JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Political tidbits: Partisan bickering over rally continues

By Eric Fingerhut · September 22, 2008

• Menachem Rosensaft, in the Huffington Post, writes that the Conference of Presidents' ill-fated invitation to Sarah Palin to address today's anti-Iran "was little more than a not particularly subtle attempt to help her win Jewish votes for the GOP ticket" and rips Republicans for blaming the fiasco on Barack Obama.
• Palin blamed "Democrat partisans" for putting "politics first" and getting her disinvited from the rally on Friday.
• Mark Gold, in the Jerusalem Post, feels the rally controversy demonstrates that "many large, long-established mainstream American Jewish organizations have outlived their usefulness." Aryeh Spero, in Human Events, also attacks those groups.
• "He will never sacrifice Israel's security": That's what Barack Obama asked Jewish voters to tell their communities at two fundraisers Friday in Miami, according to the Washington Post.
• Israel journalist and political operative Yoav Sivan offers his four-point plan for Obama and the Democrats to show they're the best party for Israel, in the Huffington Post.
• Brad Hirschfield in Beliefnet says he's "a little ashamed" of Jews who object to Palin because she's an evangelical Christian.
• Palm Beach Post editorial page editor Randy Schultz has some more information on that group distributing anti-Islam DVDs in swing states – and calls the Clarion Fund cowards for being so secretive.
• Jewish mother and attorney Anat Hakim, in the Sun-Sentinel, says Palin's "story is the story of my own day-to-day life," and claims her appeal has been "underestimated" in the Jewish community.
• The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. talks to Jewish voters in Pennsylvania.
• The Washing Times reports on the debate over those controversial Republican Jewish Coalition ads, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) calling one "disgusting."
• The "blind rabbi," Dennis Shulman, is trailing by 15 points in his challenge against Republican Rep. Scott Garrett in New Jersey's Fifth District. But, notes Daily Kos, which commissioned the survey, Garrett is below 50 percent in the poll and Shulman has room to grow.