. I can't can't do
(10:48):
this anymore. I can't run around hating people anymore. I
can't do it. I am actually a little bit hopeful that.
I don't think politicians will ever do it, but the
people will do exactly what you're talking talking about and
take the time to listen to their friends and neighbors
that maybe they disagree with politically and not just cut
people off. So maybe that maybe the pendulum is swinging
(11:09):
back in the other direction. I feel like it has to, though.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I'm hoping that people who will come and see this movie,
and while it's at the Denver Jewish Film Festival Sunday,
it's open to anyone of any religion to come and see.
We're bringing it to churches, to secular organizations all across
the country, and our hope and the other key thing
(11:34):
we're doing is creating a curriculum that will be linked
to a shorter version of the movie. And the reason
that Joe agreed to do this was that we committed
to bring a curriculum to secondary schools throughout the United
States for free.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I was going to ask you, I know that the
senator passed away, what maybe last spring till last March? Okay,
so he was involved.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
He saw ninety percent of the film right before he
fell and passed. In fact, I spoke with him two
days before he was coming in August to Aspen. We
were going to do a private screening there, which we did.
Unfortunately it was just his widow, Adasa who came. But
the plan was to come and spend four or five
(12:21):
days with me and my wife and really kick off
the showing of the documentary.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
How long were he at Hadassa married five decades?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
You know?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
This is I think when you see this and I
put the trailer on the blog today and you also
were in wider distribution coming up, so people will be
able to see it in wider distribution, it does make
you a little bit nostalgic for the days. And I
was a child when Tip O'Neil was Speaker of the
House and Ronald Reagan was president and We've all heard
the stories of them duking it out about policy issues
and then going and having dinner right and maintaining a
(12:55):
very close friendship even though politically they were on the
other side of the aisle. When you look at Joe Lieberman,
he almost feels like the last of those statesmen, because
I can't I was thinking about this this morning. I
can't think of a single person in Congress right now
that I would say fits this mold.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
He was special, very unique, and.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I used to just love sitting on the side watching
him interact with other senators, other elected officials. He had
a very disarming way about himself. He also had a
great sense of humor, and I think when people come
and see the movie, they'll come away with even a
(13:38):
greater appreciation of what he brought to the American politic.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
So when he lost, when he and Al Gore lost
in two thousand, because that was like, in my mind,
the beginning of what I call the modern election controversies, Right,
how did he personally take that loss and manage that
and then still continue to come back and say I'm
going to you know, continue to be involved.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Well, he was able to go back and serve in
the Senate. So that was a degree of solace, if
you will. He could throw himself back into the work.
But secondly, I think his religion gave him or a
real sense of I guess this wasn't meant to be
and other things are out there for me. And so
(14:26):
he didn't cry over spilt milk. He moved on and
that was, in and of itself, very impressive. He had
offered me a job to go with him to the
White House, and so I was watching that election very.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Closely, and you're out there campaign in your little heart out.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I still have nightmares when I hear the word Chad.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Well.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I hate to say it to you. I actually lived
in Florida in two thousand and I voted for Ralph
Nader to vote for the viability of a third party handidate.
I would have died if nof vadering wine. But you
know I had a bigger strategy in mine.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
But he's in the documentary too, by the way.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Oh, I haven't got there yet. Let me ask you this.
After he left politics, what did he do with his time?
Because he was in really good health until.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
He fell, and he was extraordinarily busy.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
He was the founder of no labels, Oh wow, with
Nancy Jacobson.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And he was in the media a lot because.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
There were people in the Democratic Party and the Republican
Party who were really part of my French pissed off
at him that they were going to run a third
party candidate. He was the chair of an organization that
was trying to make sure that Iran did not set
here nuclear weapons. He was incredibly busy. His last speech
(15:50):
that I helped arrange, he gave a talk at the
New World Trade Center, the Liberty Building to the top
one hundred executives in customs and immigration. Oh well, and
I'm glad I was there because they gave him a
rousing standing ovation. He was the first chair of the
(16:13):
Senate Homeland Security Committee, which was created after nine to eleven,
and they loved them, and they really had So he
was busy. He was over in China number of times.
I was amazed at eighty two how he was going,
and he loved it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I just got this text message that said, Mandy, I've
always believed if McCain had sected, had selected Lieberman to
run with him instead of Palin, we would have never
had to suffer through the Obama years. I'm not as optimistic.
