Long assumed to be under deep cover in Afghanistan, Ohio's senior Senator appeared in public on Monday, at the site of the GOP Stealth Convention in Minnesota. Speaking before the Ohio delegation, which for the first time in decades was missing its beloved nabobs, Bob Taft and Bob Ney, also known as the Bobsy Twins, Voinovich tried to bring some life to his colleagues suddenly struck with Palin pallor.
"My sister called me and she said it's about time we had a tough broad in the White House," said Voinovich, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Palin has "guts and chutzpah."
It was an explicit pander to the redundant Jewish trailer-trash vote, coming from a Senator who is neither Jewish, nor does he live in a trailer, though he may be considered redundant by nature.
The comments from Voinovich highlight widely-discussed problems for the McCain-Palin ticket amongst Jews, coming just as Joe Biden departs for southern Florida. While polling on the question is sparse, it's suspected that the combination of moose butchering and teen pregnancy doesn't sit well with the Jewish community, especially when conducted in an unkosher manner. Combine that with the spurning of Joe Lieberman and, oy, they've got problems already.
That George Voinovich, who is ethnically Serb and Slovenian, is the nearest thing to a Jew they can find to describe Sarah Palin deploying Yiddish terminology, does not speak well of future prospects. What next? Will we hear an endorsement from the chief rabbi of Wasilla?
Voinovich, the same age as John McCain, is expected to retire in 2011. Let's hope he takes the whole mishpacha with him.