Trust me on this. Do not, even in idle curiosity, look at the postings on The Huffington Post regarding Joseph Lieberman’s endorsement of John McCain. Or, if you disregard my very sober advice and do have a look, bear in mind that all the antisemitism and anti-Israelism you will see expressed there is all there is. Every raging antisemite in the nation has now had his or her say, all the Israel-bashing has been spent, and we can go on.
Where shall we go? Shall we waste time correcting Lieberman’s misconception, the one he expressed at the press conference when he endorsed McCain? “I think,” he said with regard to his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, “they are beginning to think of me as the eccentric uncle. You know, ‘We like him, but every now and then he gets up and he says these very unusual things.’ So it goes.”
For the record, up until the endorsement “they” were thinking of him as a nuisance with which they had to put up lest they lose their tenuous control on the Senate. Now? Now it goes way beyond eccentricity, beyond nuisance. He’d be drummed out of the party caucus in a millisecond were it not that he is the 51st vote, the vote necessary to preserve the Democratic majority — which, although not worth nearly so much as was hoped and even anticipated, is not entirely worthless. (Just imagine Mitch McConnell as majority leader.)
Yet, unwittingly, Lieberman may have done the nation a favor by his endorsement. That endorsement may affect the New Hampshire results, as also the results in Florida a few weeks later. The latest Florida poll, by Rasmussen Reports, shows why: Back in November, Rudy Giuliani was leading with 27%, trailed by Mitt Romney with 19% and Fred Thompson with 16%. McCain came in with just 10%.
But the very current poll finds that Mike Huckabee, who had only 9% a month ago, is now on top with 27%; Romney has picked up four points, so is now at 23%; Giuliani is down eight points, to 19%, Thompson is down to 9% — and McCain is at a measly 6%.
If you assume that the Huckabee candidacy will not last once the candidate’s full record is known, and if you assume that Thompson is finished and that Giuliani is in a slide that is gathering momentum, you’re left with Romney and, distantly, McCain. There’s enough volatility in Florida, where just 49% of the Republicans say they’re certain to vote for their current preference, for a sharp upward move by McCain (who is currently the second choice of 16%).
I think that would be, as I said, a benefit to the nation. Romney’s announcement of his candidacy was regarded quite incredulously by Massachusetts voters, who had witnessed his performance as governor up close. As to Giuliani, the less said the better. Whereas the Democrats suffer from a surfeit of competence — take your pick: Biden, Clinton, Obama, Dodd, Edwards, Richardson — the Republicans have only one candidate who can seriously be regarded as “presidential.”
Make no mistake: I do not regard the prospect of a McCain presidency with anything even approximately like equanimity. For all his reputation for straight talk, he has too often betrayed his own principles, and his stance on the Iraq war is more than merely disconcerting. Yet he is a person of some distinction, and he is quite right to claim that on immigration, as on campaign finance reform, he’s broken ranks and done the right thing.
I’d rather see a serious campaign than one in which the Republicans are led by men so totally out of their league as his competitors for the nomination. And maybe — just maybe — the Lieberman endorsement will contribute to such a prospect.
But that is all that can be said on Lieberman’s behalf, and that is not the reason Lieberman put forward to explain his unusual behavior. True, one of his aides explained the endorsement by observing that Lieberman believes McCain “has the best chance of uniting the country in its fight against Islamic terrorism.” True, Lieberman spoke of the importance of breaking the gridlock he sees in Washington. But he then added, “Let me just say something for the record: None of the Democratic candidates asked me for my support; John McCain did.”
As if that’s what it’s about.
The danger here, as distinguished from the disappointment in Lieberman some people may belatedly be experiencing, is that we’ll now be saddled for a while with a boomlet in speculation regarding a McCain-Lieberman ticket. Desperate and dissatisfied Republicans may be tempted to grasp at that straw. And though it might look good in the record books — the only man ever to be a vice-presidential nominee for both the two major parties — the record books themselves are not what they were before Barry Bonds put an asterisk on the all-time home run record.
The Democrats have a very different campaign going. I’ve had a curious experience these last weeks: I’ve taken to asking people for which of the Democrats they’d vote if their vote could elect the next president. In other words, I was asking them to set aside the question of electability. And almost to a person, without significant hesitation, the answer’s been Joe Biden.
If we had the kind of system where everyone’s second choice were tallied, who knows? But we don’t, and so it is impossible to ignore the electability question. Is the nation ready for a woman? For a black?
In the end, there is only one way to find out. My bet? Either of the two, and Edwards as well, can win, can defeat even, should it come to that, McCain-Lieberman.
