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US Senator Criticizes Bush's Policies
US Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman on Sunday criticized President George W. Bush's policies, saying he "has governed much more from the right of mainstream."
The president "has been very partisan" in Cabinet selections and other matters, Lieberman said on "Fox News Sunday," referring to the choices of Attorney General John Ashcroft and Interior Minister Gale Norton.
Lieberman, who ran unsuccessfully for vice president on the Democratic Party ticket in 2000, warned that more moderate Republicans might follow Senator James Jeffords of Vermont to abandon the Republican Party if the party does not change its policies.
"Unless the party comes back to the mainstream and stops punishing dissent they may lose more members and the support of the American people," he said.
Senator Jeffords left the Republican Party and become an independent last week, handing control of the Senate to the Democrats for the first time since 1994 and dealing a severe blow to Bush's agenda.
Congressional leaders of the Democratic Party wooed moderate Republicans after Jeffords' departure from his party and hoped that they would follow suit.
Senate Democratic leader Thomas Daschle, soon to become the majority leader, said the door was open to moderate Republican Senators including John McCain of Arizona and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
"I've made that clear to Senator McCain and to Senator Chafee. ... If you are interested, we are more than happy to talk with you. There has always been an open invitation," Daschle told NBC News' "Meet the Press."
Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, speaking on "Face the Nation," said he hoped McCain, Chafee and other moderates would stay in the party.
Card said that losing control of the Senate to Democrats will not deter Bush from pressing ahead with his agenda.
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