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RJC’s latest calls Obama “reckless”

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

The newest advertisement in the Republican Jewish Coalition's ad campaign takes on Barack Obama's position on Jerusalem.

Headlined "Where does Barack Obama stand on Jerusalem? It depends on what day you ask him," the advertisement states that the Democrat's "shifting views on Jerusalem are reckless." It points out that at his speech at the AIPAC policy conference last June, Obama stated that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital of Jerusalem, but the next day said it should be the subject of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.

One thing the RJC left out of the advertisement is John McCain's position on the division of Jerusalem. In fact, it happens to be exactly the same as Obama's: It "will be addressed in negotiations."

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One more Obama music video

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

MTV might be able to have a whole category tilted "Best Obama-related Video" at its Music Video Awards next year. First it was Will.i.am, then it was Zoe Kravitz joining Will.i.am, and now it's "hip-hop violinist" Miri Ben-Ari recording a music video for Barack Obama – with some support by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and fashion designer Marc Ecko. The Israeli-born Ben-Ari's video is her version of the U.S. National Anthem, entitled "Stand With Me," interspersed with snippets of Obama speeches.

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Rabbis for Obama: GOP “creeping toward hate speech,” RJC McCarthyite

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

A pro-Obama group of rabbis says recent statements by John McCain and Sarah Palin are "creeping toward hate speech" and blasts the Republican Jewish Coalition for using McCarthyite tactics.

In a statement released Thursday, the group of 562 rabbis states that "increasingly those speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign have been demonizing Senator Obama as not being like us." As an example, the organization notes that a sherriff recently emphasized Obama's middle name of Hussein when warming up the crowd, and Palin's remark that Obama has been "palling around with terrorists."

The statement goes on to criticize the RJC for putting "forward a list of people known to be hostile to Israel" and then "dishonestly" suggesting that these people shaped Senator Obama's views on the subject. "The RJC approach harkens back to the classic Republican red baiting tactics of Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon from the early fifties," stated the group. Here's the full statement:

Rabbis for Obama Denounce the Hate Speech

The manner in which Senator McCain, Governor Palin and their supporters refer to Senator Obama is creeping toward hate speech. As leaders of the Jewish community we are well aware of the dangers of using inflammatory political language to marginalize individuals and groups. Increasingly those speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign have been demonizing Senator Obama as not being like us. They recently used a uniformed sheriff to warm up the crowd at a rally by emphasize the senator's middle name. At another event Senator McCain seemed shocked when one of his supporters stated that Senator Obama was an "Arab." That false belief is the fruit of the McCain campaign's emphasizing Senator Obama's middle name.

Governor Palin's assertion that Senator Obama pals around with terrorists is a false claim built on three distortions and a lie. In twenty first century America, no word is more emotionally loaded than "terrorist." Republican operatives who managed to convince American to believe the lie that the government of Iraq was connected to Osama bin Laden, think they can now convince Americans of another big lie, that 1960's campus radical William Ayers is connected to contemporary terrorists and that he is a close, influential friend of Senator Obama.

Anti-Obama hate speech is not limited to the official McCain Campaign. The Republican Jewish Coalition falsely labels Senator Obama as "reckless on Israel." They know that in the Jewish community this is the moral equivalent of crying fire in a crowded theater.

The RJC put forward a list of people known to be hostile to Israel and the dishonestly suggests that these people shaped Senator Obama's views on the subject. The RJC approach harkens back to the classic Republican red baiting tactics of Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon from the early fifties.

562 rabbis would not endorse a candidate who is hostile to Israel. We have put our credibility as rabbis who love Israel on the line to publicly endorse Senator Obama for President because of the smears and lies coming from the other side. We have each individually devoted our lives to providing moral and spiritual leadership to the Jewish community. At this crucial moment in history, we step forward as a group to add our voices to those supporting Senator Obama. Never before in the history of the United States has a group of rabbis come together on this scale to work on behalf on a candidate for president

Jewish tradition teaches us that we should respect those with whom we disagree. Ben Azzi says, "Despise no person" We call upon the McCain campaign to return to a respectful conversation on the issues confronting our society.

Since it founding in June, by Rabbi Steven Bob and Rabbi Sam Gordon, Rabbis for Obama has grown to 562 rabbis nationwide. For additional information contact RabbiBob@RabbisforObama.com.

