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Political tidbits: Gibbs takes on Hannity, another Jewish pro-Obama video

By Eric Fingerhut · October 8, 2008

• Obama adviser Robert Gibbs took on Fox News host Sean Hannity last night over his use of anti-Semite Andy Martin to make wild claims about Barack Obama.
• The Sun-Sentinel has more on Martin, while the New York Times interviews Martin, who denies being an anti-Semite and says it’s a “peripheral” issue.
  
• And Glen Greenwald in Salon has even more details on Martin and criticizes the ADL for not speaking out about Martin.
• A powerhouse political panel tomorrow at Temple Rodef Shalom in Northern Virginia: Chuck Todd, Matt Brooks and Matt Dorf at the afternoon break in services, reports the Washington Post.
• The Sun-Sentinel has details on Joe Lieberman and Ed Koch stumping for Jewish votes in South Florida.
• Marty Peretz, in the Jerusalem Post, on why there are “so few Jewish Republicans.”
• Another pro-Obama video – this time from a Orthodox Jewish mom who lived in Jerusalem for five years.
  
• The Washington Post finds an article in a newsletter from the U.S. Council for World Freedom that belittles critics of Ronald Reagan’s 1985 Bitburg trip. John McCain says he resigned from the group in 1984, but was still on the letterhead in 1986 – and attended the group’s dinner in 1985.
• Anat Hakim explains why she schlepped north to convince her family to vote for McCain, in the Los Angeles Times.
• Political pundit Larry Sabato thinks Sarah Silverman’s profanity in her Great Schlep video may backfire on Obama – but adds that he still finds Jack Benny funny.
• Two Israeli pro-Obama videos are deemed a “de-schlep-tion” by Abraham Katsman and Kory Bardash in the Jerusalem Post.

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When Jews parody Dickens…

By Ron Kampeas · October 6, 2008

An American Carol, David Zucker’s broad blast at the American left and the creative offspring of a Republican Jewish Coalition shidduch between Zucker and co-writer Myrna Sokoloff, opened this weekend - and it’s tanking.

It’s more or less tied with, of all things, Bill Maher’s Religulous, but that’s deceptive - Maher’s film is a documentary (they traditionally underperform) and opened in a third of the theaters.

The almost universally thumbs down “Carol” got from reviewers probably didn’t help. Best (reviewer) line so far: “I laughed harder at Munich.” I guess it’s not a great sign when the reviews raise more laughs than the movie.

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Political tidbits: Ad wars, Sarah Silverman and more

By Eric Fingerhut · September 26, 2008

• JTA’s Ami Eden critiques a Republican Jewish Coalition ad linking Barack Obama and Pat Buchanan, and reports on another one quoting Democrats who have praised John McCain.
• The New York Times reports that Obama is now running dubious ads about McCain, including one that hits below the belt in an effort to scare Latino voters.
  
• And the RJC cries foul over a Florida Democratic congressman saying, “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”
• The National Jewish Democratic Council goes positive with a Rosh Hashanh-themed Obama ad.
• Sarah Silverman wants you to get your Jewish grandparents to vote for Obama.
• Remember ”Rabbis for Obama”? Well, the man who brought you the McCippah and the Obamaica introduces: ”Rabies for Obama.”
  
• Brett Lieberman at The Forward looks into the big funding disparity between the Republican Jewish Coalition and the National Jewish Democratic Council – which explains why NJDC chair Marc Stanley kept joking about finding a billionaire this week at the NJDC’s Washington Conference.
• How big a factor is race in the Jewish vote? The Jerusalem Post’s Hilary Leila Krieger looks into it.
  
