JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Political tidbits: Franken up by nine, Mason flip-flopped on McCain

By Eric Fingerhut · October 6, 2008

• Al Franken (D) leads Sen. Norm Coleman (R) by nine points in a new poll of voters in Minnesota, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The paper also has a report on the first debate of the campaign, held Sunday night.
• On “Meet the Press"… Democratic strategist Paul Begala warns that the GOP’s guilt-by-association reasoning could be turned on its head to make John McCain look like someone who has associated with anti-Semites.
  
• Jackie Mason flip-flopped on McCain? The Miami New Times posts a video of the comedian calling John McCain a “disgusting lowlife” and a “fraud” during the Republican primaries, quite a contrast with his pro-McCain, anti-Sarah Silverman video released Friday.
• Andrew Silow-Carroll, in the New Jersey Jewish News, decodes the presidential candidates’ High Holiday messages – and finds that they encapsulate their strategies for winning the Jewish vote.
• By the end of this campaign, every South Florida Jewish voter will have been interviewed at least once about the campaign. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel contributes with this article.
• And Salon does its part, but with a fresher spin – it finds a lot of Florida Jews who really don’t like Sarah Palin.
• Palin said during the vice-presidential debate that she backed a Sudan divestment bill in Alaska, but the bill’s Democratic sponsor says she was against it before she was for it, according to ABCNews.com.
• And Joe Biden’s statement that the U.S. and France “kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon” wasn’t accurate either.
• The Levin brothers, Carl and Sander, stump for Obama at a Bucks County, Pa. synagogue, reports the Bucks County Courier Times.
• Menachem Rosensaft urges Jews to listen to Ed Koch and vote for Obama.
  Willy Stern, in the Weekly Standard, quotes a Palestinian pollster who says Palestinians aren’t that optimistic about an Obama presidency.
• Fox host Sean Hannity uses a source with a history of anti-Semitism to attack Obama, according to Todd Gitlin at TPMCafe.
• The Jewish Council for Education and Research has released a video of seven former IDF generals and Mossad chiefs endorsing Barack Obama, but two of them say they had no idea their interviews were going to end up in a pro-Obama video, according to Haaretz.

1 Comment | Share This | Al Franken, barack obama, Ed Koch, Florida, Israel, Joe Biden, John McCain, Michigan, Norm Coleman, polls, Presidential Race, Sarah Palin, Senate races, Tidbits

Democrats putting other issues on faith agenda

By Eric Fingerhut · September 18, 2008

For years, Republicans have been seen as the party of the religious because of the stands its members take on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. The Democrats are trying to change that perception – by expanding the number of issues that are linked to religion and faith.

At a meeting with reporters Thursday morning, a group of Democratic senators laid out some examples. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) pointed to the farm bill as a faith-based issue because it deals with, among other things, feeding the hungry. And she said the G.I. Bill qualifies because it ensures America follows through on its “moral commitments.” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) added climate change and a “responsible energy policy” because they involved “our moral responsibility as it relates to our world.”

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) pointed to children’s health insurance as a faith-based issue, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) noted the minimum wage. She said a higher wage might mean some Americans would only have to work two jobs instead of three – and thus have more “time to practice their faith.”

Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat, said that Democrats had been “perceived” as “the secular party” for too long. “I think faith is vitally important to discourse in politics and government,” said Casey. “To deny that is to deny reality. Even as the country recognizes diversity and separation of church and state, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t recognize that faith plays an important role in people’s views.”

While the principle of church-state separation is particularly important to many Jews, Cardin said he doesn’t think the party’s emphasis on faith alienates any Jews. “You can’t confuse the separation of church and state with the commitment toward principles that come out of our religious background,” he told JTA.

0 Comments | Share This | Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania

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.

2 Comments | Share This | barack obama, Eric Cantor, Featured, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tidbits, Uncategorized, Veepstakes

Does a Wexler balance out a Bonior?

By Ami Eden · May 30, 2008

The Republican Jewish Coalition is jumping on the Obama campaign’s announcement that it will be represented by U.S. Rep. David Bonior – not a favorite of pro-Israel activists – at the DNC meeting in D.C. on Saturday. (John Edwards caught some Jewish flak for tapping Bonior as campaign manager; their response was to stress that he wouldn’t be playing a role on Middle East issues.)

Of course, what the RJC left out is that Obama couldn’t have picked a more Jewy pro-Israel Floridian to be his Sunshine State representative at the meeting: Robert Wexler.

Here’s the RJC press release on Bonior:

Washington, D.C. (May 30, 2008) - The Republican Jewish Coalition today
responded to the announcement that former Rep. David Bonior will be representing the Obama campaign at the Democratic National Committee meeting this weekend in Washington, D.C. As a Congressman, David Bonior was known for his strong opposition to pro-Israel policies, being called by some “the biggest supporter of the anti-Israel Arab lobby in Congress."[1] The RJC cited Bonior as the latest in a string of advisors and campaign officials to Barack Obama that harbor anti-Israel views.

“Barack Obama’s path to strengthening ties with the Jewish community is severely blocked when appointing an anti-Israel figure like David Bonior. While in Congress, Bonior refused to stand by Israel after repeated terrorist attacks, was known as a stalwart opponent to Israel, and is now a representative for Barack Obama. Bonior’s appointment is the latest in a series that raises serious questions and doubts about Barack Obama’s positions and judgments on the Middle East.”

During his Congressional career, David Bonior repeatedly opposed pro-Israel legislation. In 1997, David Bonior was one of 15 Congressmen who signed a letter asking then-President Clinton to pressure Israelis into making concessions to the Palestinians. In 2002, David Bonior was one of only 21 Congressmen who opposed H.R. 392, which publicly affirmed Congress’s support of Israel’s right to self-defense and called for the dismantling of the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure.[2] In 1990, David Bonior was one of only 34 Congressman to vote against a measure naming Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel.[3] In 1989, Bonior was one of six House members to vote against a bill that prevented US funds from going to UN entities that granted the PLO membership.[4] Throughout his career, Bonior repeatedly opposed US aid to Israel and supported arms sales to Arab states opposed to Israel’s existence.

“The appointment of yet another anti-Israel advisor like David Bonior to represent Barack Obama speaks volumes to the Jewish community.  The pattern
including Tony McPeak, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Robert Malley continues with
this appointment.  It’s no wonder the Jewish community remains deeply skeptical and troubled by Barack Obama.”

[1] Jonathan Tobin, Jewish World Review, 7/12/99.

[2] H.R. 392, “Expressing Solidarity with Israel in its Fight
against Terrorism”, May 2002, 352-21 (29 voting present).

[3] H.R. 290, “In support of a unified Jerusalem”, Apr. 1990,
378-34 (6 voting present).

[4] H.R. 2145, “Prohibiting US Contributions to the United
Nations Under Certain Condititons”, May 1989, 396-6 (11 voting present).

3 Comments | Share This | barack obama, Featured, Florida, Michigan, Presidential Race