Did anti-Semitism hurt Gore-Lieberman?

Great Debates
1

This time, I’m not going to offer an opinion, I’m just soliciting other people’s thoughts.

Obviously, when an election is as close as the 2001 presidential race, there is no ONE reason that somebody “won” or “lost” (I put those words in quotes, because I don’t want a re-hash of the “who really won” arguments). Indeed, one of the things that makes a close race so frustrating is that the “loser” must agonize over EVERY decision he made, and wonder if THAT decision was the one that cost him the election.

But I want to get some opinions: did having a Jewish VP candidate hurt AL Gore?

This is one of those questions that’s hard to answer, because you have to ignore what people SAY and infer what they believe in their hearts. Pollsters will tell you that most Americans had no problem with a Jewish VP (or potentially, a Jewish President), but do we believe them? In this day and age, even the most vulgar anti-semites know better than to SAY they hate Jews!

Considering that Al Gore carried NO Southern states, not even his own, some of my friends have suggested that hidden, unexpressed anti-semitism cost Gore a lot of Southerners who might have gone his way. Now, the South has usually gone Republican of late anyway, but… when it’s THAT overwhelming, one has to wonder.

I confess, I never heard ANYONE expressing anti-Jewish feelings when Lieberman was nominated, but still, I can’t dismiss the possibility that, alone in the voting booth, a sizeable number of people may have said, “I ain’t voting for one of THEM!”

Is this paranoia? A justified suspicion? What do you think? Regardless of Lieberman’s personal qualities (I always liked him a lot better than Gore, myself), do you think having a Jew on the ticket was a net plus, a net minus, or a wash for the Democrats?

2

I don’t think that Lieberman being Jewish hurt Gore one bit. I also don’t get why you think there would be a bunch of anti-Jewish feelings in the south.

I think if anything Lieberman being on the ticket helped Gore tremendously. I am a pretty big republican supporter, but I definitely don’t have anything against Lieberman. He seems to have played a big role in making the democratic party more conservative. I believe he is one of the heads of the New Democrats. He seems to be one of the few senators that actually votes his conscience on most issues.

3

I think its the way that Gore pandered to NY and California that left the south together. Gore never did anything to make southeners vote for him. He did everything to make californian and NYorkers vote for him(including getting a jew vp:)). Btw, where exactly did you get that southerners are anti semite? I guess they just are.

4

**

I didn’t hear anyone make a big deal out of him being Jewish.

**

I suppose they’ll think up any excuse why their man lost the election. They’ll blame the evil Florida elections, anti-semites, or Nader. But I guess it is just easier for them to blame those evil bigoted southern folk.

Marc

5

:rolleyes:
I think that in a race as close as this one was, to think that the addition of a Jew on the ticket did not potentially cost him the election shows naivety to how Jewish folks are still treated and thought of.

Also, the Democratic margins of victory in California and New York were probably strong enough where the addition of the “Jew vote” wasn’t that necessary towards winning those electoral votes. In some other states, the differences were a lot closer, and Lieberman’s presense might very well have been a difference.

Fact is we’ll never know, but ultimately, he would have won with Lieberman anyway if he hadn’t been so scared of allowing Clinton to campaign for him. There’s no need to swat at flies when there’s a giant Bear attacking you as well, you know?

6

My memory is foggy here, but I seem to recall the Gore ticket taking a big jump in the tracking polls after he named Lieberman. Also, a substantial amount of American anti-Semitism exists in the black population, yet there was no sign that Gore lost any black support by naming Lieberman; rather, the black vote was even more overwhelmingly Democratic than usual.

For those two reasons, my guess is that Lieberman was a net boon to the Gore ticket. I’m sure he lost some votes among anti-Semites, but I think he picked up more than he lost.

7

Since all you’re asking for is others’ opinions, here’s mine: No.

  1. People who wouldn’t have voted for Gore because of his Jewish running mate probably wouldn’t have voted for Gore anyway. That’s the David Duke constituency.

  2. I agree with the suggestion that Lieberman’s presence probably energized more support among Jews than among anti-Semites. I suspect there are more Jews than serious anti-Semites in the US anyway.

I don’t think the Palm Beach County butterfly ballot hurt, although it would have if the Bush hole rather than the Buchanan one had lined up with the line under Gore’s name. Hell, somebody had to bring that one up.

I may be one of the few people who actually got turned off by Lieberman for reasons having nothing to do with his particular religion (but not enough that I could ever seriously consider Bush). Lieberman just came across to me as too prissy and sanctimonious to really understand his fellow human beings in the way a true leader must.

Maybe this belongs in IMHO?

8

Yeah, I’m with The King there. I couldn’t care less about a candidate’s religion (except when they go shoving it at everyone else) but I was veery leery of Lieberman, since he’s known most recently for his crusade against violence in movies and video games. I think that one thing alone probably cost the ticket a substantial amount of the younger vote, definitely a lot more than any antisemitism ever would.

As a side note, I find it difficult to believe that anti-Semitism (or anti-Catholicism, or any anti-any-religious-sect) still exists in any major form. You always hear about how a large part of this country’s colonizing and immigration was due to religious persecution in the mother country, so it’s truly baffling to think that people are still doing it here. It makes even less sense than most blind prejudice. How is one religious nut really different from any other? :wink:

9

Well, because all the other religious nuts are WRONG, of course.