• Anchorage’s Chabad rabbi talks to the Jewish Advocate about Sarah Palin.
• Two leaders of Republicans Abroad Israel, in the Jerusalem Post, continue the GOP criticism of Democrats for “sabotaging” this week’s anti-Iran rally.
• A Wisconisn political scientist says Sarah Palin may drive Jews away from John McCain, in the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.
• Daniel Halper, at Commentary’s blog, points out that John McCain seems to be garnering a great deal of support from independents in the AJC survey released yesterday.
• Juan Cole, in Salon, argues that Barack Obama and Sarah Palin overreacted to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s United Nations speech.
• Menachem Rosensaft, in the The Jewish Week, writes that the Republican Party stance on abortion “is in direct conflict with Jewish law.”
• In a piece headline “Sarah, Heavenly Sarah,” Laurence Kulak, in the 5 Towns Jewish Times, asks a question we’re hearing for the very first time: “Why does Sarah Palin seem to be so Jewish?”
• Yiddish singer Eleanor Reissa and actress Elaine Stritch will headline a party next month to raise money for the pro-Obama Jewish Alliance for Change.

15 Comments | Share This | ads, Alaska, Barack Obama, Florida, Iran, John McCain, NJDC, polls, Presidential Race, RJC, Sarah Palin, Tidbits

RJC: Hastings and Cohen “offensive”

By Eric Fingerhut · September 25, 2008

The Republican Jewish Coalition is responding quickly to Rep. Alcee Hastings’ (D-Fla.) comment that “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks” at Wednesday’s National Jewish Democratic Council conference. It calls that remark and Rep. Steve Cohen’s comment that Jesus was “a great Democrat” inappropriate and offensive. Here’s their release:

Washington, D.C. (September 25, 2008) – Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks responded today to comments made yesterday by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Rep. Steven Cohen (D-TN):

CNN reported yesterday that Rep. Hastings, speaking to the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), said, “Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.” Addressing the same panel, Rep. Cohen called Jesus “a great Democrat.”

“Representative Hastings stooped to the worst kind of divisive politics yesterday.  Hastings’ unconscionable remarks do nothing but sow seeds of fear and divide people,” said Brooks.  “There should be no place in our country for this sort of political discourse.  We can constructively disagree on the issues without denigrating others.  As for the comments made by Rep. Cohen, I do not believe the NJDC would have been as permissive if it had been a Republican calling Jesus ‘a great Republican.’ This sort of rhetoric is inappropriate, offensive and should be repudiated.”

Full CNN story below:

(CNN) - Rep. Alcee Hastings told an audience of Jewish Democrats Wednesday that they should be wary of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”

“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,” Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida said at a panel about the shared agenda of Jewish and African-American Democrats Wednesday. Hastings, who is African-American, was explaining what he intended to tell his Jewish constituents about the presidential race. “Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through,” Hastings added as the room erupted in laughter and applause.

After telling attendees that the most important thing Jewish and African-American Democrats could do to support one another was to get Sen. Barack Obama elected president, Hastings had one more message: “For those of you like me that supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, she lost! Get over it!”

Hastings was joined on the panel by Rep. Steven Cohen of Tennessee, who is Jewish and represents a majority African-American district; Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama, who is African-American and whose district includes many of the significant sites in the 1960’s civil rights movement; and Georgetown Law Prof. Peter Edelman, who was a legislative assistant to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Cohen, who recently remarked that Jesus Christ was a community organizer, took his comments about the founder of the Christian faith further Wednesday. “A lot of what Jesus talks about is wonderful,” Cohen said. “Talks about helping people and lifting them up and caring about people who are sick and all those things. He’s a great Democrat.”

The panel was part of the National Jewish Democratic Council’s annual conference. The Jewish Democratic group recently voiced criticism of Palin’s invitation to an anti-Iran rally timed to coincide with Mahmoud Ahmedinajad’s visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Palin’s invitation was withdrawn by the rally’s organizers after Hillary Clinton announced that she would no longer be attending the event.

The support of Jewish voters is shaping up to be a highly sought after prize in the general election match-up between Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain. Jews have historically favored Democrats by wide margins in recent presidential races. But, the McCain campaign is making a concerted effort to go after the loyal Democratic constituency and Obama has been plagued by false Internet rumors that he is Muslim which have had particular salience in the Jewish community.

