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Posted on 05/10/2011 9:10:15 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Republican Jews to Donald Trump: You’re not hired. That is, not until you at least turn up to an interview with a resume.
And the same goes for Sarah Palin, another media favorite who keeps flirting with a bid for the Republican presidential nomination but never commits.
Leading Jewish Republicans, many speaking off the record, confirm what the rank and file is happy to say on the record: These two GOP “likelys” consuming so much publicity are not likely to last.
“All politicians enjoy the title ‘likely’ -- it gives them relevance on the national scene,” said Jay Zeidman, a former White House Jewish liaison and now a Houston businessman who heads the Republican Jewish Coalition’s local chapter. “It allows them to have a pulpit to speak from. But when you look at who's putting the infrastructure together, who has the money to sustain themselves through the primaries, I don’t see Sarah Palin and Donald Trump putting it together.”
Trump, who has generated much buzz with his personal attacks on President Obama -- questioning where he was born, and whether he has the smarts or the integrity to do the job -- does not resonate as serious, said Alan Joel Steinberg, a conservative New Jersey political analyst.
“A serious candidate does not use the kind of language he used,” he said.
Republican Jews, with a substantial base among the Orthodox, are turned off by the a real estate magnate’s grandstanding, Steinberg said -- for instance, in attacking the president’s China policy in a recent speech in Las Vegas laced with profanity.
“That's bathroom language,” he said.
Trump, of course, has a familial tie to the Jewish community: His daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism before marrying fellow real estate empire heir Jared Kushner.
Yet Trump has said little thus far in his presidential flirtation about Israel policy, a key component of any candidate’s appeal to Jewish Republicans, Zeidman said. That’s especially a concern now that the party is dedicated to slashing budgets and with Jewish Republicans wanting assurances from candidates that aid to Israel is sacrosanct, he said.
“We have to call our community and members and say, ‘It’s important we make tough cuts, but not to Israel,’ ” Zeidman said. “That's the issue that resonates most with us.”
Off the record, a number of Jewish Republican leaders who have had dealings with Trump say they don’t think his colorful financial history -- peppered with triumphs and bankruptcies -- befits the intense scrutiny that all modern candidates must bear.
Fred Taub, a Jewish radio host in Cleveland who has been active on a number of campaigns, said Trump is never going to want to open up his books to the press.
“He has a lot of issues,” said Taub, who recently authored “Boycotting Peace,” a book about the Israel divestment movement. “Is he a serious campaigner? Not really. Is he going to disclose his entire finances? I don’t think so.”
Palin, at least, is adding substance to her thin governmental resume, most recently in a speech on foreign policy, Steinberg said. But she has yet to demonstrate that she is willing to make the commitment to a run, although Steinberg said he has heard from those around her that she is seriously looking at a presidential bid.
“I think if she ran, she would get substantial Orthodox Jewish support and among right-wing Zionists,” he said. “The problem is it's not clear whether she's running or not. Her followers tell me she is, but she's not raising money or having events in Iowa,” the first caucus state. “She has to make a decision.”
The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate recently stopped in Israel on her way back from giving a speech in India, and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But she has also confused Jewish neoconservatives who admired her outspoken embrace of American exceptionalism and a strong U.S. role overseas with her May 2 speech in Colorado advocating a lower international profile for the United States.
“We can’t fight every war, we can’t undo every injustice in the world,” she said in that speech, which was first reported by Politico.
That incensed Jennifer Rubin, a Washington Post columnist who had been one of Palin’s earliest champions among Jews. Rubin wrote that Palin’s fecklessness suggested superficiality.
“Her views then and perhaps now don’t spring from a well-grounded understanding of foreign policy but from briefing cards,” Rubin wrote. “Change the cards, and presto, a new foreign policy! To the dismay of many who saw great potential in her, she chose not to immerse herself in issues and put meat on the bones of her intuitive policy positions.”
Her speech also drew expressions of concern from Bill Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, previously a strong backer of Palin.
But policy positions aside, Jewish Republicans question Palin’s seriousness in part because she has not vigorously reached out to Jewish Republican activists and donors. When visiting Israel, Palin snubbed the Republican Jewish Coalition’s well-oiled Israel program for candidates thinking of a run for office.