10

I can’t recall anyone really speaking out against Lieberman for being Jewish, but there were several letters in our local rag encouraging people not to vote for him because he wasn’t a Christian. “Do you realize that you could be voting for someone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior?”

Then again, I doubt many such people were Gore voters to begin with.

Dr. J

11

I think Al Gore seriously hurt Sen. Lieberman’s chance of becoming Vice President. Still, this voter doesn’t particularly care about anything other than the candidates’ stance on the issues.

12

According to one tracking poll I found, Gore was trailing Bush 43.6% to 33.9% on July 23, 2000. On August 8, he picked Lieberman for VP. On August 14, Gore had picked up a little, to trail 45.2% to 36.3%, and by August 21 Gore had pulled into a narrow lead, 42.4% to 41.2%.

It seems that Lieberman was a shot in the arm to the Gore candidacy, not a reason for its electoral defeat.

13

I can only speak for the attitudes of Southern and Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia may have suffered somewhat; I still see vestigial anit-Semitism here. However, I submit that many people’s distaste for people who follow the Jewish faith is in actuality confusion on the part of Northern Virginians: they really just don’t like people from New York and New Jersey. Those people think and talk too fast, and that makes them dangerous and dislikeable. I can’t help wondering how many Newarkers are thought to be Jewish around here when in fact they’re merely cursed with a Jersey accent.

In case you think I’m kidding, my step-mother, a Jersey Methodist, was commonly thought to be Jewish among my fellow students in Southern Virginia. However, in Southern Virginia, I think the the kids don’t know what “Jewish” means, in the perjorative sense. Honestly, there is a large degree of religious tolerance down that way–as long as you’re devout. The Jewish folk just go to a different church. The older white folk of course still cling to their supremacist ways, but the kids I grew up with didn’t have a clue, except the ones who weren’t sleeping in history class just before school got out. I ran with a number of kids of Jewish extraction; the subject never came up.

I don’t mean to be flippant about this. This is merely my observation. At any rate, the question was moot; Virginians of course voted for the one who needed God’s help the most. And I sincerely hope that sonofabitch exists, because if he doesn’t, we’re all in trouble now.

14

Barry Goldwater was an Episcopalian.

I doubt that Lieberman being Jewish particularly cost the ticket any votes, but I question whether it mobilized otherwise apathetic Jewish voters or shifted votes to the Democrats. Out of our regular GD Jewish posters – cmkeller, IzzyR, zev_steinhardt, and CK Dexter Haven – I bet only one of them voted for Gore. The idea that Jews vote completely as a bloc is a myth. Orthodox Jews probably vote more frequently for Republican candidates because they tend to share their values.

15

Just asking for a clarification: Do you mean that both the Orthodox and the Republicans are more likely to be hawkish toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

16

My take on the Lieberman candidacy is that it was pretty much a wash as far as affecting the outcome. The idea of adding Joe was largely to offer a Man of Principle to counter the Clinton sleaze factor and appeal to moderates. However, he lost respect in many people’s eyes by immediately soft-pedaling his differences (on school “choice”, etc.) to fall in line with more leftist elements of the Democratic Party. I think that cost him the chance to win over some moderate Republicans.

I doubt anti-Semitism was a major factor, but as noted, in an election this close even a minimal shift in voting would have been enough to influence the outcome.

17

I think it’s a little naive to think nobody cared about Lieberman being Jewish. This board tends to be made up of people who are identified with a certain ideology, but a vast amount of Americans don’t vote party line. They weigh a lot of factors and then cast their vote. Anti-semitism will creep into the decision by some people. However, it’s impossible to tell whether Lieberman picked up enough votes for the ticket to counteract the losses.

I also think it’s absurd to say those who are anti-semitic would have voted Republican anyway. New York is a democratic state with a lot of anti-semitism coming out of NYC. There are bigots in both parties. Though a liberal might be expected to not be anti-semitic, not all Democrats are on the liberal wing.

Finally, I think Mekhazzio is in somewhat of a dreamland to question the existence of anti-semitism or anti-Catholicism. Growing up, I never experienced any of it, but later in life I began to see it. You can go into any number of churches and hear a preacher saying that Catholics aren’t christian. Where I live, there are constant complaints about the police stopping traffic on a busy road to let the Catholics out after mass. The cops do the same thing for the big Baptist church but you don’t hear a peep of protest. The anti-semitism likewise is usually subtle. You don’t have people openly saying anti-semitic remarks so much as you hear perpetuations of steretypes.

18

His whininess and sanctimoniousness plus his changing positions to comply with Gore did hurt.

More than anything, Gore’s immaturity, obnoxiousness and bad judgment got in the way of victory.

19

No, I mean that the Orthodox Jewish view of certain, for lack of a better word, “moral” issues tends to coincide more with the Republicans than the Democrats. Like, for example, abortion.

20

As there is no real way to move this from the realm of opinion, my opinion would be No, Lieberman backlash wasn’t a significant factor in Gore’s defeat.

More relevant factors would have been Clinton fatigue, and Gore’s deciding to run on a message that, while energizing the party base, didn’t resonate in The Heartland.

While I just cited Clinton fatigue as a factor, Clinton actually could have helped Gore if he had been allowed to campaign in certain places in that final week before the election. Arkansas, certainly, and maybe Tennessee.