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Catering by Wolfgang Puck, red meat from Dennis Prager at RJC event

By Eric Fingerhut · September 4, 2008

A number of Jewish organizations don’t have kosher events, but will eschew non-kosher meat for fish or vegetarian meals. Despite the many yarmulkes in the crowd, that wasn’t the case at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s “Salute to GOP Governors” this week at the Republican National Convention. While there was a kosher table in the back with hummus, pita, desserts and other selections, the Walker Art Center event was catered by Wolfgang Puck’s company and featured lamb, duck and sliders that were being pronounced delicious by a number of the hundreds in attendance – in addition to vegetarian fried rice and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Hotter than the food was emcee Dennis Prager. The conservative radio talk-show host blasted Jews for being liberals, saying that “it will be one of the great services to the Jewish people and to America and the world if we can stop the idea that Jewish and liberal are synonymous. ... Jews on the left often mean well but have no wisdom on the issues of the day.”

“Auschwitz was not liberated by peace activists,” said Prager. “They’d still be gassing Jews if we listened to peace activists.”

Later he added, “There is no one as hated by the liberal world as a black conservative or a woman conservative. God forbid women should get the idea that you are more liberated ... on this side of the aisle.”

Prager also used the old joke about Republican Jews being able to meet in a phone booth – in order to say that the number of GOP Jews has grown so much that “large stadiums” are now needed for their gatherings.

Utah Gov. John Huntsman Jr., Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle were among those who stopped by the reception. A number of other Gulf Coast governors, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, were scheduled to come but stayed home because of Hurricane Gustav.

1 Comment | Share This | Republican convention, RJC

Attacking Obama for having the same position as McCain

By Eric Fingerhut · September 4, 2008

After hearing the charge three times in the last 36 hours, it is obvious that attacking Barack Obama for “flip-flopping” on the issue of Jerusalem is going to be a major talking point for Republicans in the Jewish community this fall. But there’s one huge problem with it. While even Obama has acknowledged that, at the very least, he has clarified his stance on Jerusalem, his original position was more hard-line than John McCain’s – and his current one is exactly the same as the one held by his GOP opponent.

Obama surprised many people at the AIPAC policy conference in June when he told delegates that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”

The next day, after he received criticism from Palestinians and others for the speech, Obama revised his remarks in an interview with CNN. “Obviously it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations,” he said. Asked whether he would be “against any kind of division of Jerusalem,” the candidate said, “My belief is that as a practical matter it would be very difficult to execute. And I think that it is smart for us to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in old Jerusalem. But Israel has a legitimate claim on that city.”

That same week, McCain was asked for his thoughts on Jerusalem. After criticizing the Democrat for changing his mind, he said, “The point is Jerusalem is undivided ... Jerusalem is the capital.” McCain then qualified his comments by emphasizing that regardless of his position, the status of the city is still subject to negotiation. “The subject of Jerusalem itself will be addressed in negotiations by the Israeli government and people,” he said.

One candidate says “Jerusalem will be a part of ... negotiations.” Another candidate says “Jerusalem ... will be addressed in negotiations.” Sounds remarkably similar – but not to Republicans.

Wednesday night in his keynote speech, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the crowd in St. Paul, “When speaking to a pro-Israel group, Obama favored an undivided Jerusalem, like I favor and John McCain favors. Well, he favored an undivided Jerusalem – don’t get too excited – for one day until he changed his mind.” He didn’t add “to the same position John McCain actually has taken.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Republican Jewish Coalition Matt Brooks also criticized Obama for changing his mind on Jerusalem, but when asked whether the candidates’ position on the division of Jerusalem were identical, said he didn’t think so but would check it out.

And earlier Wednesday evening, Sen. John Ensign (Nev.) leveled the same charge. He said the “flip-flop” indicated that Jewish voters are “not sure what they’re going to get with Barack Obama. There’s doubt – it depends on what audience he is talking to.”

Perhaps, but that would mean that on the division of Jerusalem, the two choices are either the same position as McCain – or a position that goes much further in allowing Israel to dictate the terms of a Jerusalem settlement than McCain has endorsed. Hardly a choice that should make voters concerned about Israel nervous.

To be fair, there is one major difference in the two candidates’ positions on Jerusalem. McCain has said he would move the embassy to Jerusalem when he enters office. Obama has not, and his campaign has called McCain a liar for suggesting he would. That’s because the last two presidents both made the same promise during their campaigns – and neither ever even made an attempt to actually carry that promise out in the last 16 years.

