# Did anti-Semitism hurt Gore-Lieberman?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [February 22, 2001, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513 "2001-02-22T21:15:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/41 "2013-09-21T22:04:33Z")
Other recent Veep choices pale in comparison.
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### Author:  [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/42 "2013-09-21T22:24:48Z")
> [@Brian\_Bunnyhurt](#):
>
> Note 3: Anti-Semitism is a broad word, because it can also include Arabs. If so, then Jews are possibly more anti-Semitic than non-Jews on average.
Never thought about the word like that. Zombies fight my ignorance!
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/43 "2013-09-21T22:30:49Z")
> [@pldennison](#):
>
> Barry Goldwater was an Episcopalian.
He was once barred from the golf course of an exclusive country club, though. His response: “But I’m only half Jewish! Can’t I play nine holes?!”
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### Author:  [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/44 "2013-09-21T22:42:23Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#):
>
> Never thought about the word like that.
Words can change their meaning. But antisemitism, as used in the vast majority of instances, is _not_ hated of people who speak Semitic languages, but hatred of Jews.
This paragraph explains the derivation:
> **[Semitic people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people#Anti-Semitism_and_Semiticisation)**
>
> Semitic people or Semites is a term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group associated with people of the Middle East, including Arabs, Jews, Akkadians, and Phoenicians. The terminology is now largely unused outside the grouping "Semitic languages" in linguistics. First used in the 1770s by members of the Göttingen school of history, this biblical terminology for race was derived from Shem (שֵׁם), one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis, together with the para In archaeology, the ...
> [@](#):
>
> In 1879 the German journalist Wilhelm Marr, in a pamphlet called Der Weg zum Siege des Germanenthums über das Judenthum (“The Way to Victory of Germanicism over Judaism”) began the politicisation of the term by speaking of a struggle between Jews and Germans. He accused them of being liberals, a people without roots who had Judaized Germans beyond salvation. In 1879 Marr’s adherents founded the “League for Anti-Semitism”[25] which concerned itself entirely with anti-Jewish political action.
While each instance should be judged individually, insistence that antisemitism has to do with generalized dislike of Semites tends to be associated with an unwillingness that accept that that antisemitism, as commonly used, may be a problem.
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### Author:  [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/45 "2013-09-21T23:00:47Z")
Ok, I know this is a zombie thread, but some of this foolishness deserves to be addressed.
> [@Brian\_Bunnyhurt](#):
>
> Note 1: Barry Goldwater’s father was Jewish.
No, that’s not true. His father was an Espiscopalian as was he. Yes, his paternal grandparents were Jews but that only makes him a Jew if you believe in going by the Nuremberg racial laws.
> [@](#):
>
> Anti-Semitism is a broad word, because it can also include Arabs. If so, then Jews are possibly more anti-Semitic than non-Jews on average.
That is complete crap. The term was invented by a bigoted German intellectual to promote a scientific view or Judeophobia. Anti-Semitism refers to hatred of Jewish people(most of who can’t speak any semitic language) not to hatred of people who speak Semitic languages. Yes, many of us Muslims like to say things like “Muslims aren’t anti-Semites because they’re semites blah, blah, blah” but when we do so, we’re taking advantage of gullible westerners not promoting a serious argument.
> [@](#):
>
> Personally, I think a **Zionist** will always hurt a ticket, no matter how nice the guy is, because Americans may seem to fully buy into this middle-east enforcement of the Bible, but only overtly. Privately, they fear meddling in economics, because to most people religion is just a moral cover to do better business afterall.
Okay, this comment is moronic. Most modern American Presidents have been Zionists. Do you actually know what a Zionist is or are you just using it as a codeword for “Jew”?
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### Author:  [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/46 "2013-09-21T23:02:10Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#):
>
> Words can change their meaning. But antisemitism, as used in the vast majority of instances, is _not_ hated of people who speak Semitic languages, but hatred of Jews.
Right. That’s why I’d never thought about the broader meaning of the word.
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### Author:  [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/47 "2013-09-21T23:07:53Z")
While an tiny effect if impossible to prove or disprove, the US is among the friendliest of nation to Jews. And better explanations of the 2000 election results exist.
After eight years with a President of one party, the tendency is for the voters to choose the other party. Despite that, Gore-Lieberman won the popular vote. Right there, the antisemitism meme becomes quite weak.
Most of us probably know the real reason why Gore-Lieberman lost in the electoral college despite winning the popular vote – the Palm Beach County Florida butterfly ballot, and what followed. With an easy-to-follow ballot design, Gore would have won Florida, and the nation. But a confusing ballot design resulted in a near tie that was decided by technical recount procedures. The recount halt was determined, in the end, a US Supreme Court ruling that was along lines of party, not religion.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/48 "2013-09-22T03:51:58Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#):
>
> While an tiny effect if impossible to prove or disprove, the US is among the friendliest of nation to Jews. And better explanations of the 2000 election results exist.
>
> After eight years with a President of one party, the tendency is for the voters to choose the other party. Despite that, Gore-Lieberman won the popular vote. Right there, the antisemitism meme becomes quite weak.
>
> Most of us probably know the real reason why Gore-Lieberman lost in the electoral college despite winning the popular vote – the Palm Beach County Florida butterfly ballot, and what followed. With an easy-to-follow ballot design, Gore would have won Florida, and the nation. But a confusing ballot design resulted in a near tie that was decided by technical recount procedures. The recount halt was determined, in the end, a US Supreme Court ruling that was along lines of party, not religion.
I recall seeing a bumper-sticker back in 2001: “JEWS FOR BUCHANAN!”
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/49 "2013-09-22T06:50:50Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#):
>
> Okay, this comment is moronic. Most modern American Presidents have been Zionists. Do you actually know what a Zionist is or are you just using it as a codeword for “Jew”?
1. Heh. Last activity: 2001.
2. I’m guessing codeword.
* * *
Also, a recount conducted by a consortium of newspapers found that President Elect Al Gore won a majority of votes in Florida. All the same, I blame Nader.
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### Author:  [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anti-semitism-hurt-gore-lieberman/55513/50 "2013-09-22T13:03:07Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> Also, a recount conducted by a consortium of newspapers found that President Elect Al Gore won a majority of votes in Florida.
No recount could change the fact that several thousand voters choose Pat Buchanan over Al Gore by mistake:
> [@](#):
>
> The following day, Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan agreed that most of the 3,400 votes he got in Palm Beach County county, known for its Democratic support, were likely accidentally cast for him due to the ballot confusion, and were meant for Al Gore.
Even with the a reasonable ballot design, results would have been close enough to allow a recount. But if you look at the numbers at the bottom of this Wikipedia article, there is no way Bush could have won a recount where 3,000 more Gore votes was the starting point:
> **[2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_election_recount#Methodology)**
>
> The 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida was a period of vote recounting in Florida that occurred during the weeks after Election Day in the 2000 United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The Florida vote was ultimately settled in Bush's favor by a margin of 537 votes out of 5,825,043 cast when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore, stopped a recount that had been initiated upon a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court. Bush's win in Florida...
As for who would have won a continued recount in practice, if the procedures used were what they were supposed to be, the newspaper consortium found that Bush wins. They are the umpire here, and I don’t believe in playing the ump. But press reports at the time said that counties were using a variety of recount procedures, including the illegal but fair intent-of-the-voter standard. So we don’t know what a completed recount would have found.
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