Word: liebermans
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...claim to know Joe Lieberman well. We've talked maybe 10 or 20 times - interviews on the phone, some rides on the Capitol subway. My home in Washington is near the Georgetown synagogue (there's an oxymoron) that Lieberman attends. When my wife was pregnant, he patted her tummy...
...Lieberman is the DLC's chairman, and on the agenda that weekend was the Kosher-Cajun brunch sponsored by Lieberman and our host Sen. John Breaux, the aforementioned Cajun. That's where I did my "set." Among my riffs was a Joe Lieberman gag. As you might imagine, there are few clubs where you can do a Lieberman joke and have anyone know what you're talking about...
...rabbinical demeanor, he'd come home each night to his manse, slip on a pair of plaid pants and a kelly blazer and announce: "Jeezus, these people. Gawd, I have to wash my hands.... I mean, they're sooooo pushy. Lovey, could you pour me a Pimm's Cup?" Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, I "revealed" was actually named... Muffy. As a Jew, I figured I had the ethnic entitlement that allowed me to be so irreverent...
...surprised that Lieberman laughed that morning. What politician, especially in a room full of his peers, wouldn't roll with the punches? What struck me is how much he seemed to genuinely enjoy the joke. Whenever I ran into him, he always brought it up. He could have been merely courting a TIME reporter, but my gut told me that he had (A) a genuine sense of humor, (B) secure enough feelings about his Judaism and the place of Jews in the world that he could laugh about it and (C) a healthy lack of pomposity...
...this would be a mere curiosity except for the fact that much will be made in the coming days about Lieberman's character, how his rectitude is meant to cleanse Gore of Clinton's sins. That may be true, but it shouldn't be lost that the guy is not all piety. That may prove important later if the GOP tries to portray him as sanctimonious...