The Evil of Two Lessers

Max Sawicky sawicky at epinet.org
Tue Aug 8 13:41:22 PDT 2000


I guess we'll find out how important anti-semitism is. JL is a good experiment. He has no other qualities that invoke the conservative stereotype of Jews. My guess is that the anti-semite vote goes to Bush and Buchanan regardless of who Gore runs with. By contrast, JL brings some Jewish and upper-middle-class (overlapping, but not the same) votes to Gore.

But I don't think the ethnic factor is paramount here. It's the message embodied by JL: moral rectitude, centrism, maturity, and calmness, all of which make Gore look better.

One tip-off is the Repug reaction. They're saying JL is a great guy who is more like Bush than Gore. The flaw in this tactic is that JL has a voice, and he will explain why he is more like Gore than Bush. Since he's a great guy, who are the Repugs to disagree w/his self-assessment?

Then there's the funny factor. Cheney is like the grim reaper, almost scary. Bush's humor is of the juvenile, frat-boy variety. Gore is actually pretty funny, but his humor is too esoteric for mass consumption so it doesn't come through. He tries to be a regular guy instead, and he isn't too good at it. JL is funny-droll, so he could dominate in this category.

mbs

CB: Does this mean that America no longer has a significant problem of anti-Semitism ? Only a very small crackpot minority are anti-Semitic, no significant voting bloc. Gore must have so concluded.



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