JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Political tidbits: Is Bubbie’s vote really that important?

By Eric Fingerhut · September 29, 2008

• Writing in The New Republic, Nate Silver explains “Why your Bubbie will not decide the election” – no matter how many grandchildren make The Great Schlep.
• Barack Obama tells a group of mostly Jewish donors in Detroit why he likes the Jewish New Year.
• Abba Spero, in the Jewish Press, compares John McCain and the rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto.
  
• Former New York Mayor Ed Koch hits the campaign trail in South Florida, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
• Cox News Service checks out the “army” the Obama campaign is building in Florida to sway Jewish voters.
  
• What will the “Palin Effect” be? Bradley Burston explores that question in Ha’aretz.
• Jeffrey Goldberg, blogging at The Atlantic, says Sarah Palin demonstrated ”terrifying ignorance” when asked about Hamas’s electoral victory in Gaza.
  
• The Wall Street Journal on campaign yarmulkes – and whether they’re appropriate for synagogue.
  
• Over at Ynet, Israeli Likudnik Yoram Ettinger compares the worldviews of the two presidential candidates – turns out he isn’t a fan of Obama.
  
• In the Huffington Post, Sherman Yellen argues it is “deeply offensive to any Jewish voter who cares about Israel” for the presidential candidates to “exploit” fears of an Iranian attack on Israel.
  
• Marilyn Henry, in the Jerusalem Post, examines the role of clergy and houses of worship in politics.
• Thirty-three pastors endorsed candidates from their pulpits yesterday, hoping to get sued.
• As Congress races to vote on the big bailout before Rosh Hashanah starts, here’s a look at House Democrats’ point man on the bill, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who quips that “it’s a well-known rule” that “God will only hear your prayers if you’re in your congressional district.”
• And some background on Eric Cantor’s role in the bailout drama, as one of the House Republicans who helped scuttle the original plan.

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Lots of lawmakers at RJC bash

By Eric Fingerhut · September 4, 2008

Every Jewish lawmaker in Congress (OK, that’s only three) and a multitude of other members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives turned out Thursday afternoon for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s “Salute to Pro-Israel Lawmakers” at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis (see video).

Sens. Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Norm Coleman (Minn.), locked in a tough re-election fight with Al Franken, spoke to the hundreds gathered, as did House Deputy Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) that featured lots of talk about how Barack Obama, and Democrats generally, would be unreliable in protecting Israel.

“If you care about the United States of America, if you care about Israel, this election is absolutely critical,” said Sen. John Ensign (Nev.) in a sample of the kind of talking points the GOP will likely use in the next two months.

“We can have a friend of Israel and a pillar of American strength, or have somebody who believes in moral equivalency ... [that] there is no difference between the Israelis and Palestinians, said an excited Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.), practically screaming into the microphone.

And then there was Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (Kent.), who basically said that the Democratic Party isn’t “pro-Israel.”

“There’s an important and fundamental difference between the two parties in Washington, and I know you’re not going to be fooled by Democrats claiming that just because they’re for foreign assistance to Israel that they’re pro-Israel,” said McConnell. “Israel’s security and U.S. security are inextricably intertwined and they involve ... having an assertive, aggressive pro-active approach to danger.”

Of course, AIPAC might disagree about the importance of foreign assistance. The lobbying group calls foreign aid ”vital” and a “cornerstone” to U.S. foreign policy in a memo on its Web site. And when McConnell’s fellow Republicans in the House voted against the foreign aid bill in 2007 because they objected to an amendment that provided funding for women’s overseas health groups that provide abortions, Republicans felt it was important enough to sign a letter to the pro-Israel lobbying group affirming their backing, despite their vote on that bill, for aid to the Jewish state.

Among the other members of Congress who attended Thursday afternoon were Sens. Jim Bunning (Ky.), George Voinovich (Ohio), Orrin Hatch (Utah), John Thune (S.D.), John Kyl (Ariz.) and Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), and Reps. Adam Putnam (Fla.), Chris Shays (Conn.) and Chris Smith (N.J.).

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Lashon HaRa, and I approve this message

By Ron Kampeas · August 28, 2008

Jewish Democrats didn’t spare themselves when they contemplated Jewish ethics and politics at a roundtable session Wednesday during the Democratic convention in Denver.

Much of the discussion naturally focused on Republicans, particularly the Republican Jewish Coalition. Some inveighing at the National Jewish Democratic Council session was misdirected: A number of panelists (perhaps inartfully) crammed “RJC” and “slanders that Obama is a Muslim” into the same sentence. In fact, the RJC has abjured those libels about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the Democratic presidential nominee.