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No undecideds in this crowd

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

If Wednesday night's bipartisan debate-watching party at a Washington, D.C. synagogue can be used as a gauge, then the newspaper ads might as well stop – everyone in the Jewish community has already decided who they're voting for next month.

When the 125 people in attendance at Washington Hebrew Congregation were asked if any of them were undecided a few minutes before the debate began, the response was dead silence. Or perhaps any undecided voters just didn't want to be hounded all night by representatives of the National Jewish Democratic Council and Republican Jewish Coalition, who joined WHC's 2239 young professionals group for the event.

Judging from crowd reactions, the group appeared to be at least two-thirds pro-Obama, and the food seemed to confirm that assessment – the "Obama deep-dish pizza" went more quickly than the "McCain chips and salsa." (The beer was bipartisan.) But everyone was cordial, and Rabbi Joui Hessel's warning to "please don't make me wish I had a mechitza to separate certain people" was heeded.

Both sides came away pleased by what they saw, and everyone seemed amused by the frequent mentions of "Joe the Plumber."

David Lezell, 26, of Washington, thought McCain came across as "strong."

"It was finally nice to hear him say John McCain is not George Bush," said Lezell. "That's what us Republicans have been wanting to hear." He was pleased to see McCain bring up such controversial issues as former terrorist Bill Ayers and voter registration irregularities at ACORN because "we don't know who" Barack Obama is.

Meanwhile, Rachel Alberts, 28, of Bethesda, Md., called Wednesday "Obama's best performance." She also was glad McCain brought up Ayers and ACORN because it gave the Democrat "a platform" to explain his involvement. "Now we have a better idea" of the truth, she said.

One woman in attendance had already voted. Jessica Savitz of Arlington, Va., is going to be out of town on Election Day, so she voted absentee last week and wore her "I Voted" sticker to the party. An Obama supporter, she was "excited" to have just recently moved from a solidly blue state in Maryland to a purple one like Virginia. She said abortion rights was one of her most important issues – as well as her unhappiness with the last eight years of Republican rule – and said Obama "couldn't have made a better choice" than Joe Biden for vice president.

As for Sarah Palin, "McCain could have made a better choice," she said.

There was also one woman in attendance who has decided she isn't voting for Obama or McCain. Lawyer Jessica Adler, 33, of Washington, was a strong backer of Hillary Clinton during the primaries and said she will write in the former first lady on Nov. 4.

"I'm making a statement," said Adler, who said she hasn't been inspired by Obama. But she did concede that if she was casting a ballot in a battleground state – instead of the overwhelmingly Democratic District of Columbia – she would back Obama.

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Dueling sukkah events

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

Now that the debates are over, the sukkah portion of the presidential campaign begins in just a few hours. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will both be visiting sukkot this evening on behalf of their party's presidential candidates.

First, at 6:15 p.m., Nadler will speak about the Obama-Biden ticket to invited guests from the Satmar community in Williamsburg, N.Y. at an event hosted by Rabbi Joseh Menczer.

Thirty minutes later, Graham, a top surrogate of John McCain, will be dropping by the sukkah of the leader of the largest pro-Israel PAC in the country. NORPAC president Ben Chouake, along with his wife Esther, will be hosting Graham at their Englewood, N.J., sukkah.

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Obama campaign says no to RJC debates

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

Angry about the advertisements that the Republican Jewish Coalition has been running this fall, Barack Obama's campaign has decided its representatives won't debate officials of the RJC.

The Los Angeles Jewish Journal reports that a debate scheduled for Sunday in Van Nuys has been cancelled, and the RJC states that a Philadelphia synagogue was told that an Obama surrogate would not debate the city's RJC director and that it needed to find an alternative.

The RJC is responding by pointing out that Obama has said he would "engage" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and yet will not "engage the RJC." Here's their release.