1 Comment | Share This | Florida, NJDC, RJC, Sarah Palin, Steve Cohen

DCCC chairman: RJC “shameful”

By Eric Fingerhut · September 24, 2008

The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called the Republican Jewish Coalition “shameful” for the way the group has tried to use Israel “as a wedge issue.”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said the organziation was breaking with a tradition “that has united Democrats and Republicans since Harry Truman.” He spoke at a reception for members of Congress at the National Jewish Democratic Council’s Washington Conference.

Van Hollen did come under criticism from pro-Israel constituents in his suburban Washington, D.C. district two years ago after he wrote a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telling her she should have told Israel to limit its attacks during the Lebanon War – although he also said that Israel was “justified” in defending itself against Hezbollah.

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Biden at NJDC: No doubt about Obama’s support for Israel (Updated with video link)

By Eric Fingerhut · September 23, 2008

Joe Biden defended his pro-Israel record and vouched for his running mate’s at the National Jewish Democratic Council’s Washington Conference Tuesday afternoon.

“I’ve spent 35 years of my career dealing with issues relating to Israel,” Biden said, mentioning his first meeting with former Israeli prime ministers Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin and the various pro-Israel pieces of legislation he has backed. “My support for Israel begins in my stomach, goes to my heart and ends up in my head,” he said.

“I guarantee you I would not have joined Barack Obama as his vice president if I had any doubt, even the slightest doubt, that he shares the same commitment to Israel I share,” Biden said to a standing ovation.

Biden briefly mentioned “the smear campaign” against him – specifically citing the Republican Jewish Coalition’s charge that he once attempted to cut off aid to Israel – and said, “We have to ignore all the malarkey, distractions and e-mails and get behind Barack Obama.”

After his opening remarks on Israel, Biden stuck mostly to the economy and other domestic policies in his half-hour speech – which sounded similar to the vice presidential nominee’s standard stump speech.

“I know NJDC – it isn’t just about Israel,” said Biden. He criticized the “tyranny of the oligarchs of oil” and asked the crowd to imagine “a country that believes in science” and “a country where we only go to war when it’s necessary,” drawing applause. He didn’t mention Iran, but did return to Israel near the end of his thirty-minute talk.

“Imagine a president who won’t wait until his seventh year in office,” said Biden, to see “the need for American leadership in the Middle East peace process.”

Video of Biden’s speech available here.

3 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Joe Biden, NJDC, Presidential Race, RJC

RJC: Dems who like McCain

By Ami Eden · September 23, 2008

Sit down and clear your head before reading…

Last week the Republican Jewish Coalition published an ad making an issue of Pat Buchanan’s saying “I think Barack is right, we ought to talk to the Iranians” and “he’s right to say the Palestinian people have got a terrible deal over there and their suffering ought to be recognized. That’s Obama’s position. It’s my position.” (Click here to read my critique of the ad.)

Now the RJC has a new ad, this one featuring positive quotes from Democrats about John McCain. One of the quotes comes from Ira Forman, the National Jewish Democratic Council: “I have to take my hat off to [McCain] for putting principle in front of politics… I wish there were more John McCains.”

As it turns out, the quote in question comes from a 1999 JTA article. And, while these days Forman is pretty harsh in his criticisms of John McCain, the NJDC leader is not being quoted out of context. At the time, he was expressing genuine admiration for McCain, after the Arizona senator declared that there was no place in the GOP for Buchanan.

Here comes the punch line: George W. Bush, then the governor of Texas and a candidate for president, took the opposite view, arguing that there was a place for Buchanan in the GOP primary race. That position drew criticism from Forman. And guess who defended Bush?

The Republican Jewish Coalition last week said Buchanan’s views were abhorrent and that he had no place in the GOP. But Matt Brooks, the group’s executive director, defended Bush’s stance, saying it made practical sense.

“What (Bush) has done is to make sure Buchanan can’t leave the party and take Republican support with him (by) saying he was forced out of the party,” Brooks said.

