For months, it has been fairly obvious that Sen. Joseph [tag]Lieberman[/tag] doesn’t fully appreciate the factors that have led to the disconnect between him and his party. But for him to even consider the idea that his Democratic critics are [tag]anti-Semitic[/tag] suggests the senator’s campaign is losing touch with reality.
The New York Observer reported yesterday that it asked Lieberman directly if he believed his religion or his support for Israel had anything to do with opponents on the left. The correct answer would have been, “Of course not.” Instead, Lieberman reportedly paused before saying, “That’s too big a question to answer on one foot. We should come back to answer that one.”
Some of Lieberman’s supporters, however, are addressing the question freely.
[S]ome of the most outspokenly Zionist Democrats have suggested that the current political climate has made Mr. Lieberman, as a prominent Jewish hawk, vulnerable to blog-driven criticism.
“We do have a problem with progressives and those in the blogosphere, because the Palestinian position seems to be perfect for the Internet world of pithy back-and-forth and 30-second You Tube tapes, where the Zionist position is more at home in a seven-page New York Review of Books article,” said Representative Anthony Weiner, a pro-Israel hawk who opposes the war in Iraq. […]
[Dan [tag]Gerstein[/tag], a political consultant and informal advisor to the Lieberman campaign] says he has detected what he calls a “growing strain of anti-Semitism on the far [tag]left[/tag],” which he believes is in part fueling the strident opposition to Mr. Lieberman.
It’s terribly disappointing to see these kinds of arguments surface, particularly in public. The very idea that Lieberman’s critics are motivated by bigotry is not only outlandish, it’s offensive. Lieberman and his allies have to know better.
In some ways, it’s just the latest example of Lieberman following the GOP playbook. In recent years, Republicans have argued that to oppose a Catholic judicial nominee makes you, automatically, anti-Catholic. To oppose a woman nominee makes you a sexist. To oppose an African-American nominee makes you racist. It’s painfully stupid demagoguery that congressional Republicans have used repeatedly — and now Lieberman’s campaign seems to be moving in a similar direction.
As for the substance, the idea is easily debunked. If Gerstein is right, and there’s a “growing strain of anti-Semitism on the far left,” why is Russ Feingold a favorite among the netroots? If this is a Jewish vs. Gentile fight, why is Lieberman trailing among Jewish Democrats in Connecticut?
To be fair, Lieberman himself has not, as far as I can tell, made this argument publicly. He hesitated when asked about it, which suggests he may think there’s some merit behind the idea, but Lieberman has not literally accused his progressive critics of [tag]anti-Semitism[/tag].
But one of his top advisors did and, at least so far, the Lieberman campaign has not said anything publicly to repudiate the sentiment.
It’s more than a little disconcerting to see the campaign go in this direction.