Lieberman, Lieberman

A good rainy Thursday afternoon to Stroock's Books weather enthusiasts. 

Would the leader of this blog's Confederate Continent care to email us at wtstroock@yahoo.com? Got a question. 

Ahh...we nuked the gout and got to the gym yesterday. We admit to being impressed with ourselves. I ain't afraid of no gout. 

Today is the last day before spring break. This weekend the Stroock family will decamp for points south along the I-95 corridor in a whirlwind tour.  We're going to DC to look at George Washington, Georgetown, and a non-Jesuit university which we refuse to name. [Howard? Gallaudet? -Ed] We're also staying in Baltimore one night to see the inner Harbor, aquarium, etc. We probably won't be blogging. 

Former Senator Joe Lieberman has passed on. He was the first Jew on a presidential ticket, America's Disraeli, over a century after the prime minister. Lieberman joked 'only in America' a few times, until people pointed out, uh, Joe, Britain had a Jewish PM a century before.* He practiced Modern Orthodox Judaism (like Ben Shapiro), a tick or two away from the guys with the prayer curls and hats. He didn't roll on Shabbos, that's for sure. 

Lieberman was said to be the sage/conscience of the senate, mostly because of a 1998 floor speech that mildly condemned Bill Clinton.  Lieberman was a moderate Democrat, a new Democrat, and very at home politically in the winning Clinton/Gore coalition. His 2004 presidential campaign went nowhere, as the Democrat Party was changing. In 2006 the Democrats expelled Lieberman. We never voted for him. Noted elsewhere, Lieberman was a symbol of the golden age of Jews in America. That age is over. 

1990s, the Beat: Remember, the first few years of the 90's still had one foot in the 80s. The fashions of 1990 through to about 1992 were still very bright. We recall a lot of dayglo in 1990-91. See for example, New Jack City, we always enjoyed those bright colors. By 1992 the Grunge look emerges but the look doesn't take over till 1993. The biggest album releases of 1991 were from GnR and Metallica. In the early 90's most cultural artifacts are still cool. But the hip and ironic, Seinfeld are Letterman for example, are rising. Soon.

*Not technically Jewish, he converted to the C of E (?) at some point, but that's how people thought of him. Bismarck called Disraeli, 'his old Jew'. The Queen much preferred Disraeli to Gladstone.