More to the point was Mel Levine, the former California congressman, who called RJC attacks on the pro-Israel records of Obama and his running mate Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) a “shonda.”

“If they can find something in someone’s past that doesn’t comport with their version of what is pro-Israel, then you’re anti-Israel,” Levine said. “The RJC should be ashamed of itself.”

But the Democrats said they were not guiltless. Josh Rales, who ran in the Democratic primaries in the 2006 race for one of Maryland’s U.S. Senate seats, cited attacks on President Bush last year for designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. It was incumbent on Jewish Democrats to defend Bush at that time, he suggested.

“It’s very consistent with Jewish values to take a position with an opponent when you agree the opponent is right,” Rales said.

Menachem Genack, who heads the Orthodox Union’s kashruth division, cited attacks on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as having identical positions to President Bush. He noted recent McCain decisions that almost cost him the nomination, for instance, in opposing ethanol subsidies, a position which cost McCain the Iowa caucuses.

Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, nodded vigorously, noting that McCain “really has been a maverick on issues we care about,” listing the environment, immigration, global warming and campaign finance.

(Genack’s example might have been more to the point because it is so recent: Democrats acknowledge McCain’s past record, but say he has reversed himself on the issues Saperstein mentioned.)

Ira Forman, the NJDC’s director, cited himself for describing Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as a “disgrace to the Jewish community” for letting lobbyist Jack Abramoff cater a fundraiser for free. (Cantor said the non-payment was an oversight and paid Abramoff, who was later jailed for his fraudulent dealings with Native Americans. Cantor was cleared by the congressional ethics committee.)

A portion of the discussion focused on how far to take the Talmudic injunction against malicious language. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the principle helped guide him as he wrote the law that now requires politicians to say they approve an advertisement.

Steve Rabinowitz, the Democratic consultant, dismissed the notion that the injunction extends even to truthtelling, noting that the same passage also counsels speaking when blood is spilled. “Barack Obama’s blood is being spilled politically and we should not stand idly by,” he said to applause.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler agreed, interjecting references to “lashon hara” (malicious language) and “derech eretz” (ethical conduct).

A U.S. lawmaker dropping Hebrew phrases? Somewhere, Rev. Ezra Stiles is smiling.

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JTA VIDEO: Cantor or Lieberman?

By Ami Eden · August 28, 2008

Ron Kampeas and Eric Fingerhut breakdown speculation that John McCain could end up tapping either Joe Lieberman or Eric Cantor for the Veep slot:

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Political tidbits

By Eric Fingerhut · August 21, 2008

• MSNBC’s First Read reports that Dan Shapiro, Obama’s new senior foreign policy adviser and Jewish outreach coordinator, lobbied for the American Petroleum Institute – but the campaign responds that he de-registered as a lobbyist before joining the campaign.
• Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times notes two instances yesterday of Republicans “making plays to erode Obama’s Jewish support” – and the Obama campaign’s pushback.
• Brett Joshpe of TownHall.com argues, not particularly persuasively, that a VP pick of Eric Cantor could transform “traditional Jewish voting patterns.”
• Cantor continues to be a top McCain surrogate, joining Mitt Romney in Denver to try to distract attention from the Dem convention, reports Media General.
• The New Jersey Jewish News provides some details on what went on at that $1.3 million fundraiser the pro-Israel group NORPAC sponsored for McCain last week in Teaneck – as well as a second one Cindy McCain spoke at in the home of a Jewish philanthropist.
• 
  Time’s Joel Stein suggests Obama’s strategy in Florida should be based on the principle that “a Jewish grandchild is never wrong.”
• A Jewish Republican blogger provides highlights from a debate between Obama and McCain surrogates at a Los Angeles synagogue.
• And the Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles want the two presidential candidates to join Mike Huckabee in “denouncing the folly of [the] Israeli-Palestinian ‘two-state solution.’ “

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Another Jewish VP possibility? 

By Eric Fingerhut · August 12, 2008

How about Carl Levin for Barack Obama’s VP? Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic makes a pretty good case–national security experience, attractive to Jewish voters–but doubts it will happen because we haven’t yet heard the Michigan senator’s name floated.

Meanwhile, over on the GOP side, Joe Lieberman’s name is once more being bandied about as a possibility for John McCain’s number two, with a report the other day that he’s on the “short list.” Lieberman seemed to say he wasn’t interested a couple weeks ago on Meet the Press, and I’m willing to believe him. Sure, it might be historic to run for the VP nomination of each party in an eight-year span, but do you really want to run twice for vice president?

