JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Political Tidbits: Rudy bumped for Lieberman, Hawaii’s Jewish governor praises Palin

By Ami Eden · September 2, 2008

• Rudy Giuliani bumped for Joe Lieberman tonight at the Republican convention. Lieberman: “I’m not going to spend any time tonight attacking Sen. Obama,” Lieberman told CNN, but he added that he will explain “why I am an independent Democrat voting for Sen. McCain.”


• Hadassah Lieberman talks to JTA about the same issue.


• Ha’aretz reports on Republican Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle – the first Jewish chief executive of the Aloha State – saying that Sarah Palin has more on-the-job experience than Barack Obama.


• Blogger notes that Jews for Jesus leader paid recent visit to Sarah Palin’s church. (Listen to the sermon.)


• National Journal: Fred Zeidman, a veteran Texas money bundler for both of President Bush’s campaigns, spent two days in Detroit with Sens. Joe Lieberman and John McCain hunting for Jewish support and campaign cash.


• Calev Ben-David, writing in the Jerusalem Post, opines on the importance of Barack Obama securing the support of Haim Saban.

0 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Presidential Race, Republican convention, Sarah Palin

Hadassah Lieberman: Not a Republican, but backing McCain

By Eric Fingerhut · September 2, 2008

Like her husband, Hadassah Lieberman is backing John McCain. And on Monday afternoon she was the featured speaker at the Republican Jewish Coalition National Women’s Committee fund-raiser and fashion show.

But, she insisted to JTA, that doesn’t mean she’s become a Republican.

A global ambassador for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Lieberman said she came to Monday’s event at the Minneapolis Neiman Marcus because the RJC women’s committee was raising money for the organization. As it turned out, because of Hurricane Gustav, proceeds from the fund-raiser will go to the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund, but women’s committee chair Linda Law announced that she would match the total raised Monday for the breast cancer organization.

Lieberman told reporters after the fundraiser that she had been a registered independent until she married her husband, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and she was advised to become a Democrat. When Joe left the Democratic Party was defeated in the Democratic primary in 2006, and then won as an independent, she returned to political independence – and has no plans to change.

As for the presidential race, she said, “I love John ... I hope he wins,” but said she wasn’t “officially” endorsing anyone. Asked about disagreements she might have with the presumptive Republican nominee on issues such as reproductive rights, she acknowledged that there were “differences” between some of her views and McCain’s, but reiterated that she was not a member of the Republican Party.

In her speech to the 200-person crowd at the RJC event, Lieberman did allude to the support that her husband received from Republican Jews in his 2006 Senate win. “When [Joe] decided to run as an independent, a lot of you were out there, and we did not forget that,” she said. Lieberman lost in the Democratic primary to challenger Ned Lamont, but then beat Lamont in the general election.

It seemed that Lieberman wasn’t totally familiar with the RJC – she mistakenly called the group the Republican Jewish Committee during her remarks.

Among the other luminaries in attendance Monday afternoon were Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Florida state Rep. Adam Hasner, former Mass. Lt. Gov Kerry Healey, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Texas state Sen. Florence Shapiro and NBC newswoman Norah O’Donnell (who was invited by another guest).

2 Comments | Share This | Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Presidential Race, Republican convention, RJC

If a shawl falls at Nieman Marcus and no reporter sees it…

By Eric Fingerhut · September 1, 2008

Sorry kids. No breathless-yet-uncomprehending reports on the fashion/silent auction/luncheon on Monday hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition’s National Women’s Committee and starring Hadassah Lieberman (Joe’s wife). (Ecru? Isn’t that a European currency?)

The RJC closed the event, at the Nieman Marcus in downtown Minneapolis, to press at the last minute.

The shutout comes as the Republican National Committee considers how to run a party convention this week as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast. Lots of events have already been canceled. And the speeches of Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), scheduled for Monday, are now, at the very least, postponed until later in the week.

