Blog entries tagged: Tidbits
Political tidbits: Franken up by nine, Mason flip-flopped on McCain
- 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.
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Political tidbits: Palin knocked for Israel answer, Biden criticized for Lebanon claim
- Sarah Palin’s answer on Israel last night sounded like she was “randomly spewing every talking point she’d ever uploaded on Israel,” writes Noam Scheiber in The New Republic.
- Michael Totten, in Commentary, wonders what Joe Biden was talking about when he claimed that the U.S. “kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon.”
- Rick Siegel, in the Huffington Post, said he only heard one “snort” all night from Biden – when Palin said she was “so encouraged to know we both love Israel.”
- Holocaust survivor Rachel Patron, writing in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, says Jewish voters need more from the candidates than just promises of preventing a “second Holocaust.”
- Shmuel Rosner, in Commentary, also doesn’t like the analogy, calling it “more frightening than reassuring.”
- Joe Lieberman predicts McCain will hit 40 percent of the Jewish vote, according to the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
- The National Journal puts the National Jewish Democratic Council and Republican Jewish Coalition in its ”Ad Spotlight.”
- NJDC executive director Ira Forman, in the Huffington Post, criticizes the RJC’s “guilt by association” ads and quotes Joseph Welch’s famous line to Joe McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
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Political tidbits: Hastings apologizes, more Jewish pro-Obama videos
- Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) now says he regrets his comments last week about Sarah Palin, but maintains a McCain-Palin administration would be “anathema” to most African Americans and Jews.
- Georgetown University professor Jacques Berlinerblau, in the Washington Post’s On Faith blog, likes Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schlep” video, but doubts it will have much impact on which way Florida votes.
- Jewish friends and supporters of Barack Obama, including Penny Pritzker and Abner Mikva, talk in this campaign video about why they support him .
- Benjamin Hartman in Ha’aretz says a debate in Israel last week between proxies for the American presidential candidates was a lot more exciting than the real candidates going at it the next evening. A question about Palin caused the greatest stir at that debate, according to CNS News.
- Jim Besser in The Jewish Week notes that the AJC survey found Obama surprisingly less popular among younger Jews than older Jews – although that number may be skewed by the strong support McCain enjoys in the Orthodox community.
- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) says her opponent criticized her for coming home to celebrate Rosh Hashanah; Republican Tim Bee’s campaign said it was an innocent mixup and that they meant no harm.
- Obama adviser Dennis Ross tells the New Jersey Jewish News that his candidate would “change the dynamic” in the Middle East.
- Ed Koch recounts his trip to South Florida over the weekend to campaign for Obama.
- Doug Bloomfield, in the Washington Jewish Week, says John McCain’s no-earmark policy would be bad for Israel and the Jews.
- David Benkof in the Jerusalem Post argues that Jews shouldn’t use the Supreme Court as an excuse not to vote for McCain.
- Gawker tallies up how Jewish members of Congress voted on the bailout.
- Has Congress always taken the High Holidays off? No, it’s a fairly recent custom, reports the Associated Press.
- Sarah Palin has used Queen Esther as a role model, but is she really more like David battling Goliath? Mark Joseph on FoxNews.com thinks so.
- The Boston Globe wonders whether Joe Biden’s propensity to speak from “the kishkas” will get him in trouble tonight.
- Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show” worked on Rosh Hashanah, and he thinks Congress should have worked, too.
- Andy Borowitz has some fun with Bill Clinton’s announcement that he wouldn’t be campaigning until after the Jewish High Holy Days.
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Political tidbits: Is Bubbie’s vote really that important?
- 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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Political tidbits: Ad wars, Sarah Silverman and more
- 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.
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Political tidbits: Dem says moose strippers and gun toters aren’t good for the Jews
- Rep. Alcee Hastings says Jews and blacks should be frightened of Sarah Palin, because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.” At the same discussion, Rep. Steve Cohen called Jesus a Democrat.
- George Mason University law professor David Bernstein, at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, thinks Jewish organizations should be condemning the “anti-Palin campaign” in the Jewish community just as they did the anti-Obama campaign earlier this year.
- Larry Derfner, in the Jerusalem Post, writes that Sarah Palin has exposed a truth about Jews: “We don’t like hunting.”
- David Suissa, in the L.A. Jewish Journal, talks to an Israeli filmmaker who spent a few days with Sarah Palin and was impressed.
- The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent talks to Middle East experts about the presidential candidates’ plans for the Middle East.
- The L.A. Times has details on an effort by some religious leaders to defy the IRS’ ban on non-profit partisan political activity.
