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.”
Seriously?
I’m saddened that some of you clearly have issues with Jews, and think you’re entitled to voice them openly.
BS
Trump's essentially calling fraud on the Obama Nativity Story excites me. (Hey, Donald! Have your folks look at this blowup of a section of Bamie BC II:
It clearly shows that the thing is a fraud. When you scan a single document, you don't get different pixel sizes for different signatures on that document.)
And Sarah, what's not to like?
ML/NJ
Also, the idea of a Jewish voting block turning an election only matters on a local and primary level.
Obama won by about a 3-4% margin. If every single Jew voted, and voted Dem, it wouldn’t account for that.
So it goes back to fundraising. As if to say Jews hold money and power, and run things. The media has been promoting this line for a long time, much like the false notion that AIPAC are the most influential lobby in the US, or that Neocons are Jewish war mongers, and an assortment of other creepy claims.
Jewish political organizations want their voices heard, and depend on donors, so they feed into the idea that their voting block matters. The reality is, scrutinizing what the Jews do just opens up a Pandoras box of offensive comments.
Actually 1.6% of voters is fairly decisive in a lot of elections. That’s .6% more than if they were a representative 50/50 split, so on average the Jewish vote ‘gives’ more than a half percent to the Democrat candidate.
They HATE her because she’s so CHRISTIAN!!! They will NEVER ote for a real Christian.
More evidence that Trump was a liberal front to use to paint Palin with on a “guilt by association” basis. This is the 3rd article in just the last week that mentions them both in the title.
“so on average the Jewish vote ‘gives’ more than a half percent to the Democrat candidate.”
You don’t say.
Is that why all the candidates are going to be sweating the Native American/Inuit demographic?
LOL! Perfect! :)
I like Palin, and find her entertaining on Fox.
However, she quit her governorship, which raises real red flags with me.
I have talked with conservative friends- who will not support her for that very reason.
“No one see’s her potential, only us Freepers, I must admit, it is getting kinda of lonely here....”
Frustrating isn’t it?.....I walked in on a couple of folks discussing Trump.....They were conservative, and I asked if they had seen Palin’s speech this weekend (Wisconsin).....They said no, and one of the men said “She is in over her head”.....People just don’t seem to get who she really is.....I want to scream it on the hilltops sometimes after a 5 minute interview in which she says more than others who bore me with the same old spew........
None one of the three of them? Damn. How about downtown Chicago Black Republicans? Brown University Republicans?
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Elections coming up, one of the early Jews are stupid, communists, Christian haters, whatever threads.
Needless to say we, as "true conservatives" don't want their votes. My guess Sarah would be embarassed. Trump isn't a Republican, but he'd be embarassed by his supporters too.
There is a Jews for Sarah group
http://jewsforsarah.com/
Korn has a radio show, and often defends Sarah when the press has a hissy fit. Does he count?
No. Only David Frum and his ilk (read RINOs) can make judgements on Gov. Sarah Palin that matter.
Wow, KC!! Do the IDIOTS before YOUR post on THIS thread have a clue how mny JEWISH CONSERVATIVES are on THIS BOARD?????
You know what? The first however many posts on this thread are enough to gag a maggot.
WTF???
That’s not even as strongly as I would like to put it...but right now, that is about as polite as I can be without Jim banning me forever and ever.
Looks like I have no heart. I stopped being a Libtard the moment I first stepped onto a college campus and really got to see what Libtards truly are. (ie: 18)
I just spotted your ping, dear Mesta Machine. Is it too late in the thread for me to ping Sarah’s List?
I am still busy with our freepathon thread and miss several pings. I will come back to read the comments before I sing-out tonight.
I will admit too many Jews Support Democrats, (as do too many blacks and Catholics) Like previous posters have said, the Party of the Ku Klux Klan. But I don't see why this has to be associated with Jewishness itself!?
I mean Hell, the United States Constitution has its bases in Jewish Law, parts of it are literally plucked right out of Deuteronomy!
Our Sarah understands this, If anyone Understands their Jewish Roots, its her! Her inner Hebrew has been let out and it is making.......................some people uncomfortable.....I am sure its for totally unrelated reasons of course
That’s okay, onyx. Just your average Jew bashers out stomping and chomping the flowers in Sarah’s Garden. Nothing a little weed killer and DDT can’t cure.
The RJC is run by a bunch of liberals who like to play gatekeeper. In 2007, they kept Hunter, Tancredo and Paul from speaking, justifying their position by lying about the position of Hunter and Tancredo on Israel. That’s why i quit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
