McCain taps Alaska governor as running mate
Republican John McCain has picked a relatively unknown governor, Alaskan Sarah Palin, as his running mate.
We don't know much about Palin, and neither do the Republican Jewish activists we've talked to. But here's a quick rundown of some Jewish Alaska connections (No, Palin's not Jewish, but what else are we supposed to do?):
- Alaska Airlines played a role in the airlift of Yemenite Jews known as Operation Magic Carpet.
- Michael Chabon imagined a Jewish semi-state in the actual Alaskan region of Sitka.
- Alaskan Jew Ethan Berkowitz, the Democratic minority leader in the state House of Representatives, is currently running for the state's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- The web address http://www.frozenchosen.org belongs to an actual Alaskan synagogue, Reform Congregation Beth Sholom in Anchorage.
- And Joel Fleishman, the nebbishy Jewish doctor on "Northern Exposure."
Share
1 Comment
John McCain,
Presidential Race,
Sarah Palin,
Veepstakes
Comments RSS Feed Reader Comments
Leave a Comment
To leave a comment, you must first be logged in to JTA. If you are not registered, please click here.
Already a JTA member?
Need to know? Get JTA's free e-newsletters!
Allen Bean
08/30/08 04:53 AM
Not only all that, but Ms Palin has had virtually no contact with Jewish people in America. In fact, most Alaskans still use the term “to jew someone down” as part of their every day vocabulary when speaking about bargaining at the store....so I guess Ms Palin has a huge storehouse of inherited antiSemitic fixations based not on hatred but on ignornace. Ask her what she thinks of Jewish people someone? I am sure he only knows about 3.
Posted by: allen bean | August 30, 2008 1:11 AM