- The Jerusalem Post reports on Joe Biden’s speech Tuesday night to the National Jewish Democratic Council and also has details on his remarks about Iran on Wednesday.
- The Washington Jewish Week has the story on a $500 a plate kosher fundraiser for John McCain in Rockville, Md.
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Political tidbits: A new addition to the oneg Shabbat this week in Fla.
- A South Florida synagogue will be watching Friday night’s debate together after Shabbat services, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
- Yoav Sivan, in the Jerusalem Post, believes John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate makes the Obama-Biden ticket “the natural ticket” for American Jews.
- The St. Petersburg Times finds Jewish voters in South Florida still undecided about Obama.
- The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein complains that Joe Biden didn’t take any media questions at his National Jewish Democratic Council appearance on Tuesday.
- White supremacists distribute anti-Obama flyers in New Jersey, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.
- The Jerusalem Post reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is “ready” to meet Obama and McCain – but the candidates aren’t running to clear their schedules.
- CAIR has asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate the distribution of anti-radical Islam DVD Obsession, claiming that Aish HaTorah International is behind it, reports the AP. Aish HaTorah denies involvement, although current and former employees are involved.
Israelis for Obama talk about why they like him in a video distributed by the Jewish Alliance for Change.
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Political tidbits: A West Bank rabbi for Obama
- A George Mason University professor and rabbi has news of a West Bank, pro-settlement rabbi for Obama. Rabbi Menachem Frohman, in an open letter to Obama, says his election “will be God’s outstretched hand for peace.”
- Haaretz’s Shlomo Shamir says Rabbis for Obama is one sign of the increasing influence of rabbis in the Jewish community.
- After a week talking to people in Israel, the Israel Policy Forum’s M.J. Rosenberg writes on TPMCafe that Israelis are now backing Obama.
- Caroline Glick, in the Jerusalem Post, says Sarah Palin would have delivered a “remarkable speech” at the anti-Iran rally, but Jewish Democrats prevented it because they value abortion more than Israel.
- Rush Limbaugh, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, uses the anti-Iran rally fiasco as an example of Democrats not wanting to “unify” on anything – but he gets the facts wrong when he blames the Obama campaign for the disinvitation to Palin.
- Jennifer Rubin rounds up the negative reactions of some Jewish groups to Palin’s disinvitation.
- Clyde Haberman in the New York Times on how the annual visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes “some normally sensible New Yorkers lose their bearings” – and this year it was the Jewish organizations’ turn.
- Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken admits that he did suggest an idea that turned into a Saturday Night Live sketch this past weekend making fun of John McCain’s ads – but didn’t write it and says he didn’t even realize it would turn into a sketch. (By the way, it wasn’t nearly as funny as the Palin-Clinton sketch the previous week.)
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Political tidbits: Republicans mad over Palin rally disinvite
- 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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Political tidbits: Streisand talks Talmud, McCain gets a vote in Israel
- Is Barack Obama’s race a problem for older Jewish voters? A number of Jewish leaders across the country think so, writes Jim Besser in The Jewish Week.
- CNN checks out the battle for Jewish votes in Florida.
- The woman who is believed to be the oldest American voter living abroad, Miriam Pollak of Israel, is voting for John McCain, according to the Jerusalem Post.
- Brad Hirschfield, writing at Beliefnet, feels the controversial Republican Jewish Coalition poll reminds him of the tactics of anti-Semites.
- The New York Daily News quotes Republican Jewish lobbyist Jeff Ballabon telling a Jewish newspaper that Barack Obama is “incredibly dangerous.”
- Some Las Vegas Jewish leaders say their congregations are more split over this presidential election than any other in recent memory, writes the Las Vegas Sun.
- Commentary’s John Podhoretz considers the implications of a New York poll which has McCain leading Obama by 22 points among Jewish voters. Unfortunately, Podhoretz didn’t read JTA’s blog entry on the poll, which quotes multiple pollsters–including Republication Frank Luntz–saying the small sample size makes the survey extremely unreliable.
- The Associated Press writes up the Republican Jewish Coalition’s latest ad, in which Pat Buchanan endorses Obama’s views on the Middle East.
- In Haaretz, Bradley Burston quotes a journalist friend saying “Sarah Palin has restored my faith in Israel” because the Jewish state would never consider such a neophyte on foreign policy as a leader.
- A Chicago rabbi, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, criticizes the Jewish community for passing along those false e-mails about Obama.
- Barbra Streisand opened her fundraiser for Obama with a Talmud lesson, according to the L.A. Jewish Journal.
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