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Political Tidbits: Obama on Iran, is Israel a Red or Blue state?, Round III of Klein vs. Rubin

By Ami Eden · July 25, 2008

• The Jerusalem Post asks Barack Obama if he would support an Israeli strike against Iran. And he says: "Israelis alone have to make decisions about their own security. But the grave consequences of either doing nothing or initiating a potential war with Iran are such that we want to do everything we can, to exhaust every avenue to avoid that option."
• Remember the dispute between the Republican Jewish Coalition and the National Jewish Democratic Council about Obama's comments in Jordan? Well the NJDC has also taken aim at the Republican National Committee.
• And, in case you missed it, the Zionist Organization of America criticized Obama over the remarks in Jordan, saying they reflect the "old, repeated misunderstanding and misinterpretations of the continuing Arab war against Israel – thinking which shows little insight into the nature of that war." (FYI The ZOA has essentially said the same thing about the Clinton and Bush administrations.)
• A writer in Ha'aretz wonders if Israel is a Red or Blue state.
• Even a visit to Yad Vashem cannot escape the politics of the race.
• Time's Joe Klein and Commentary's Jennifer Rubin: Round III (review: Round I and Round II)

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Cantor for Veep?

By Ami Eden · July 25, 2008

Over at Power Line, Joel Mowbray reports on the possibility that Eric Cantor, the House's minority whip and its only Jewish GOP member, could end up as John McCain's running mate:

With the speculation machine at full tilt this week that McCain may soon announce his running mate, one name not commonly bandied about deserves at least a closer look: Rep. Eric Cantor.

The Virginia Republican is a stalwart conservative, and he happens to be the only Jewish GOP member in the U.S. House. Working in his favor, he's got a smooth delivery and a soft, but distinct Southern accent. With boyish good looks and the requisite attractive family, he exudes wholesomeness. Not to be discounted, either, is that he is quite close to McCain personally. At a mega-dollar fundraiser in the posh Hamptons this past weekend, for example, Cantor was one of the few "friends" who didn't buy his way in.

Plenty of insiders see Cantor as one of the best faces in the GOP. In a recent National Journal anonymous poll of three dozen Republican congressmen and senators, Cantor received the second-highest number of votes – behind only Mitt Romney – for whom they would like as McCain's veep pick. When Bush spoke in Israel this May, the influential Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention told several members of the American delegation that he would like to see Cantor as vice president.

Check out the National Journal poll and the independent EricCantorforVP site.

For what it's worth, in an earlier interview with JTA,Cantor dismissed the vice-president speculation surrounding him as "ridiculous."

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‘Obamica’ and ‘McCippah’

By Uriel Heilman · July 25, 2008

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer discovers a new way Jews can support their candidate of choice:

Forget about yard signs, buttons and bumper stickers.

What better way to support your favorite presidential candidate then donning a kippah, the traditional skull cap worn by Jewish men.

At least that's the idea of Shmuel Tennenhaus, who after quitting his day job at a Bellevue Internet company two months ago decided to plunge head first into the world of political kippahs.

The first products: the "Obamica" and "McCippah." Both sell for $15.95 on Tennenhaus' new Web site, VanityKippah.com.

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