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McCain is strictly for American Legion vets and "Straight Talk Express" nostalgists of 2000 in the boonies. Those who know him best dread the crazy old bastard getting anywhere near the levers of power. Joe Lieberman has made an ass of himself, or at least wasted an endorsement, by tapping the McCainiac. Joe might as well have said "Sure, I'm about as serious a factor in Congress as my old buddy Bernie Sanders!" The nomination is Ghouliani's to lose, and for America's sake we must pray that this self-glorifying narcissist, who has done a deal with the devil of neoconnerie for campaign funds, gets bopped-- even if it's by an empty suit draft-dodger from a family of non-coms such as Mitt "the Stepford Candidate" Romney, your flexible friend. The GOP can only save its bacon by nominating that great Constitutionalist, freedom-lover, realist and uniter of Americans of all colors and none: Dr Ron Paul. Anyone else will be butchered by Madame Shrew. Who needs Bush v2.0 after the last eight years? He is to the Republicans what Hoover was in 1932.
You are barking up the wrong tree on this one. Joe Lieberman has endorsed a candidate for President who said he was only comfortable with a Christian in the White House. Furthermore, he supports Senator McCain who claims that "the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation." It is wrong to attack Joe Lieberman in anti-Semitic terms. But how does he justify endorsing a man who utters this anti-Semitic babble? How do you justify defending Sen. Lieberman as a victim of anti-Semitism when he has endorsed a candidate who utters this sort of garbage?
Mr Fein is disappointed that any Jew could endorse a republican. American Jews are still grateful to FDR for recognizing that the Holocaust was an internal German affair and keeping American Jews from being embarrassed by hordes of European kinsmen with foreign accents. Mr Fein, your "religion" of Democrat over Judaism has expired. Move on
I have always thought Fein was a fool but I am starting to think he may be mentally ill. It's as if we live in alternate universes. He has a completely different perception of reality. Rather then confronting the truth about what has happened to the Democrat party, Fein asks Jews to turn a blind eye to the anti-Semitism and anti-Israel fervor that has infected the Democrat party. Jews need to stop living in the past. Today, hatred of Jews in America and Europe is coming from the left. I have a news flash for Jews. FDR and JFK are dead. The Democrat party has abandoned you. Rather then voting like a non-thinking robot Jews need to open their eyes and take responsibility for what their vote promotes. A vote for democrats supports the promotion of perversion and indecency (California is a perfect example). A desire to sexualize our elementary school children. A desire to radically change the definition of marriage that modern societies have had for generations. Abortion on demand including third trimester partial birth abortion where a viable baby is actually murdered, sometimes the limbs are removed and it's skull crushed to aide in removal. Moral relativism to the point where it renders one unable to recognize evil. Sympathizing with evil Islamic terrorist over Israel. Soft on crime and criminals. Pacifism which inevitably results in innocents being killed and allows evil to win. Opposition to the death penalty when this is something that G-d mentions in all five books of the Torah. Yes, kill babies not murderers. There is something sick about a society that is preoccupied with the murderer and not the murdered. It cheapens the life of the person murdered to allow the murderer to live. As the Talmud says, those who are compassionate to the cruel will be cruel to the compassionate. Democrat liberal values are not Jewish values. For the last 60 years Democrats have controlled most of our failing schools and large cities. What do we have to show for this? Cities controlled by democrats tend to have more crime and are more dangerous. Do we really need any more destructive liberal policies? Why haven't they worked yet? We have thrown away so much money on education and our cities with so many government programs with nothing to show for it. The remedy the democratic candidates have for every problem is raise taxes and spend more. Raising taxes lowers government tax revenue. Cutting taxes increases tax revenue. This is a FACT! It has been proven over and over again throughout the years. It is not an opinion. It is not debatable. It just is. Why anyone would want to return the Clintons and the most corrupt administration our country has ever had back to the White House is troubling. She's a person who refuses to tell you where she really stands on issues until she looks at the polls. Completely disingenuous, corrupt, and untrustworthy. Good old Barak Hussein has no experience or any depth. If he wasn't black he would be a non-entity, although he strikes me as being the most honest of the democrats. And Edwards the slime bag trial lawyer who made his millions suing obstetricians on what we know was a lie. He took advantage of the system, stupid and gullible juries, and the heartbroken parents. We know that cerebral palsy is caused by an infection before birth not the failure to perform cesareans. The ironic thing is that due to his large awards he single-handedly did more to restrict health care in his state with the dramatic rise in malpractice rates and the fleeing of doctors from his state then anyone else. If this is what Fein describes as a "surfeit of competence" he has extremely poor judgment. But this is nothing new from Fein, and the fact that he is a regular contributor to the Forward reflects poorly on the editors as well. It's not that much better on the other side, but it is better. Both Romney and Giuliani would be better for our country than any of the democrats. The most intelligent and qualified candidate running is Romney. He understands the evil we are facing. He is a successful family man and businessman. He has the best understanding of the economy. He has run an extremely liberal state without infusing his religion into his term in office. He is probably the most honest and honorable of anyone running (if a politician can be honorable). The most important attribute he has is that he shares my Jewish values. Judaism is a conservative religion with conservative values. Our vote should be based on shared values not race, gender, or theology. I understand that the Democrat party and secular liberalism has replaced Judaism as the religion of the majority of American Jews. I know that most of you regardless of the reality and the truth will not be able to help yourselves.