Some people suggest Sen. Joseph Lieberman, as a practicing Jew,
provides some balance to a ticket headed by an apostate Christian tied
so closely to the most corrupt executive branch regime in the history of
American politics.
Maybe, some say, his ethics and morals will help propel Al Gore’s
campaign as he attempts to run away from Bill Clinton’s reign of
turpitude.
There are a couple problems with this notion.
First of all, Gore is morally culpable for every offense committed by
his boss because he has never — and I mean never — distanced himself
from anything Clinton has done. He has never apologized for any of it.
He has never denounced any of it. And he has been a participant in much
of the worst of it.
What do I mean? Let me give you one extraordinary example.
On Dec. 14, 1999, a New Hampshire citizen, Katherine Prudhomme asked
Gore a pointed question at a town hall meeting.
“When Juanita Broaddrick made the claim, which I found to be quite
credible, that she was raped by Bill Clinton, did that change your
opinion about him being one of the best presidents in history?” she
asked. “And do you believe Juanita Broaddrick’s claim? And what did you
tell your son about this?”
Wow! Members of the Washington press corps are rarely so pointed and
eloquent in their questioning. And what did Gore do with that one?
He began with a nervous chuckle, which cannot be truly appreciated
without watching the videotape.
“Well, I don’t know what to make of her claim, because I don’t know
how to evaluate that story, I really don’t,” he said.
Mrs. Prudhomme continued: “Did you see the interview?”
“No,” Gore said, “I didn’t see the interview. No. Uh-uh.”
“I’m very surprised you didn’t watch the interview,” his civil
inquisitor continued.
“Well, which show was it on?” Gore asked innocently, at once
attempting to change the subject and dismiss the news interview as
perhaps a segment of some game show.
“ABC, I believe,” said Mrs. Prudhomme in her only factual error of
the evening. It was actually NBC.
“I didn’t see it,” repeated Gore, hoping to wiggle off the hook.
“There have been so many personal allegations and such non-stop series
of attacks, I guess I’m like a lot of people in that I think that enough
is enough. I do not know how to evaluate each one of these individual
stories. I just don’t know. I would never violate the privacy of my
communication with one of my children, a member of my family, as for
that part of your question. But …”
“So you didn’t believe Juanita Broaddrick’s claim?” Mrs. Prudhomme
tried again.
“No, I didn’t say that,” said Gore. ” I said I don’t know how to
evaluate that, and I didn’t see the interview. But I must say something
else to you about this. Why don’t you just stand back up; I’d like to
look you in the eye. I think that whatever mistakes (Clinton) made in
his personal life are in the minds of most Americans must be balanced
against what he has done for his public life as president. My
philosophy, since you asked about my religious faith, I’m taught in my
religious tradition to hate the sin and love the sinner. I’m taught that
all of us are heir to mistakes, that flesh is heir to. And I think that,
in judging his performance as a president, I think that most people are
anxious to stop talking about all the personal attacks against him. And
trying to sort out all of the allegations, and want to, instead, move
on, and focus on the future. Now, I’ll say this to you, he is my friend,
and that friendship is important, and if you’ve ever had a friend who
made a serious mistake and then you repaired the friendship and moved
on, then you know what that relationship has been like for me. Secondly,
I felt the same disappointment and anger at him during the period when
all this was going on that most people did. You may have felt a
different kind of emotion, I don’t know. I sense that maybe you did. I
certainly felt what most Americans did. Third, I have been involved in a
lot of battles where he and I have fought together on behalf of the
American people, and I think we’ve made a good, positive difference for
this country. Number four, I’m running for president on my own. I want
to take my own values of faith and family to the presidency, and I want
you to evaluate me on the basis of who I am and what you believe I can
do for this country as president.”
Here’s a perfect example of Al Gore’s rationalizing away a credible
rape allegation against the president. He doesn’t want to know the
facts. The truth might get in the way of his friendship and his
political ambitions.
Al Gore can cite his faith, but as someone who tries to the best of
his ability to live that faith and the code of conduct it prescribes, I
can tell you that Al Gore is a phony to the core. He has abandoned all
of the central precepts and tenets of biblical Christianity in chasing
his worldly dreams of power. As understudy to President Caligula, he may
have gained the world, but he has lost his soul.
Gore, too, remember has himself been in the thick of the official
corruption. He may not fondle interns, but let’s not forget the White
House fund-raising, the Buddhist temple shakedown and all the excuses
about controlling legal authorities.
But can Lieberman redeem Gore? I’m afraid he’s cut out of the same
mold.
He may take his faith a tad more seriously than Al Gore does, but it
does not stop him from misrepresenting that faith in his own quest for
power.
Take Lieberman’s appearance on
“Larry King Live” on Tuesday.
King threw the usual softballs at Lieberman — nothing as tough as Mrs. Prudhomme tossed at Al Gore. And, of course, there was the obligatory question about abortion — which Lieberman supports at all costs, no restrictions, not even the hideous partial-birth procedure.
In a statement sure to turn the stomachs of real Orthodox Jews everywhere, Lieberman claimed such a position is perfectly defensible under Jewish law.
“Jewish law generally on this says that what begins at conception is potential life,” said Lieberman. “And frankly, depending on which rabbi you talk to, some say that the fetus at viability, when it can at least theoretically sustain itself on its own, outside the body of the mother, that’s when life begins. Many other rabbis say that it begins at birth. So it’s a matter of personal judgment.”
I can talk to a lot of priests and ministers, too, Joe, and get lots of different stories. But the Bible is still the standard.
Lieberman’s rabbis have evidently overlooked a few key scripture verses:
- Exodus 21:22-23: “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.”
- Psalm 139:13-16: “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”
- Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
It sure sounds to me like the Bible proclaims life begins early in the womb — as does our relationship with our God. In fact, I can’t find one verse in the whole Bible — New Testament or Old — that suggests human life begins at birth. But Lieberman didn’t stop there. Listen to his closing remark on this topic: “And like everything else in Judaism, ultimately, it’s up to each of us to decide what we think is right.”
Is that what Judaism is all about? I always thought it was the first monotheistic religion of absolutes — of right and wrong, of commandments and laws. I didn’t realize that Judaism was a “do-your-own-thing faith.”
And, of course, it’s not. It never has been. But as many apostate Christians have twisted and turned the Bible to suit their life choices, so have many Jews. Apparently, Lieberman belongs in that moral relativity camp — so perfectly suited with running mate Al Gore.
