Posted by
J-GOP on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 11:20:47 PM
Conservative radio talk-show host Michael Medved, attending the Orthodox Union’s West Coast Torah Convention in Beverly Hills, entitled “Should Torah Jews Vote Democratic or Republican?”, was asked a question by one conference attendee:
"What about a McCain-Lieberman ticket?"
Smiling slightly, Medved relented: “I don’t think it’s an unthinkable possibility, and it would be a very strong ticket.” Medved also noted, “and people would love a unity ticket that would put America’s interests first.”
As you know, Lieberman was an unabashed Democrat in 2000, when he was tapped by Al Gore to be his running mate. These two are so completely opposite in many of their views today that it's remarkable that they were even on the same page back then.
However, Lieberman’s vocal support for the Iraq war has put him at odds with many Democratic lawmakers and the party’s liberal base. Last year, in Connecticut’s Democratic senatorial primary, he was thrown under the Democratic bus by stalwarts such as Christopher Dodd and Bill Clinton, and lost to an anti-war challenger, businessman Ned Lamont, before coming back to win as a third-party candidate in the general election.
These days, he describes himself as an “Independent Democrat,” and caucuses with the Democrats, securing their control of the Senate. But most recently he endorsed a Republican senate collegue, John McCain for President. And when it comes to issues such as the Middle-East, the war in Iraq, and the world-wide war on terrorism, Lieberman is on the opposite side of the aisle from his former Democratic brethren, making him even more of an Independent.
So is a McCain-Lieberman ticket a good idea? Perhaps. As political pundits agree, in most elections 20% vote for the far left candidate, 20% vote for the far right candidate, making elections decided by the remaining 40% in the center. If that's the case this year, then a McCain-Lieberman ticket might be a very good idea.
The only question is, "What percent of the Jewish vote would this ticket get?" Since the Jewish vote is slowly growing more conservative since 25% of Jewish voters in 2004 went Republican (up from 11% in 1992), such a centrist ticket could quite possibly garner substantially more from both sides.
We'll have to see how well McCain does in Iowa and New Hampshire to find out the rest of the story.