George W. Bush's 1998 trip, before running for president, was considered critical to formulating his adamant pro-Israel views while he was in office. In more recent years, the RJC has hosted former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
Steinberg said that assessing the seriousness of Republican candidates when it comes to Jews comes down to “Show me the donors.”
By that measure, he said, count Romney as a contender. He has at his side Lewis Eisenberg, a former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a close ally of Netanyahu, and Mel Sembler, a leader in the RJC and a major donor to the Bush campaigns.
“The real Jewish impact on the Republican Party is on the fundraising side,” said Steinberg, who noted also that Romney has become deeply conversant with Middle East policy. “And now Romney has recruited the best fund-raisers in the Republican Party.”
Jewish voters go Democrat more than 4 to 1. Historically they only vote for a non-Democrat if there's a Progressive of Socialist on the ballot instead.
This was the case in 1920 when the Democrat and Socialist split the majority and the Harding, Republican, had a slight plurality.
Did they actually ask all three of them?
2% of the U.S. population created “the mess”? Mayhap as part of a conspiracy put in place by elders of Zion?
her thin government resume? Um, 20 year wasn’t enough?
I for one have been saying she is the one for 012' since 11/3/2008, just look @ my tag-line :-).
But more disturbing? Talking to the inlaws from the South and they tell me their high end coffee clatch conservative / tea partiers ( especially the women ) won't vote for her.
It is women thing, I am convinced, it is a form of envy, and it sort of rhyme's with Angina....
No one see's her potential, only us Freepers, I must admit, it is getting kinda of lonely here....
The most important point to take from this (or any article about Palin and Trump) is that Palin and Trump are completely different.
Many of them have NEVER supported Israel. Thought it was asking for trouble back in the day, and don’t support them now. Hell of a lot more Christian support for Israel in the US than there is Jewish.
Of course, some of us consider ourselves Jewish by blood, heritage, and affectional preference, even if no Jewish person would ever acknowledge it.
“Your comment is disgusting and absolutely racist and conforms quite well to the typical antisemitic drivel put out by small minded bigots.”
How ironic that you are on a thread about jews asserting your self-righteousness. Can it, you worm! You are likely a bigoted hypocrite just giving yourself a momentary thrill by castigating someone else’s opinion that doesn’t conform to your allmendream utopic world vision.
All two of them?
What are we, chopped liver? I think everyone should go back and replay some of Sarah's campaign rallies in 2008. She rocked. I expect her to do much better this time around without that ball and chain McCain.
The day she announces will be like the San Francisco earthquake, hurricane Katrina, the last two tsunamis and the Superbowl, combined. It will blow their minds.
All three Jewish Republicans..... LOL
“Leading Jewish Republicans”
I heard they’re not polling well with Buddhist Mexicans or white Ugandans either. This is cause for concern. Leading Buddhist Mexicans say we’re screwed if we don’t get the Buddhist Mexican vote.
“It is women thing, I am convinced, it is a form of envy”
From what I’ve overheard at social gatherings and around the water cooler you are right on. Many Christian conservative women don’t like her but these same women would vote for a Romney or Obama. Go figure!
I have little respect for Americanized IRISH. They are just out to pad their wealth on the backs of anyone the dems choose to misuse. To these “intellectuals” I say go the he!! back to IRELAND and leave us patriots to clean up the mess ya’ll have created.
I have little respect for Americanized BLACKS. They are just out to pad their wealth on the backs of anyone the dems choose to misuse. To these “intellectuals” I say go the he!! back to AFRICA and leave us patriots to clean up the mess ya’ll have created.
I have little respect for Americanized Hispanics. They are just out to pad their wealth on the backs of anyone the dems choose to misuse. To these “intellectuals” I say go the he!! back to South or Central America and leave us patriots to clean up the mess ya’ll have created.
There are Jewish Republicans? You would never know it from recent elections.
There is are terms for that, Philo-Semitism, Righteous Gentiles, or Christian Hebraist
I believe Sarah is in touch with her Inner Hebrew (I mean Sarah DOES mean "Princess" in Hebrew, which she lives up to that meaning) and may be an ALL of the above mentioned terms.
I don't understand why Jews (or Catholics for that matter) support Democrats, no other political group in this country could be more opposed to their values.
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