Consistent, Yes. And Foolish? [Jewish Addiction to Democrats]

TCS Daily ^ | 14 Aug. 2006 | Michael Rosen

[justiceseeker93]

They're not called "Dummycrats" without reason. (LOL)

[hershey]

The one Jewish Liberal I've spoken to recently is dead set against Bush, whom he said had 'hoodwinked us into going into Iraq, a war which merely served to enrage Arabs. Democracy can't be imposed. It has to come from within'. Israel, he said adamantly, has every right to defend herself. As for Jihad/terror/Middle East -- all we need to do is haggle with them (bargain). Find out what they want and give in (except for Israel), then we'll be able to muddle along. He's nuts and he'll go right on putting an X in the dem. box.

[justiceseeker93]

[Bush] "hoodwinked us into going into Iraq, a war which merely served to enrage Arabs..."

You're right, he is nuts. Doesn't he realize that, other considerations aside, Israel is much better off with the current state of affairs in Iraq than with Saddam still in power there? The current Iraqi regime is no threat to Israel at this point in time, whereas Saddam was. Small wonder that absolutely no (Jewish) Israeli politician opposed the US-led coalition overthrowing Saddam in 2003.

[Stepan12]

You're right, he is nuts. Doesn't he realize that, other considerations aside, Israel is much better off with the current state of affairs in Iraq than with Saddam still in power there? The current Iraqi regime is no threat to Israel at this point in time, whereas Saddam was. Small wonder that absolutely no (Jewish) Israeli politician opposed the US-led coalition overthrowing Saddam in 2003.

One last thing, I remember a Fox News report shortly before the 2004 election and they reported that American Jews living in Israel were supporters of the President. They also said that when Jews were polled, they were never asked their opinions.

[mench]

Certainly true for Orthodox Jews. The NYC area I live in is now-a-day, i would dare to say, a quite solid basis for the Republican party.

[justiceseeker93]

The NYC area I live in ... a quite solid basis for the Republican Party.

Unfortunately, the NYC Republican Party is out to lunch when it comes to organizing voters on a local level. Not much more to say about the NY state GOP. Good luck to John Faso, the candidate for governor. He's a good guy, but he doesn't seem to have much of a campaign organization behind him.

[mench]

You're right. But maybe it just doesn't pay for them. As a matter of a fact, I offered them my help (as a freelance writer in one of the ethnic languages spoken in the area) in the past national elections, but received no response.

[CaptainK]

The one Jewish Liberal I've spoken to recently is dead set against Bush, whom he said had 'hoodwinked us into going into Iraq, a war which merely served to enrage Arabs

The Arabs have been enraged since 1948 without letup.

[Plutarch]

A potentially insurmountable problem with Jews voting increasingly Republican is jewish geographical distribution in heavily blue locations. To expect a higher ratio of jewish Republican voting we must expect Jews to not only change their recent custom, but as well to emerge Republican out of the muck and miasma of Democrat fever swamps. We don't expect to generate Republicans from the gentiles in these areas, but for some reason wax optimistic about these blue county jews.

[Jaysin]

The younger Jews support the President, I think.

more so then their parents.

the Orthodox support the President, I know.

[justiceseeker93]

That's a great map, and I've never seen anything quite like it.

Your point holds in many places, because Jews are traditionally city people in the US, and big cities in the East and Midwest were run by corrupt Democratic machines even before most of the current Jews' families settled there. But the suburbs are very much different in terms of local politics, and that's where turning Jewish voters toward the GOP can really help in local races.

As far as current presidential politics is concerned, I know that the Bush campaign in '04 was mostly targeting Jews in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, all expected to be very close. They made some inroads among the Jews in Florida, which helped turn it from a "hanging chad" state in 2000 to a decent Bush win in '04. They probably also made gains among the Jews in the three other states, again holding onto Ohio, and again losing Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The Jewish vote is so small in percentages of voters that it can affect the outcome only in very close state races; hence the GOP geographic targeting strategy in '04.

[SJackson]

From 11% GOP voters in 1992 to 25-30% in 2004 is pretty fast, historically speaking. The fact that it's not faster can be attributed to: 1) Voting habits/traditions can be very difficult to break. (Many Southern conservatives still vote Democrat, for example); 2) Liberal-Democrat Jews have plenty of political concerns other than Israel…A potentially insurmountable problem with Jews voting increasingly Republican is jewish geographical distribution in heavily blue locations.

IMO Plutarch is right about the urban nature of the US Jewish population. Jews don’t vote much differently than their non-Jewish neighbors, and issues like the 2nd amendment aren’t driven by faith.

It’s also worth noting that 11% in 92 was down from 35%-27%-39%-31%-35% in 72-76-80-84-88. The Republican party was, with some basis, perceived as hostile toward Jews, American Jews, not just Israel.

[justiceseeker93]

Kindly ping this thread to your entire ping list.

The Republican party was, with some basis, perceived as hostile towards Jews.

I believe you are referring to 1992 only. But, on the other hand the Democratic Party should have been perceived as hostile to Jews from well before that, and continuing on since then. BTW, wasn't Jesse Jackson campaigning for the Dem nomination and exerting considerable behind the scenes influence in Dem circles in '92? By then, as I indicated, the "Party of Jackson" was not the party of Andrew Jackson nor even Henry Jackson, but the party of Jesse Jackson!

[colorado tanker]

Abe Foxman continues to believe that the greatest threat to Jews today comes from conservative Christians, who overwhelmingly support Israel, and not the islamofascists who want to pull of a second Holocaust. I can't explain it.

[justiceseeker93]

Foxman is elderly and out of touch. I presume that since he is a Holocaust survivor, he instinctively gazes off to the political "right" (though there is a reasonable argument to place Nazism on the "left" of the political spectrum as National Socialism) to hunt for antisemitism while being more forgiving of the "left." I have advocated Foxman's gentlemanly retirement for some years now, but it seems that he won't go just quite yet. In the future, I would look for younger people at the ADL to give more attention to the the more serious threats facing the Jews in the US and the world today.

[colorado tanker]

though there is a reasonable argument to place Nazism on the "left" of the political spectrum as National Socialism

I agree with you. It's very interesting to compare the election maps for Germany's last two elections before the Nazi coup. In the first, the conservatives were strongest in the south and west, just as they are today, with the SDP taking most of left-leaning constituencies. In the second, the conservatives nearly duplicated the previous map, but the Nazi's largely displaced the SPD. In other words, the Nazi's won their plurality in the Reichstag by taking socialist constituencies, not conservative ones. Remember also, Hitler lost the race for President in the same election, beaten by a conservative. He came into power through the back door when the Nazis made him their candidate for Chancellor.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also

2006israelwar or WOT

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[SJackson]

I believe you are referring to 1992 only. But, on the other hand the Democratic Party should have been perceived as hostile to Jews from well before that, and continuing on since then. BTW, wasn't Jesse Jackson campaigning for the Dem nomination and exerting considerable behind the scenes influence in Dem circles in '92? By then, as I indicated, the "Party of Jackson" was not the party of Andrew Jackson nor even Henry Jackson, but the party of Jesse Jackson!

Sure, these things change. Partly fueled by a comment as vile as James Bakers, Jimmy Carter was the only Dem of the century (excluding the Debs election) not to carry a majority of the Jewish vote. These things change. There are bigots on both sides of the political spectrum, at this point in time the Republican Party is far, far less tolerant of them.

[Liberal Classic]

Why Jews might not want to vote Republican is a complete mystery.

[SJackson]

"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," , yes, that will bring the Jewish voters into the fold.