I think Obama was such a once in a lifetime
sort of candidate that checked so many boxes on so
many different issues for people that had nothing to do
(16:54):
with his qualifications that I don't think anybody could have
beaten him. But I think that's a nice sentiment.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
So the person who texted you if if you can
somehow come and see the movie. We addressed that in
great detail in the documentary. John McCain's wife was interviewed
to talk about it, and a number of other Republicans
on the inside agreed to talk about it. And because
(17:21):
Joe was a pro abortion, oh yeah, that was what
the hang up was. And the Republican leadership basically said
the McCain, he's unacceptable, right, And so there's somebody The
movie gets a few laughs, and one of the big
(17:42):
laughs in the movie is that someone says, so we
took another risk, and outwalks Sarah Palin and the thing
and I've been to tense greetings. Now people howl in
the movie theater. It's very funny.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
That's funny. Before we run out of time, I want
to ask you this question, why did you decide now
to make this film?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Well, the honest answer is that it was not my decision.
The director, who I had hired to make the first
English language documentary in the life of Prime Minister Monachem
Began wanted to make a documentary on Lieberman because he
thought he brought something very special given the vitriol. I
(18:22):
turned him down twice, and he finally called me and said,
why don't you want to talk to Joe. I said, listen,
I love the guy and if he says no, it's
going to hurt my feelings.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I don't want to be rejected, so my ego out
in the way. So finally he said, will you please
do it? So I called Joe.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Joe helped me create or not for profit organization, hid
Light Institute, and he loved the Bagan movie and we
had a number of discussions and I told him why
I thought he should do it, and the number one reason,
as I mentioned before, was that Civics is not being
taught to young people in this country. That is dangerous
(19:02):
for a democracy. That was the reason. Joe said, yes, but.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
You know what a giver. To the end, Rob Schwartz
is my guest. His new movie centered Joe Lieberman is
going to be part of the Jewish Film Festival this weekend.
I meant to look and see if it was already
sold out, because a lot of these films, No, it's great,
So a lot of the films already sold out.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Sunday evening, there are still about seventy five tickets left, okay,
and there'll be a beautiful celebratory reception after the movie's over.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, it is all happening. I've got a link to
the film. I've got a link to the Denver Jewish
Film Festival, so you can also watch the trailer on
the blog today. I'm going to watch the rest of
this this afternoon, just because it really did. It really
drives home how bad things have gotten to be perfectly frank,
you think to yourself, of course, we all know it's bad.
(19:54):
When you see how he handled himself and comported himself,
it really makes you lo for a more civilized time,
and maybe it will inspire a more civilized generation of
politicians to come up. So we'll appreciate the movie very much.
Back to Walk, I know you're in other film festivals,
and I hope you have tons of success with all
(20:15):
of that.
And pleased a bunch to have Rob Schwartz in with me.
(00:03):
He has got a new film about Joe Lieberman called
Centered Joe Lieberman. It's going to be showing this weekend
at the Denver Jewish Film Festival, which has been going
on this week and into next week. And first of all, Rob,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Andy, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So I said this earlier on the show, and I
just said it to you. But I was watching the
first half hour of this documentary on Joe Lieberman and
I was struck that I don't think he could get
elected today. How did you What were your thoughts about
Joe Lieberman before you started this and are they the
same after you finished this project.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Well, I met him over forty years ago when I
served as chief of staff.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Oh wow, so you got inside knowledge here.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
So I've been a friend of his for over forty years,
ran a couple of his campaigns, and so I had
a front row seat as a young man to see
the character, tributes and values that the world came to know.
And so what I would say is for those people
(01:07):
who are going to come and see the movie, you're
going to see a balanced, very honest and candid review
of a great man. But all great men also make mistakes.
So it's an honest and frank documentary about the successes
and some of the speed bumps in his career. But
(01:29):
there's a whole lot more good than not good in
his career. He was a man of incredible integrity and honesty, and.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
A pragmatist, very much in a profession where pragmatism is
not rewarded.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, and someone who dealt with people politically in a
very civil manner. And there are those, particularly in this
day and age, who believe that the politics is a
contact sport.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yes, like you need helmet to be a polo, which
kind of led me the comment I made. Do you
think Joe Lieberman could get elected in today's environment?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I think it would be challenging. For that matter, I
don't know if John F. Kennedy could get a Democratic
nomination in this world.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, if you watched.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
How his nephew was treated, Yeah by his fellow Democrats
at the hearing in the Senate.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It's a tough, tough environment.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I mean, we're not going to go down the rabbit
hole of what's going on with RFK. But to your point.