JTA’s Eric Fingerhut spoke to Brooks and Forman. The Jewish Democratic leader called the recent ad “pretty ironic” given the back-and-forth over Buchanan. “Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Chuck Schumer and I have two things in common,” he continued. “The first is we thought the old John McCain had qualities you could compliment, but the new John McCain is radically different. The second is we’re all endorsing Barack Obama for president.”

Forman said that using the quote is a distortion because he was talking about a different John McCain. “I still wish there were more old John McCains,” he said. But the McCain of 2008 “is a radical new one” and “bears no resemblance to the John McCain of 1999.” These days McCain “is someone who’s willing to defend his campaign lies.”

As for Brooks… he said Forman’s quote “speaks for itself” and is “an absolutely legitimate quote” even if it is nine years old. It shows Forman believes “John McCain is a principled person.”

Brooks said that back in 1999 he was only “explaining Bush’s position,” not supporting it. He noted that the article does say the RJC had previously called for kicking Buchanan out of the party.

The point of the ad is to “underline that John McCain has always crossed party lines and had the respect of leading Democrats.”

2 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, george w. bush, John McCain, NJDC, RJC

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.

4 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, John McCain, Presidential Race, RJC, Sarah Palin

Political tidbits: Republicans mad over Palin rally disinvite

By Eric Fingerhut · September 19, 2008

• At Commentary’s blog, David Hazony says the Conference of Presidents’ revovcation of their Iran rally invitation to Sarah Palin “publicly humiliated” the VP nominee, while Jennifer Rubin writes “we haven’t heard the end of this story.
• Jim Geraghty of the National Review believes Democrats are “exerting more effort in opposing Palin than Ahmadinejad.”
• Georgetown University’s Jacques Berlinerblau, writing at the Washington Post’s On Faith blog, is disappointed that “Rabbis for Obama” didn’t cite any classical Jewish texts in their letter and believes they’ve politicized their pulpits. An editorial in j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California disagrees.
• The Forward collects some more opinions on the controversial Republican Jewish Coalition poll and advertisements.
  
• Shmuel Rosner, at Commentary’s blog, does some more debunking of that poll that purported to show McCain with a big lead among New York Jewish voters.
  
• The L.A. Times’ Joel Stein schleps to Ft. Lauderdale to convince his grandmother and cousin to vote for Obama.

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Palin, other elected officials disinvited from Iran rally

By Uriel Heilman · September 18, 2008

Here’s the report from Ben Harris:

NEW YORK (JTA) – Sarah Palin is being disinvited from the Jewish-sponsored Iran rally, sources told JTA.

The move follows two days of controversy for organizers of Monday’s rally to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations.

The controversy erupted after JTA reported that Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, had accepted an invitation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to speak at the event. The news of Palin’s participation prompted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who had pledged several weeks earlier to speak at the rally, to announce she was withdrawing from the event.

Spokespeople for both Palin and Clinton proceeded to trade barbs over who was responsible for tainting the rally with politics.

A Clinton spokesperson said the senator withdrew because the rally had become “a partisan political event.”

Palin spokeswoman Tracy Schmitt took a shot at Clinton, saying the Republican nominee “believes that the danger of a nuclear Iran is greater than party or politics.”

The National Jewish Democratic Council defended Clinton’s decision not to attend and called for Palin to be disinvited so as to preserve the nonpartisan nature of the effort to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

On Thursday, the Conference of Presidents held a conference call for rally organizers in which the decision was made to limit participation in the rally to unelected officials, participants on the call told JTA.

Shortly afterward, organizers put out a statement saying, “In order to keep the focus on Iranian threats and to ensure that this critical message not be obscured, the organizers of the rally have decided not to have any American political personalities appear.”

The statement said Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and Israeli Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik would address the demonstration.

The controversy has sparked concern that the issue of stopping Iran has been politicized, undermining efforts to cast opposition to Ahmadinejad’s belligerence and nuclear ambitions as a broad bipartisan issue in the United States. Jewish organizers have labored to present the Iranian regime as a threat not only to Israel but to the United States and the world.

