Lieberman in 2000

When reading about the recent death of Clay Felker, the founder of New York magazine, I stumbled upon a collection of old New York articles, including this one from when Joe Lieberman was named as Al Gore's running mate in 2000.

It would be interesting to see how many of the (presumably liberal) Jews gushing over Lieberman's nomination now think he's a crazy neoconservative hawk/traitor to Democratic party. And to think that Joe Lieberman, who is one of John McCain's strongest supporters, was once the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is sort of mind-boggling. (Also mind-blogging: Joe Torre managing Nomar Garciapara.)

It's also an interesting reminder of how certain issues can fade in and out over time. Lieberman probably held at least borderline-neoconservative views in 2000, but they weren't as well-known and weren't problematic because no one thought the United States would be attacked by Islamic terrorists and even if we were, no one thought the United States would recklessly try to fight two wars at one time, etc. So his agreement with Democrats on social, economic, etc. issues was much more important than his agreement with Republicans in some foreign policy areas.

ADDENDUM: And there's this:

Dan Kurtzer, an Orthodox Jew, is the ambassador to Egypt.

Is it just me or does that sound like a horrible idea? I realize Egypt and Israel are at peace, but an Orthodox Jew as ambassador to a Muslim country? Based on a google search, it appears to have worked out OK, but I still find it surprising.