A top evangelical leader warns McCain that picking Lieberman would be a “catastrophe.” But the Southern Baptist Convention’s Richard Land likes the possibility of Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia because of his “pro-life” record. Land does say he would “love” Lieberman as secretary of state or defense in a McCain administration–but not as attorney general or on the Supreme Court.

Lieberman will continue to work on the Jewish vote for McCain: he’s scheduled to be stumping Michigan tomorrow and Pennsylvania next week.

When he called Eric Cantor “wildly out of step” with the Jewish community’s values, was National Jewish Democratic Council executive director Ira Forman implying that Cantor is not truly a part of the “Jewish community”? It sounded that way to Denver-area Rabbi Levi Brackman, and he doesn’t like it.

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Buzz on Cantor as McCain Veep

By Uriel Heilman · August 4, 2008

The buzz is intensifying about John McCain’s consideration of Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the only Jewish Republican in the House, as a possible running mate.

After we blogged about this last week, McCain asked Cantor to submit his personal documents (see JTA’s news item here).

This week, the U.K. Telegraph takes a closer look at a McCain-Cantor ticket:

Eric Cantor, 45, would be a dramatic choice for Mr McCain, who is running almost level with Barack Obama in national polls but whose aides believe he needs to shake-up the White House race if he is to prevail in November’s general election.

Aides to Mr McCain revealed that Mr Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives, had been asked to submit documents as part of a rigorous vetting process to hunt out any closet skeletons.

He joins a shortlist believed to include Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and Mr McCain’s bitter rival during the Republican primaries, Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota governor, and Rob Portman, a former Ohio congressman and budget director in the Bush administration.

Of the four, Mr Cantor would be by far the most exciting - though potentially risky - choice. A prodigious fundraiser with a young, photogenic family, support from evangelical Christians and strong backing from hard-line conservatives, he would shore up many of Mr McCain’s weaknesses.

Mr Cantor would be the first Jewish vice-president, an historic milestone that Senator Joe Lieberman just missed in 2000 when Al Gore lost to George W Bush by 567 votes.

It was probably Mr Lieberman’s presence on the ticket that enabled Mr Gore to get so close in Florida, where Jewish voters are an important factor. Mr Lieberman has since left the Democratic party and joined forces with Mr McCain. Campaigning by both Mr Lieberman for a McCain-Cantor ticket in Florida could give the Republican a powerful advantage in the swing state.

Virginia has been a traditionally Republican state but is very much in play in 2008 after a steady trend towards Democrats. Mr Obama is strongly considering choosing Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia, as his running mate.

But selecting Mr Cantor, who is two years younger than Mr Obama, could undercut Mr McCain’s strategy of painting his Democratic rival as too young and inexperienced to be president. It could also highlight Mr McCain’s advanced age - he turns 72 this month, meaning he would be the oldest man ever to be first elected president.

The leaking of the name of Mr Cantor, who joined Mr McCain for lunch in the Hamptons on Long Island last weekend, could be an attempt to test the waters as to how the pick would be received.

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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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Ericcantorforvp.com

By Ami Eden · June 17, 2008

Hey, you like Eric Cantory? Think he’d make a good Veep?

Well, look what just came across the transom:

News from

For more information contact:

Conservatives Launch Grassroots Campaign to Influence McCain

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (06/17/2008; 1116)(readMedia)– A group of politically unaffiliated concerned Americans have come together to make a serious effort to change the course of the national debate. Their launch statement is below:

“Today, we are launching a grassroots movement (you know that phenomenon conservatives use to lead but the Left now excels at) to convince John McCain to select a dynamic young conservative to be his running mate. Instead of waiting around for McCain’s brain trust to make a choice this project is promoting a movement conservative (Representative Eric Cantor) who is pro-American, pro-Israel, pro-life, pro-markets, pro-family. He comes from a key battleground state and region. He is Jewish and has demonstrated he can win over non-Jewish votes.

Several Main Stream Media news outlets (the Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, NY Post, etc.) have noted Congressman Cantor’s assets. Now we are using the Internet to launch a grassroots movement that will provide a platform for the millions of Americans to support a dynamic, young Republican-Conservative leader.

To date the Left has provided reasons for its supporters to get active in the presidential election: The Right has not.

We believe Congressman Cantor can change this dynamic.

This project is totally independent of Congressman Cantor.

Contact us by sending an e-mail to:

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