Source: The Detroit News
On August 8, 2000, The Detroit News reported that "Selection Could Raise Religion Issue in Campaign, Some Say," David Gad-Harf, executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit said that "America has changed a lot in the last several decades. You think back to 1960 when John Kennedy was nominated as the second Catholic on a national ticket. It brought out a lot of anti-Catholic feeling, and he had to officially distance himself from the Catholic hierarchy. That shows how far we have come. I am sure Lieberman will not have to do anything of the kind."
Recent "surveys have shown a decline in hostility toward Jews. In 1998, a poll found that 12 percent of the U.S. population held anti-Jewish views, down from 20 percent in 1992. Ed Bedoun, a Metro Detroit Arab-American Muslim, said Lieberman, who was one of the most prominent Democrats to criticize President Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal, has demonstrated he has high ethical values...In 1998, Lieberman took the lead in blasting fellow Democrat Clinton's Oval Office affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. Lieberman said at the time that the president was morally challenged and that his behavior had harmed the country."