Ever since Sen. Jopseph Lieberman threw his yarmulke into the ring to become a vice-presidential candidate, there has been a media buzz about how he differs with Al Gore on some key issues, including abortion.

Even the Republican National Committee is on board claiming "Lieberman has voiced support for parental notification and a requirement that the viability of a fetus must be tested before an abortion." Whatever he has "voiced," he has consistently voted against parental notification and for unrestricted abortion including partial birth abortion with no guff about viability..

Lieberman has been the subject of a massive makeover to transform him from the flaming liberal he actually is to some kind of moderate, centrist, or even conservative. Michael Lerner quotes unnamed Bush supporters as saying Lieberman’s voting record shows him closer to Bush than to Gore. If that’s true, Bush is in big trouble with his conservative base. The American Conservative Union gave Lieberman a zero rating for 1999. In 1998, the ACU rated him a bit better -- 16. His 1997 rating was 20.

Among the votes that earned him these dismal ratings is consistent support for the National Endowment for the Arts which funds projects just as vulgar, crude and obscene as the music and films he won Brownie points for criticizing. He opposed a bill prohibiting the District of Columbia from using Federal, local or private funds to give free needles to users of illegal drugs. He supported Ted Kennedy’s measure to increase the minimum wage and opposed an attempt by Sen. Bob Smith to shift funds from AmeriCorps, the national service boondoggle, to veterans’ medical benefits.

Lieberman opposed separate barracks for men and women in the military. He backed a requirement that the $500 per child tax credit be spent for education, rather than allowing parents to spend their own money as they see fit. And he has opposed several efforts to cut spending and taxes across the board.

Lieberman may be a nice guy and all that, but a conservative he’s not.