JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

06/04/08 09:55 AM

This should be an insult to everyone’s intelligence. Sure, he puts on American and Israeli flag pins for AIPAC, but there was a time when he wouldn’t wear an American flag pin. He also couldn’t be bothered to show respect for the National Anthem. He is a phony and a fraud.

He also called Israel’s settlements an “open sore” that “infects American foreign policy,” and Jeremiah Wright has published anti-Israel material including an opinion piece from a Hamas terrorist.

06/04/08 10:10 AM

Beware of this man! I remember Rabbi Meir Kahane predicted this: that there will rise a man who is black, but speaks like a white man and praises Israel. That will be his strategy to get elected and the naive Jews and other liberal Americans will fall for it, but once he gets elected, all hell will break loose. He will do everything in his power to bring about Israel’s destruction.

This has nothing to do with his skin color - I would love Alan Keyes to have been the president, for example. But this man’s political orientation SCREAMS sin’at yisrael.

06/04/08 10:17 AM

1. Bill, do you wear an American flag pin every day?

2. Obama’s “open sore” metaphor, in context, referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself, not Israel.

A more honest or informed criticism of his metaphor is offered by the Weekly Standard, which said that Obama mistakenly considers the conflict to be “the Holy Grail of international relations.”

06/04/08 10:40 AM

You know, he mentioned that there were absurd emails flying around at the start of his speech.

I was a Clinton supporter, and I am a Jew, but at least I had substantive qualms with Obama, not simply “he doesn’t respect the national anthem!11”. That has been debunked countless times. There are plenty of videos with him facing the flag, hand over his heart, and he has personally stated that it is his preference to sing during the National Anthem and hold his hand over his heard during the Pledge.

Honestly - it is an insult to your intelligence to continue spreading such nonsense.

If you have real issues with the man, please, feel free to come forward. But if you’re simply here for character assassination, please grow up.

06/04/08 11:03 AM

I think Obama did a good job in his defense of Israel in rhetoric. Now, lets hope he continues to back it up with policy decisions. Divestment from Iran is a good first step… but we need more. Strong-man diplomacy is a good idea, it worked for Roosevelt. Walk softly carrying a big stick, was the adage, correct? The USA hasn’t been walking softly these days… more like a bull in a china shop, it’s been rampaging. A foreign policy based on strong handed diplomacy is a much preferable alternative to more warfare.

06/04/08 11:26 AM

Is he running for president of Israel or the US? The candidate that puts America FIRST, not Israel, gets my vote.

Which means DUMB, DUMBER and DUMBEST will not be getting my vote.

06/04/08 11:46 AM

Mike L,

No, I don’t wear an American flag pin, but the point is that Obama chose to wear one along with an Israeli flag only when he was speaking to AIPAC.

I read the complete “open sore” item. The conflict is the open sore, but Obama then elaborates by blaming Israel’s settlement policy as opposed to the Arabs’ propensity for mindless violnece--they were shelling Israel before 1967, when there were no settlements. There are no settlements in Palestinian-controlled Gaza either, which does not interrupt Hamas’ daily litany of violence.

Obama’s statement is consistent with the “blame Israel” material that his backers at MoveOn.org and his former pastor published. Obama’s actions speak far louder than any words he might have said to AIPAC.

Dan,

There is a YouTube video of Obama standing with his hands folded in front of him during the National Anthem, when everyone nearby has his/hand over his/her heart. What was debunked was “he won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance,” which is indeed an urban legend.

06/04/08 01:28 PM

Chai- are you high?: ‘He will do everything in his power to bring about Israel’s destruction....’

Forget Kahane- his party was so hateful, genocidal and anti-democratic, that the Israelis banned it. Israel isn’t going anywhere, with the most superior technology and nukes, it has literally no serious enemies, because they’re all deterred from any serious action.  Obama will be president of the US, and his engergies should be focused domestically.

06/04/08 03:55 PM

Wow the ignorance some people display. If you think Obama is agaisn’t Isreal then think again. but in order to solve the problem we have to know what Iran is thinking and what they want. I am not highly religious and what would my faith or church think never comes to my head with decisions of import or just plain common sense and morality, but it seems that a large number of political leaders in the middle east make decisions like this. That is what the real problem is that is why we have seperation of religion and goverment. It works better. The U.S. ain’t perfect either but we have by far the best goverment

06/04/08 04:00 PM

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don’t):
John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1
According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2
His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4
The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.5
He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.6
Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7
McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8
McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult."9
He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10