Professor,
I share a lot of those same sentiments.  I liked Joe Lieberman. I could not stand almost anyone else on that side of the aisle.  Like you stated, if he had run for national office with someone respectable and not a flaming lying scumbag liberal,  I could easily have cast a vote for him. 
To me, Joe was more of a normal person than a libtard. A common sense person..  He will be missed...