Washington, D.C. (October 15, 2008) – The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks issued the following statement today:

"It has come to our attention that the Obama campaign has instituted a new policy of not debating representatives of the RJC at community candidates' forums. Forum organizers are being asked to provide surrogates not from the RJC. Temple Sinai, in suburban Philadelphia, was told that Obama surrogate state Rep. Josh Shapiro would not participate with RJC Philadelphia Director Scott Feigelstein. The synagogue was instructed to find someone else. This is not the first time the Obama campaign has made such a demand of Jewish forum organizers. We find it a curious paradox that Obama would engage Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad without preconditions, but the Obama campaign will not engage the RJC," said Brooks. "Given how troubling Senator Obama's record is on Israel, I guess he's afraid to have a fair debate."

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Vote of confidence for Shulman

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

The Democratic Party likes the blind rabbi's chances in New Jersey.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this week upgraded Dennis Shulman from one of its "emerging races" to "Red to Blue," meaning that the Democratic candidate in New Jersey's Fifth District will get additional financial, communications and strategic support from the party in his race against three-term incumbent Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.). The change in designation also serves as an important signal to potential donors that the race is competitive and that their dollars could make a difference.

"Dennis Shulman is running a solid campaign and is committed to making things easier for middle class families in their districts," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chair of the DCCC, in a statement. "With less than 21 days to make his case for change to voters, the Red to Blue program will give Shulman the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive in November."

"Our grassroots campaign for change has been growing so rapidly in Northern New Jersey, and we welcome the additional support," said Shulman in a statement released by his campaign.

In response, Garrett told the Newark Star-Ledger that Shulman is an "empty suit" and a "tax and spend pawn for Washington elites."

Another Jewish Democratic challenger for U.S. Congress received a similar upgrade. Josh Segall, who is taking on three-term incumbent Rep. Mike Rogers (R) in Alabama's Third District, also was moved from "emerging races" to "Red to Blue."

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Political tidbits: Obama campaign won’t debate RJC, low turnout for the Schlep

By Eric Fingerhut · October 16, 2008

• The Obama campaign has decided its representatives won't debate Republican Jewish Coalition officials, because they're tired of the RJC's negative ads, according to the L.A. Jewish Journal.
• CNN has the story of a "great schlepper" who ended up not only convincing his South Florida grandparents to support Barack Obama, but also spoke to more than 100 of their neighbors.
• Meanwhile, the London Daily Telegraph says only 200 people actually schelpped, and many found their grandparents were already supporting Obama.
• And some of Obama's senior staffers are schlepping to Florida for the next few weeks – a signal the campaign thinks it can win the state, according to a Miami television station.
• The Jerusalem Post reports that Jesse Jackson says his comments on "Zionists" controlling American foreign policy were distorted – and that the Obama campaign has distanced itself from those remarks.
• Jewish historian Jonathan Sarna talks about the election and the Jewish vote with JUF News.
• The L.A. Jewish Journal interviews Obama's California strategist, Mitchell Schwartz.
• The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg blogs that the angry crowds at McCain-Palin rallies remind him of those demonstrating against Yitzhak Rabin in the months before he was assassinated.
• Michael Oren, in Forbes, said it was "astonishing" to discover that the presidential candidates "differ significantly on virtually every issue" related to Israel, except for their "common commitment to Israel and the search for peace."
• Newsweek's Howard Fineman has decided the many polls of Jewish voters are wrong. How? He surveyed his high-school friends from Pittsburgh, gets a 9-1 margin for Obama and declares that non-Orthodox Jews are going to vote in much bigger numbers for the Democrat than everyone thinks.
• Campaigning for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton tells a Philadelphia JCC crowd that the economic crisis is heartbreaking, reports the AP.
• Bloomberg on the campaigns seeking American voters in Israel.
• Max Blumenthal and David Niewert at Salon claim Sarah Palin has ties to some radical right-wingers.
• M.J. Rosenberg wonders what Sarah Palin meant when she campaigned to be "Wasilla's first Christian mayor" – since the incumbent was a Lutheran but his last name was Stein.
• Charley Levine, in the Jerusalem Post, would like to see a McCain-Biden ticket.
• Campaiging for John McCain, Joe Lieberman tells Ohio voters that he might even vote for Obama one day – but not this year, according to the AP. And he tells the Forward that he's "at peace" with his decision to become an independent and back the GOP presidential candidate.
• More on the battle for Florida Jewish voters, from the Chicago Tribune.
• Ben Shapiro, on Townhall.com, challenges Alan Dershowitz to a debate over Dershowitz's claim that both candidates are equal supporters of Israel.

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