This is a guy who's been a reliable Democrat for
so long, you would think there would be a little
grace there. But it's almost like it's they're going after
him more viciously because of his history. That's just my speculation.
Let me ask you about the man. Yeah, And I
think this really comes across in the in the documentary
(02:46):
what you just said that he was a good person.
He was just a good person. Tell me a little
bit about or tell the audience a little bit about
his history. How he became that person that in this
very ugly business of politics, always seemed to be able
to rise above the fray for the most part.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, I think your listeners should know that he came
from a very lower middle class family in Stanford, Connecticut.
His dad, who only had a high school diploma, owned
a little liquor store. They were observant Jews, Orthodox, and
he grew up in a very religious family. And he
(03:25):
was very smart as a young man and got accepted
to Yale, and I think that that was an opening
for him in terms of intellectually saying a whole different
world and went to Yell undergraduate, was an honor student,
then went to Yale law school and truly became one
(03:45):
of the top law students at Yale. And that's he
says in the documentary. When as an undergraduate he ran
for student office, he said, quote, something was brewing.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I think public service and elective office was always there,
and I don't think the documentary says the election of
John F. Kennedy was clearly the key trigger to get
him moving in that direction.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
He never seemed to be motivated by the things that
sometimes motivate people to seek office that are not about
public service, that are more about personal service. And I
think we can all think of politicians from every party
that fit that mold. Was he truly looking at it
from a public servant perspective, very much so.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And I think one of the key things that I
knew about when I worked with him, but didn't totally
appreciate as I became a bit older and I became
more religious his study of the Torah, of the scriptures,
and he studied with a number of rabbis that clearly
(04:58):
influenced his values and how we looked at life and
how we looked at politics. He truly had a different
touchstone in terms of what guided him. And I saw
it when I worked for him, But it was really
later in life that I really came to appreciate how
(05:18):
much his study of the Bible influenced him.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Was being a Jew ever problem in his political career.
Never see, that's heartening because I wonder if now it
is a bigger problem. I mean to talk about the
arc of where we are now, and we're in such
a sort of an ugly space.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
You know, Connecticut had a huge Roman Catholic electorate and
he was beloved in the state. And it was only
until later when really left wing Democrats turned on him.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I was going to ask about that because I didn't
make it there in the documentary. Yea, And I want
to know he eventually became an independent.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He did. He ran.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
For his third nomination and lost to Ned Lamont, who
is now the governor. He wasn't happy with that outcome
and decided that he was not just going to walk away.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
He decided he'd run as.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
What he called himself, an independent Democrat. He never changed
his registration. He always remained a registered Democrat.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, neither did I. To be counted, we never.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Left the party, but the party really did leave him.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
They really did.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And you know, just a little anecdote went I went
to work for him. He was the state Senate majority
leader in the Connecticut State Senate and that was the
key position that really ran the show. And the first
thing he asked me to do was to travel the
state and meet with all elements of the Democratic Party
(06:55):
and to listen to them. And he particularly encouraged me
to meet with left wing Democrats in the greater New
Haven area where we lived, and it was an eye
opener for me in that way.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, they didn't like him, nor did they trust.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Him, even because he was too moderate.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It was a part of it.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
He didn't moderate on a lot. I mean, no, do
you look at him. He held some very conservative I
would say conservative positions when it came to national defense
and things of that nature. But then he was also
very socially liberal.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
He voted with the Democratic Party ninety percent except on
foreign policy, and they wouldn't cut him a brake candidly,
you know, he had to be one hundred percent on board,
and he viewed what was happening in the Middle East
as a direct threat, particularly after nine to eleven. He
(07:54):
felt that we had a lead with strength and that
he wasn't going to allow politics to be the cause
of him not backing the Bush foreign policy, which he
agreed with, right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
And the other part was, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
His best friend in the Senate and really his kindred
spirit was John McCain and they voted very, very alike
in terms of foreign policy.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So you know, personally, I think the Democratic Party in
Connecticut made a huge mistake by turning on them. But
you know, that's history now, and the documentary tells the story.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So going back, because this was how many years ago
that Democrats thought he wasn't democratic enough? Thirty I mean
that's you think this is a relatively new development, the
kind of polarization that we've seen within the parties. And
it's not just the Democratic Party, but I mean here
in Colorado you have leadership of the Colorado GOP that
seems hell bent on blowing apart any sort of coalitions.