3 Comments | Share This | AIPAC policy conference, Barack Obama, John McCain, Presidential Race, Republican convention, RJC

At RNC, foreign policy on stage, and in the margins

By Ron Kampeas · September 4, 2008

Not a lot of foreign policy in Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday night at the Republican Party convention in St. Paul, but what little there was nodded to pro-Israel concerns about her thin resume. (Palin met with officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Tuesday.)

Lots of red meat from Rudy, though.

And around the margins of the convention, Republicans are trying hard to make the case that it wasn’t all about John McCain, the man. (Much - no, make that just about all - of the convention has been about the extraordinary biography of Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.), with little room left for policy.)

In a special press conference Wednesday for foreign press (with an RNC official checking passes!) and at a session of the Center for U.S. Global Engagement (held at U-Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey Institute), top foreign policy advisers to the campaign said McCain was much friendlier to the notion of working with allies than - well, it was left unsaid, but certainly the Bush administration’s record of unilateralism hung heavily over the proceedings.

Key to making the case was Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the onetime Democratic vice-presidential nominee - and McCain’s preferred running mate until the Arizona senator caved last week to party base demands for a conservative candidate (embodied in “hockey mom” Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin).

Lieberman was the star speaker at the event hosted by Global Engagement (a group that advocates for greater political investment in foreign policy and that held a similar event at the Democratic confab in Denver last week) and brought reassurances that McCain has been mis-characterized as a hawk. McCain, a former POW, “hates” war, Lieberman said, suggesting that as president, McCain would shift powers from the Pentagon to the diplomatic corps.

“He’s going to take a very close look at our foreign and defense policy,” Lieberman promised.

At the foreign press event, deputy foreign policy adviser Kori Schake was asked what foreign policy advice McCain would take from Palin. Schake evaded the answer, replying that McCain would keep trusted advisers close - chief among them, Lieberman.

Schake also emphasized that McCain would reach out to allies, but was uncompromising on facing down Iran’s suspected nuclear threat: “A nuclear Iran would be an unacceptable danger for all of us.” Pressed for details, Schake told reporters to dig up two speeches: one to the Los Angeles Council on World Affairs, and the other to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

0 Comments | Share This | AIPAC policy conference, Barack Obama, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Presidential Race, Republican convention, rudy giuliani, Sarah Palin

Norm does Norway

By Ron Kampeas · September 4, 2008

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) got the homeboy advantage and spoke twice this week at the Republican Party convention in St. Paul, the town he once led as mayor.

On Tuesday he explored how his Jewish faith helps him understand St. Paul (the Tarsus convert, not the city) ... or something.

And on Wednesday, the senator with the thickest Brooklyn accent west of the Hudson got all Scandinavian on the delegates.

Here in Minnesota, we always talk about the Norwegian husband who cared so much about his wife that he almost told her. In this election in Washington, we face leaders of the Democrat Party who care so much about working families that they almost do something – but they don’t. In this presidential election, we have the chance to elect a man who does not just talk about problems and how much he cares, but will actually do something to solve them.

The Federal News Service transcript records “scattered laughter” at the line about Norwegian husbands, which might be generous.

Umm, Norm, why are you ignoring the ancestral treasure trove?

To further confuse matters, Coleman and Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle spoke on a night packed with efforts to prove the GOP’s minority outreach, with plenty of Latino and African American speakers. So, of course, Lingle, who is also Jewish, greeted delegates with an ... aloha.

0 Comments | Share This | Linda Lingle, Norm Coleman, Republican convention

Sholom on peace

By Ron Kampeas · September 4, 2008

Sholom Keller, an Iraq War vet turned peace activist with Brooklyn Lubavitcher roots, talks to Eric Fingerhut after a busy ten days of protesting in Denver and St. Paul. It’s not often you get war vets fretting about lashon hara.

2 Comments | Share This | Iraq, JTA Video, Republican convention

Sarah, Laura wants you on the phone.

By Ron Kampeas · September 3, 2008

Dr. Laura Schlesinger frets over the example a Vice President Sarah Palin would set balancing five kids and state craft:

“When Mom and Dad both work full-time (no matter how many folks get involved with the children), it becomes a somewhat chaotic situation.  Certainly, if a child becomes ill and is rushed to the hospital, and you’re on the hotline with both Israel and Iran as nuclear tempers are flaring, where’s your attention going to be?  Where should your attention be?  Well, once you put your hand on the Bible and make that oath, your attention has to be with the government of the United States of America.”

