November 2003 Archives

Dean Esmay is realizing that Joe Lieberman's time may have passed.

He should should read Danny Goldberg's book, "Dispatches from the Culture Wars." Hell, I gave him a copy for his birthday. You think he read it?

In the book, Goldberg finds plenty of reasons to dislike Joe that have NOTHING to do with his degree of observance of Judaism. And that is as it should be.

Heaven knows there is plenty of discussion in the Jewish community about the relative wisdom of voting for a Jewish candidate for President, post-9/11. I know MANY people in this community who are queasy at the thought of a Jewish President at this time in our history. But frankly, I ignore that kind of talk. It's a variant on the mindset that said Jewish people shouldn't speak up about the Holocaust during World War II because it would rock the boat.

Feh.

Goldberg sees it in another context. He feels very strongly that for the Dems to survive, they must encourage young people to join the Democrat Party. And the best way to do that is to show support for their cultural values as expressed in their music, movies, books, etc.

In short, don't cede the hipness factor to the GOP. Yet, bizarrely enough, that is exactly what has happened.

Ever check out who's the governor of California these days? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Joe Lieberman (in Goldberg's view) is not only terminally unhip, he is hostile to hipness.

In fact, in the last election, Joe Lieberman led the charge (in Goldberg's view) against freedom of speech. That's a really toxic view for a Democrat to take. Hell, even Michael Dukakis was firmly pro-ACLU.

For this alone, Goldberg's opinion of Joe Lieberman is, well, pretty scathing. Not even Al Gore, hell not even Tipper Gore who invented record labelling of content, comes in for the kind of disdain that Goldberg heaps on Joe Lieberman.

I'm telling you people, I am one-sixteenth of an inch away from voting for .... well, I don't know, but it ain't gonna be for a Democrat.

Dig this:

Howard Dean says he wants votes from "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." A moderately provocative statement, given the radioactive nature of the whole debate about ANY kind of flag. Is he, like, totally clueless?

John Kerry says he'd "rather be the candidate of the NAACP than the NRA," thereby offending both groups in one statement. I'm waiting for Shaft to come in and pistol-whip his ass.

Zell Miller, who believes that all Democrats should be running for the office of President of Georgia, says that the former Vermont governor "knows about as much about the South as a hog knows about Sunday."

And Al Sharpton? "If I said I wanted to be the candidate for people that ride around with helmets and swastikas, I would be asked to leave," he said.

Well, no. If he hasn't been asked to leave by now, then I think he's in it for the duration.

Thomas Fuller is writing this in the International Herald Tribune:

Almost 60 percent of Europeans say that Israel is a larger threat to world peace than North Korea, Iran or Afghanistan, according to a poll scheduled to be made public Monday by the European Commission.

OK, let's say it again: the majority of European respondents to this poll, when presented with a list of countries and asked, "Does the following country present a threat to peace in the world?" the majority picked Israel.

They picked Israel as the number one threat to peace in the world.

Should this come as a surprise? No. After all, where did the Holocaust occur?

(Hat tip to Honest Reporting)