(08:57):
And now you're telling me thirty years ago they were
suspect because he dared to break on foreign policy. That's
just it's kind of depressing.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I agree with you. You know, the people who would agree.
I'm going to use John Fetterman as an example.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I got to tell you I have a little bit
of a crush, a political crush on him right now.
If he would just not I can't with the hoodies
and the Jim Schwartz. But he's kind of taken this
position of I'm going to say what I think is.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Right, and he he went to mar A Lago and
met with Trump. You know, if you don't sit and
listen to each other, which was a major message from
Senator and Lieberman to me. He urged me to spend
as much time in the Senate Republican caucus as I
did in the Democratic caucus.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
All that dog wall hunt now will it? I mean?
Speaker 3 (09:51):
But I spent I spent a considerable amount of time
and developed close friendships with Senate Republicans so that when
Joe running a bill or the Democrats were and they
wanted bipartisan, they were willing to sit and talk right,
they were treated with respect, and that you know with
the cancel culture, now you know people do not want
(10:14):
to cut each other if you will a break, to
sit down, listen with respect, truly listen, yep, and then
to have a civil discourse.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Even what's interesting, Rob is you know I'm on X
all the time, the social media platform, and I have
a very diverse group of people that I follow, right,
so I have people on the hard left, mid left, center,
you know, same on the right. There's there's a bubbling
up right now on social media of people that are saying,
I've had enough. I've had enough. I can't can't do
(10:48):
this anymore. I can't run around hating people anymore. I
can't do it. I am actually a little bit hopeful that.
I don't think politicians will ever do it, but the
people will do exactly what you're talking talking about and
take the time to listen to their friends and neighbors
that maybe they disagree with politically and not just cut
people off. So maybe that maybe the pendulum is swinging
(11:09):
back in the other direction. I feel like it has to, though.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I'm hoping that people who will come and see this movie,
and while it's at the Denver Jewish Film Festival Sunday,
it's open to anyone of any religion to come and see.
We're bringing it to churches, to secular organizations all across
the country, and our hope and the other key thing
(11:34):
we're doing is creating a curriculum that will be linked
to a shorter version of the movie. And the reason
that Joe agreed to do this was that we committed
to bring a curriculum to secondary schools throughout the United
States for free.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I was going to ask you, I know that the
senator passed away, what maybe last spring till last March? Okay,
so he was involved.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
He saw ninety percent of the film right before he
fell and passed. In fact, I spoke with him two
days before he was coming in August to Aspen. We
were going to do a private screening there, which we did.
Unfortunately it was just his widow, Adasa who came. But
the plan was to come and spend four or five
(12:21):
days with me and my wife and really kick off
the showing of the documentary.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
How long were he at Hadassa married five decades?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
You know?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
This is I think when you see this and I
put the trailer on the blog today and you also
were in wider distribution coming up, so people will be
able to see it in wider distribution, it does make
you a little bit nostalgic for the days. And I
was a child when Tip O'Neil was Speaker of the
House and Ronald Reagan was president and We've all heard
the stories of them duking it out about policy issues
and then going and having dinner right and maintaining a
(12:55):
very close friendship even though politically they were on the
other side of the aisle. When you look at Joe Lieberman,
he almost feels like the last of those statesmen, because
I can't I was thinking about this this morning. I
can't think of a single person in Congress right now
that I would say fits this mold.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
He was special, very unique, and.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I used to just love sitting on the side watching
him interact with other senators, other elected officials. He had
a very disarming way about himself. He also had a
great sense of humor, and I think when people come
and see the movie, they'll come away with even a
(13:38):
greater appreciation of what he brought to the American politic.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
So when he lost, when he and Al Gore lost
in two thousand, because that was like, in my mind,
the beginning of what I call the modern election controversies, Right,
how did he personally take that loss and manage that
and then still continue to come back and say I'm
going to you know, continue to be involved.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Well, he was able to go back and serve in
the Senate. So that was a degree of solace, if
you will. He could throw himself back into the work.
