Message-ID: <1563915.1075848091272.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 05:54:00 -0700 (PDT) From: steven.kean@enron.com To: gfoster@antigenics.com Subject: More great press! Cc: richard.shapiro@enron.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bcc: richard.shapiro@enron.com X-From: Steven J Kean X-To: GFoster@Antigenics.com X-cc: Richard Shapiro X-bcc: X-Folder: \Steven_Kean_June2001_4\Notes Folders\Discussion threads X-Origin: KEAN-S X-FileName: skean.nsf Did you see Peggy Noonan's article? Shapiro and I are getting misty eyed. ---------------------- Forwarded by Steven J Kean/HOU/EES on 08/08/2000 12:53 PM --------------------------- "Painter, Sally" @fontheiminternational.com> on 08/08/2000 10:45:04 AM Sent by: "Russell, Rhonda" To: "'Adhoc Advisors'" cc: Subject: More great press! > Great Press on Lieberman. See below. > > > http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/ > A 1960 Moment > Al Gore's selection of Joe Lieberman gives Democrats--and everyone > else--something to cheer about. > BY PEGGY NOONAN > Monday August 7, 2000 4:26 p.m. EDT > The choice of Joe Lieberman of Connecticut as Al Gore's running mate is so > smart, so clever, so good, so satisfying, so striking that it just may > turn > this election a bit on its head for a while. Certainly its most immediate > effect is going to be a successful Democratic convention next week in Los > Angeles, because now the Democrats, badly hit by their own form of Clinton > fatigue and acutely aware of the particular charmlessness of their > presidential candidate, have something to cheer about. They respect Joe > Lieberman. They think he has a center, a moral and ethical view of the > world. He is experienced and articulate. He is decent and intelligent. He > is > independent. The media love him. He is a regular co-star on Imus, and all > of > the columnists and reporters for the elite newspapers, and all of the > electronic pundits and anchors, know him and admire him. > But that is not what is most wonderful. What is most wonderful is that he > is > an Orthodox Jew. What does this mean? It means a lot of people who love > America more than they love parties or politics are happy that a big and > great breakthrough has occurred. A friend, a journalist who is politically > conservative and Jewish, e-mailed me to tell me he had been weeping all > morning, that he'd cried when he heard the news. Another friend, a > producer at a TV news show, called and told me she woke her father in > California to give him the news and they both got choked up. "This is like > 1960," she said, and I said I know, and I got choked up. It is wonderful > when America is at her most American, and breaks down another barrier and > says "What's in your heart is most important." > If Joe Lieberman had been Joe Lee, and an Episcopalian, Al Gore would have > been smart to pick him. He would have been an obvious choice. The only > reason he would have hesitated over Mr. Lieberman is that he's Jewish. Mr. > Gore decided that was just fine. I think that I have never seen Al Gore do > such an elegant, intelligent and original thing. Well done, Mr. Gore. > I have to tell you, this really does feel like a 1960 moment to me. I was > a > little girl when a Catholic got chosen to run for president, and I had > gathered from the conversation of grownups that You Don't Elect Catholics > to the Presidency. When it happened, it's hard to describe how exciting > and > moving and idealism-inspiring it was. It gave a lot of people a lot of > joy. > It opened things up more. That was a good thing. So is this. > And because this is such a good thing, I hope everyone of whatever > politics > or persuasion sits back for a few days and feels good about it. Everyone > should be nice and not do any political bashing until . . . Friday. > However, I think it's okay and maybe even helpful to note the following. > Network producers are going to decide, in their bright and touchingly > uninformed minds, that the big opponents of the Lieberman choice will be > Christian conservatives. That's where they'll go for the negative sound > bites. But Christian conservatives love Joe Lieberman. They've been arm in > arm with him in the great cultural battles of the past decade. He was just > about the only Democrat who'd give them the time of day. He was on their > side. > The last time I saw Mr. Lieberman was last spring, in New York, at a > symposium on Hollywood and the culture. I moderated and introduced our > guests--Joe Lieberman and Bill Bennett, who are close friends and > co-warriors in the values battle. Lieberman and Bennett very frankly > talked > to the audience of producers and writers and network people and movie > stars about how to make television and film and music more decent, more > helpful. > This is how people on the right think of and have experienced Mr. > Lieberman--as a good guy with his head screwed on right. > Many conservative Christians--I think most conservative Christians--see > all > of those who love God as part of the same "cultural minority." > Conservative > Christians don't feel they have much in common, in terms of their > political > desires, with atheists and agnostics and leftist Episcopalian bishops and > such. But they think they have a great deal in common with Orthodox Jews. > They crowd around Rabbi Daniel Lapin when he speaks at a conservative > gathering; they crowd around Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, David Horowitz > and scores of others. One of the biggest heroes of conservative Christians > is an Orthodox Jew called Dr. Laura; the last time I saw her she was > wowing them at a born-again Christian assembly at the National Prayer > Breakfast last February. > A powerful and respected political officeholder told me Monday that > there's > "no upside" to the Lieberman choice. I told him there's no downside. He > was surprised and said, "He can't even campaign on Saturdays!" I said so > what, America would love to see a politician who actually put God first > one day a week. > I wish I'd added this: Remember Sandy Koufax? Joe Lieberman not > campaigning on Saturday is Sandy Koufax not pitching on Yom Kippur. There > were a lot of great sports moments in the 1950s and 1960s, but none > greater than the day in 1965 when Mr. Koufax put God before the World > Series. What a great guy, what a lesson for a generation of Christian and > Jewish kids. And Muslims and everyone else too. > Yes, it's good news for Hillary. It's great news for Hillary. It enlivens > part of her New York base, it says to New York Jews that the Democrats are > the party that did this great thing, it excites people--and may help them > forget, or at least not remember so vividly, that the Democratic > senatorial > candidate has, shall we say, a not fully satisfying relationship with New > York's Jews. A historic choice like the Mr. Lieberman can overwhelm a lot > of > previous bad static. > But let's not care about that for now. The headline is not "Is It Good for > Hillary?" The headline is: "It Is Good for America." It is a wonderful > country that does something like this, that takes a good man who is a > member of a small ethnic/religious minority to be one of its two major > vice > presidential candidates, and that greets that choice with resounding > hurrahs. > This is really a great day. We should all be happy. We really are a > maturing > democracy.