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McCain rally scheduled for motzei Shabbos

By Ben Harris · August 28, 2008

With the media buzzing interminably about John McCain’s still unnamed (and reportedly undecided) running mate, Michael Cooper of the New York Times found meaning in the timing of a campaign rally on Saturday:

It turns out that the Saturday rally in Senator John McCain’s roll-out tour of a vice-presidential running mates will take place in the early evening. Could it be a clue, given that one of the finalists on Mr. McCain’s shortlist, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, is an Orthodox Jew who does not work on the Sabbath?

Doors to the rally, at a stadium in Washington, Pa., are supposed to open at 3 p.m. Sundown is not scheduled until 7:55 p.m. It would be a long time to ask people to wait – but the campaign has scheduled John Rich, a country music star, as a warm up act.

Only time will tell….

0 Comments | Share This | Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Presidential Race

JTA VIDEO: Cantor or Lieberman?

By Ami Eden · August 28, 2008

Ron Kampeas and Eric Fingerhut breakdown speculation that John McCain could end up tapping either Joe Lieberman or Eric Cantor for the Veep slot:

1 Comment | Share This | Democratic convention, Eric Cantor, Joe Lieberman, JTA Video

Polling for Joe L.?

By Ron Kampeas · August 26, 2008

Blogger Atrios reports polling that suggests John McCain isn’t just kidding when he says he’s considering Joe Lieberman as a running mate.

0 Comments | Share This | Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Veepstakes

Political Tidbits: Obama has Joe, shouldn’t McCain get one too?

By Ami Eden · August 26, 2008

William Kristol makes the case for the McCain-Lieberman ticket. And Joe makes the case for a vow of silence.

The New York Sun wonders if Barack Obama is taking the Empire State for granted.

A blind rabbi and a Chinese Jew running for Congress walk into a Democratic convention.

Madonna goes Hitler on McCain. ... and the ADL cries foul.

Bill Daley: “A big piece of why Biden is the obvious choice is because he is Catholic and is very good with Jewish voters. Obama’s got problems with the Catholic vote and Biden will calm the nerves of Jewish voters in Florida. He is a big supporter of Israel.”

And former Hillary Clinton spokeswoman Lisa Caputo: “Very pro-Israel, Joe Biden, which will help with Jewish voters.”

Republicans Abroad Israel use the Georgia crisis to compare Obama to Jimmy Carter.

Ha’aretz takes a look at the Obama campaign’s high-tech efforts to fight anti-Obama attacks.

0 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Presidential Race, Veepstakes

Lieberman: Still an asset in attracting Jewish votes?

By Eric Fingerhut · August 20, 2008

Sure, Joe Lieberman was very popular among Jewish voters in 2000, but would his inclusion on the Republican presidential ticket this year inspire significant numbers of them to jump to the GOP? Jewish McCain supporters say yes, but a recent poll indicates the Connecticut senator might not be much of a draw anymore among his non-Republican co-religionists.

Lieberman had just a 37 percent overall favorability rating in a survey of 800 self-identified American Jews released last month by the dovish J Street organization, with 48 percent expressing disapproval of the now independent senator. And Jim Gerstein – principal of Gerstein Agne Strategic Communiciations, which conducted the poll – noted that a good percentage of that favoribility rating comes from Jewish GOPers, who registered 65 percent approval for Lieberman, compared to just 25 percent among Democrats and 45 percent for independents. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

Furthermore, the stats show that older Jews who were enamored at the first Jewish vice presidential candidate in places like Florida aren’t any more favorably disposed to Lieberman – he has the same 37 percent approval rating among Jews over 64 that he receives from the overall population, and a higher disapproval rate of 53 percent. In addition, Orthodox Jews – the most likely denomination of the Jewish community to be Republicans – has a huge 76 percent approval rating for Lieberman, but Reform Jews only give him a 34 percent positive rating.