But secondly, I think his religion gave him or a
real sense of I guess this wasn't meant to be
and other things are out there for me. And so
(14:26):
he didn't cry over spilt milk. He moved on and
that was, in and of itself, very impressive. He had
offered me a job to go with him to the
White House, and so I was watching that election very.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Closely, and you're out there campaign in your little heart out.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I still have nightmares when I hear the word Chad.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Well.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I hate to say it to you. I actually lived
in Florida in two thousand and I voted for Ralph
Nader to vote for the viability of a third party handidate.
I would have died if nof vadering wine. But you
know I had a bigger strategy in mine.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
But he's in the documentary too, by the way.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Oh, I haven't got there yet. Let me ask you this.
After he left politics, what did he do with his time?
Because he was in really good health until.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
He fell, and he was extraordinarily busy.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
He was the founder of no labels, Oh wow, with
Nancy Jacobson.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And he was in the media a lot because.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
There were people in the Democratic Party and the Republican
Party who were really part of my French pissed off
at him that they were going to run a third
party candidate. He was the chair of an organization that
was trying to make sure that Iran did not set
here nuclear weapons. He was incredibly busy. His last speech
(15:50):
that I helped arrange, he gave a talk at the
New World Trade Center, the Liberty Building to the top
one hundred executives in customs and immigration. Oh well, and
I'm glad I was there because they gave him a
rousing standing ovation. He was the first chair of the
(16:13):
Senate Homeland Security Committee, which was created after nine to eleven,
and they loved them, and they really had So he
was busy. He was over in China number of times.
I was amazed at eighty two how he was going,
and he loved it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I just got this text message that said, Mandy, I've
always believed if McCain had sected, had selected Lieberman to
run with him instead of Palin, we would have never
had to suffer through the Obama years. I'm not as optimistic.
I think Obama was such a once in a lifetime
sort of candidate that checked so many boxes on so
many different issues for people that had nothing to do
(16:54):
with his qualifications that I don't think anybody could have
beaten him. But I think that's a nice sentiment.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
So the person who texted you if if you can
somehow come and see the movie. We addressed that in
great detail in the documentary. John McCain's wife was interviewed
to talk about it, and a number of other Republicans
on the inside agreed to talk about it. And because
(17:21):
Joe was a pro abortion, oh yeah, that was what
the hang up was. And the Republican leadership basically said
the McCain, he's unacceptable, right, And so there's somebody The
movie gets a few laughs, and one of the big
(17:42):
laughs in the movie is that someone says, so we
took another risk, and outwalks Sarah Palin and the thing
and I've been to tense greetings. Now people howl in
the movie theater. It's very funny.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
That's funny. Before we run out of time, I want
to ask you this question, why did you decide now
to make this film?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Well, the honest answer is that it was not my decision.
The director, who I had hired to make the first
English language documentary in the life of Prime Minister Monachem
Began wanted to make a documentary on Lieberman because he
thought he brought something very special given the vitriol. I
(18:22):
turned him down twice, and he finally called me and said,
why don't you want to talk to Joe. I said, listen,
I love the guy and if he says no, it's
going to hurt my feelings.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I don't want to be rejected, so my ego out
in the way. So finally he said, will you please
do it? So I called Joe.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Joe helped me create or not for profit organization, hid
Light Institute, and he loved the Bagan movie and we
had a number of discussions and I told him why
I thought he should do it, and the number one reason,
as I mentioned before, was that Civics is not being
taught to young people in this country. That is dangerous
(19:02):
for a democracy. That was the reason. Joe said, yes, but.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
You know what a giver. To the end, Rob Schwartz
is my guest. His new movie centered Joe Lieberman is
going to be part of the Jewish Film Festival this weekend.
I meant to look and see if it was already
sold out, because a lot of these films, No, it's great,
So a lot of the films already sold out.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Sunday evening, there are still about seventy five tickets left, okay,
and there'll be a beautiful celebratory reception after the movie's over.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, it is all happening. I've got a link to
the film. I've got a link to the Denver Jewish
Film Festival, so you can also watch the trailer on
the blog today. I'm going to watch the rest of
this this afternoon, just because it really did. It really
drives home how bad things have gotten to be perfectly frank,
you think to yourself, of course, we all know it's bad.
(19:54):
When you see how he handled himself and comported himself,
it really makes you lo for a more civilized time,
and maybe it will inspire a more civilized generation of
politicians to come up. So we'll appreciate the movie very much.
Back to Walk, I know you're in other film festivals,
and I hope you have tons of success with all
(20:15):
of that.
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.