Repent, all you Jews who did not support Joe Lieberman in his Senate primary race last week!  Rabbi Marc Gellman thinks you should have voted for Lieberman because, well, he's a Jew!

You may recognize Rabbi Gellman from his appearances on Tim Russert's Meet the Press and other shows.  He usually appears to wax poetic about some of the spiritual issues of the day.

Now, he's speaking out about Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman in last week's Connecticut primary. And it seems as though the Rabbi is a little mystified on why an overwhelming number of Jews did not support Joe Lieberman last week. 

In his latest column for Newsweek magazine, Gellman writes in part:

"Joe Lieberman did not lose the Democratic primary because of his support for the war in Iraq. He lost because of his lack of support from Jews."

-snip-

"He got the support of all the Connecticut papers, and he got the support of most Jews, but not at all an overwhelming number of Jews and that is why he lost. He lost because Barbra Streisand's highly publicized contribution to Lamont and because of the number of Jews who hated Bush and the war more than they loved Joe. That's why he lost, and I don't get it."

-snip-

"I have opinions on way too many things I don't know nearly enough about, but I know about Jews. I am a professional Jew, and yet if you asked me to explain why Jews did not vote for Joe the way blacks voted for Barack Obama or Catholics voted for John F. Kennedy I would not know what to tell you."

NOTE TO RABBI GELLMAN: It is an insult to the African-American community, to suggest that African-Americans voted for Barack Obama because he is also African-American. If that were the case, Lynn Swann in Pennyslvania, and Michael Steele in Maryland, would be in much better poll positions than they currently are.

The African-American community has never been, and probably never will be, monolithic.  And that's a good thing.  The people of Illinois sent Barack Obama to the Senate because they agreed with him on the majority of the issues, NOT because of his skin color, as you would have them to do. 

If you're wondering why Jewish voters weren't more enthusiastic in their support of Lieberman, understand that just because someone looks like you, or shares your religious affiliation, doesn't mean they share your values.

Joe and the Jews

Our columnist is mystified that so many Jewish voters deserted Sen. Joe Lieberman.