A top Jewish Democrat says Sen. Joe Lieberman’s message of bipartisanship Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention is undermined by the fact that Republicans were too partisan to put him on the John McCain ticket.
National Jewish Democratic Council executive director Ira Forman – who hadn’t said much since the man who was once the most famous Jewish Democrat in America decided to speak at the Republican National Convention – also said in an interview with JTA Wednesday that “we’ll look back and say this isn’t [Joe Lieberman’s] finest hour.”
Forman was particularly bothered that Lieberman picked out one vote Barack Obama had made in Congress and charged that the Democratic presidential nominee was “voting against funding for our troops in the battlefield,” noting that Lieberman had promised not to attack Obama but only talk about why he supported McCain.
“It goes against the persona we thought him to be,” said Forman.
“Most jarring” to Forman was that Lieberman’s speech was based on reaching across the aisle, and yet media reports indicate that McCain’s desire to reach across the aisle and pick Lieberman as vice president was prevented by fears that Republicans would revolt.
Forman also was surprised that Lieberman was able to praise Palin’s thin record as a “reformer and leader” while at the same time putting down Obama’s lack of experience – calling them “the words that must have stuck most in his throat.”
Forman said he doubted that Lieberman’s convention endorsement of McCain would have much of an impact on Jewish voters because it will be “overwhelmed by the Sarah Palin tidal wave” of attention.
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