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan via Marc Ambinder

0 Comments | Share This | Republican convention, Sarah Palin

Joe noodges, Bush winks, Sarah smiles

By Ron Kampeas · September 3, 2008

Joe Lieberman wentandunnit and urged his erstwhile party-mates to vote Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) president.

The Connecticut senator, addressing the Republican convention in St. Paul on Tuesday, also brought about the first Clinton applause line at a Republican convention, albeit at the expense of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the Democratic nominee:

“Let me contrast Barack Obama’s record to the record of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups, worked with Republicans, and got some important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements and a balanced budget.”

Which is not to say he did not have kind words for Obama – these, however, did not earn the cheers the Clinton mention did:

“Senator Barack Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who I think can do great things for our country in the years ahead.”

Meantime, President Bush delivered his remarks from the White House, ostensibly because he had to manage the hurricane-crisis-that wasn’t (but perhaps he was wary of the sort of GOP confab that would applaud Bill Clinton?).

In any case, Bush delivered one of his famous coded messages (remember the bizarre reference to Dred Scott in the 2004 debates? This one was about abortion, too). Ostensibly talking about the McCains’ adopted daughter, he launched into a paean to McCain’s respect for human life:

“John is a leader who knows that human life is fragile, that human life is precious, that human life must be defended.”

Translation: Forget what you once believed about McCain and a woman’s right to choose.

Finally, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s VP pick, reassured AIPAC types about her Israel bona fides.

We hear there’s going to be red meat for the pro-Israel crowd in her speech Wednesday night.

4 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, george w. bush, John McCain, Presidential Race, Republican convention, Sarah Palin

Rabbi Flax quotes Proverbs, endorses McCain

By Eric Fingerhut · September 3, 2008

Rabbi Ira Flax quoted Proverbs, saluted the military and endorsed John McCain in his closing benediction Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention.

The retired Air Force chaplain, now living in Birmingham, Ala., began by noting that “the song ‘God Bless America’ was introduced to this country 70 years ago, and in those seven decades, Lord you have indeed blessed us in so many ways.”

He continued, “We are here in this hall this evening safe and secure because there are men and women willing to serve others [and] they are standing guard against the enemies of freedom and ready to respond to the natural calamities that beset our lot from time to time. We ask you, God, to bless their efforts, bless their families, and bless us too.”

Flax also paid tribute to those suffering through Hurricane Gustav: “As our fellow citizens on the gulf coast emerge from the dark night of storm clouds and rain, may the light of God’s face shine upon them and bless them with peace.”

Finally, he quoted from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 29:18 in both Hebrew and English.

“B’eyn chazon yipareh am, where there is no vision, the people perish,” he said. “In every age God, you have provided people of vision to act decisively in moments of great adversity. Bless this land with prosperity, bless our people with health and our leaders with vision, and God bless John McCain, the next president of the United States.”

2 Comments | Share This | John McCain, Presidential Race, Republican convention

JTA VIDEO: Things get started in the Twin Cities

By Ami Eden · September 3, 2008

Ron Kampeas and Eric Fingerhut file their first video report from the GOP convention in the Twin Cities.

0 Comments | Share This | Barack Obama, Florida, John McCain, JTA Video, Presidential Race, Republican convention, RJC

Pigs. Jews. Saints. Can’t wait for the debate with Franken.

By Ron Kampeas · September 3, 2008

Sen. Norm Coleman (DR-Minn.), welcoming the Republican national convention to his home state on Tuesday, managed to get Jews, pigs and St. Paul into the first three sentences of his speech.

“Good evening, and welcome to Pig’s Eye, Minnesota. That’s right, we were called Pig’s Eye until a Catholic priest built a wooden chapel a few steps from here dedicated to St. Paul. Although I am a person of the Jewish faith, I often reference St. Paul. And as former mayor of this city that was named for him, I proudly welcome you to my city of St. Paul.”

Umm, was Norm a little caffeinated? Or should we save that line for Orrin Hatch....

Incidentally, here’s the colorful explanation for St. Paul’s original name.

1 Comment | Share This | Al Franken, Minnesota, Norm Coleman, Republican convention