“The bottom line is Lieberman doesn’t help McCain” among Jews, said Gerstein, because many Jews are upset at Lieberman’s departure from the Democratic Party and strident support for the Iraq war.

National Jewish Democratic Council executive director Ira Forman agrees. “First of all, I’d be very surprised if Lieberman was selected,” said Forman. But if he was, he doubts he has much extra appeal, noting that the Democratic vote for president only rose 1 percent from 1996 to 2000. If Lieberman truly made a difference to Jews, “you would think you’d have seen some difference” with him on the ticket.

But Jewish Republicans say they would be very comfortable with the Connecticut senator as McCain’s running mate, and should help their efforts to bring more Jews over to the GOP side. “I certainly hope he would,” said Fred Zeidman, a Republican Jewish Coalition board member from Houston. “I’d like to believe the Jewish community would embrace him.” Zeidman said he had been on the road campaigning for Jewish votes with Lieberman in Michigan, and noted 300 people had turned out to hear him speak at a Holocaust museum in Detroit.

McCain supporter Gary Erlbaum of Philadelphia, who has financially backed candidates of both parties over the years, said he thinks Lieberman would still be a draw for Jewish voters. “Joe has made friends and lost friends,” he said. “He would be a great asset” in attracting independents and Jews. But Erlbaum doubts Lieberman will be McCain’s pick, since the number of voters it could attract would be outweighed by the alienation of so many conservatives.

0 Comments | Share This | Featured, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, polls, Presidential Race, Veepstakes

No Joementum among Republicans

By Eric Fingerhut · August 20, 2008

When Al Gore picked Joe Lieberman as his running mate eight years ago, many Republicans said he was their favorite Democrat. But that doesn’t mean they want him to be the Republican vice presidential nominee.

The Politico’s report that Lieberman, or fellow pro-choice politician Tom Ridge, was apparently being seriously considered as John McCain’s vice presidential pick was not welcomed by conservatives yesterday. “You will not have a unanimous vote at the convention, that much I can tell you,” said one unnamed Republican.

And there’s more on the McCain-Lieberman front…

• The Washington Times reports that state GOP officials are already plotting how to reject a Lieberman pick.
• Rush Limbaugh offers an emphatic “NO” to the idea.
• The National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez feels similarly.
• Jim Geraghty of the same publication also agrees, adding that Lieberman won’t win Connecticut for McCain.
• Jewish conservative John Podhoretz makes the case in Commentary magazine for Lieberman as McCain’s pick – foreign policy strength and both could pledge to fight the “corrupt political culture.” But he says Lieberman would have to pledge not to seek the presidency in order to mollify political conservatives.
• Byron York of National Review writes that McCain would like to pick a “friend” like Lieberman and the campaign believes it would give him back his “maverick” image – but he’s still struggling with the decision.
• And Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard has a similar take, writing that if McCain was making the decision without regard to policy or politics, it would be Joe – but that in the end, he’ll pick Pawlenty.
• Liberal blogger Jane Hamsher of The Huffington Post believes McCain will choose Lieberman and announce it next Friday, because the media will love it and it will steal Obama’s thunder after his convention speech.
• Time magazine political guru Mark Halperin said a choice of any “pro-choice” VP would be a ”disaster” for McCain.

Signs do point this morning to Lieberman being vetted, according to Politico. And he’s also now on the Republican convention speaking agenda, although no specifics on when. And the Connecticut senator is following in the footsteps of another rumored VP nominee, Joe Biden, by heading to Georgia this week.

6 Comments | Share This | Featured, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Presidential Race, Veepstakes

What did they call him?

By Eric Fingerhut · August 19, 2008

Is the Associated Press unconsciously channeling the feelings of many Democrats about Joe Lieberman? Check out the typo in the 10th paragraph of this AP story on vice presidential speculation, which includes an extra letter when describing the 2000 Democratic VP pick.

1 Comment | Share This | Featured, Joe Lieberman, Veepstakes