In an effort to avoid the taint of imbalance and partisanship, the Presidents Conference issued a late invitation to the Obama campaign Wednesday morning. The Obama camp agreed to send Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), one of the Democratic nominee’s top Jewish backers.

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Presidents Conference, told JTA earlier this week that the invitation to speak at the rally was extended to Clinton several weeks ago. He also told The New York Jewish Week that once Clinton accepted, organizers did not want to supersede her by bringing in someone from the Obama campaign.

Fred Zeidman, a leading Jewish backer of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, told JTA he was approached about helping secure a speaker around the time of the Republican National Convention at the beginning of September in Minnesota. Zeidman said he forwarded the request to the campaign last week with a recommendation that it cooperate.

“I remember saying to our guys, Hillary Clinton is representing the other side,” Zeidman said. “We’ve got to really take this seriously.”

In a statement this week, the McCain campaign noted its participation in the rally and derided Obama’s stated willingness to negotiate with the man being protested.

“Instead of pressuring Senator Clinton to withdraw and pressuring the event’s organizers to disinvite Governor Palin, we hope Senator Obama will consider lending his own voice to this cause,” McCain-Palin spokesman Michael Goldfarb said in a statement published on a Washington Post’s campaign blog, The Trail. “And if [the] Senator subsequently wishes to clarify any remarks that might be misconstrued, he will have the opportunity to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions after he speaks at the U.N. the following day.”

Clinton advisers said the senator dropped out of her own accord, not due to any pressure from the Obama campaign, according to the Washington Post.

“This is another dishonorable lie from John McCain,” said Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor. “The Obama campaign had planned to send a surrogate, Rep. Robert Wexler, to the rally. The truth is, John McCain had a real opportunity to stand up for Israel’s security this week, but he refused to stand up to his allies in Congress who blocked Barack Obama’s bipartisan divestment bill that would have increased pressure on Iran.”

The rally “is not and will not be a partisan event,” Hoenlein told The Jewish Week before his group decided to cancel the invitation to Palin. “The organizers reached out to a wide spectrum of people. Hillary accepted early in August. We also asked numerous Republicans. Some we approached couldn’t make it, and since Governor Palin was coming to the United Nations to meet world leaders, her staff agreed to have her speak.”

Ira Forman, the National Jewish Democratic Council’s executive director, said it is the McCain campaign that was guilty of politicizing the rally with its partisan statements.

Along with other Jews involved in organizing the event, Forman also laid blame with the Presidents Conference, saying it bungled matters either by inviting Palin at all or by failing to notify the Clinton camp promptly that it had secured Palin’s participation. Forman praised the decision Thursday to cancel Palin’s appearance.

“It was a wise decision to make,” he said. “It depoliticizes an event that fundamentally needs support from everybody and shouldn’t be part of the political circus this year.”

Jewish Republicans agreed that the organizers blundered – but said the mistake was withdrawing the invitation to Palin.

“This is one of the biggest black marks on our community that I can remember in more than 20 years of working in the Jewish community,” Matt Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JTA.

“I think it is absolutely outrageous that we allow people with a partisan political agenda to hijack an event that is designed to send a message to Iran and the rest of the world of the U.S.’s commitment to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. The fact that we can’t put partisan differences aside to come together on something like this, it’s sad and it’s disappointing.”

As the campaigns sparred over who was guilty of placing partisanship above principle, some Jewish leaders worried that an event intended to display unity in the face of the Iranian threat was crumbling.

“I do think that’s unfortunate,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “The point here obviously is to show broad bipartisan support for the need to stop a nuclear Iran. We don’t want the message to be diverted by internal political considerations.”

“It doesn’t make sense to me as an American Jewish policy matter, and as an American matter, to let one party or the other off the hook over what is going to be, objectively in our view, the most serious foreign policy issue of the next administration,” said David Twersky, a senior advisor on policy, international affairs and communications at the American Jewish Congress. “It’s not a good policy for the Jews.”

296 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, hillary clinton, Presidential Race, RJC, Sarah Palin