Jewish Voters Embracing Pro-Israel GOP

DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe met with Democratic Party leaders last week to address eroding support from Jewish voters, who, in increasing numbers, recognize that the strongest and most loyal defenders of Israel are Christian conservatives.

McAuliffe's party of emotions, atheism and name-calling is having an alarming time validating its purpose and is at risk of losing a substantial portion of a voting bloc it has always counted on. Like Bela Lugosi following a bad hangover, Democratic strategists are witnessing the switch of American Jewish voters to the GOP, a situation they once thought, by definition, impossible.

Democratic and liberal propaganda has advanced because the majority are too preoccupied or too naïve to understand they are being duped. Those who recognize the BS factor delivered by the Left through the print media, CNN and alphabet TV are turning to best-selling conservative books, talk radio and qualified Internet sites instead.

Thirsting for an unfiltered perspective free from stale liberal incantations on race, victimhood and anti-Christian paranoia, conservatives and liberals alike have become more savvy in reaching commonsense conclusions on their own. And much of this refreshing mindset is driven by respect and deference to traditional values and historic American principles that constitute footprints for honorable civil conduct.

Perhaps this is a coming of age for both Christian conservatives and Jewish liberals. In their younger years, both sides staked out ideological turf while articulating passionate justifications for their differences. Over time, hard divisions have softened, philosophical bridges have been constructed, and mature compromises on issues now comparatively less significant have given way to the bigger picture.

At the risk of appearing overly simplistic in complicated terrain, the bigger picture is this: America is a Judeo-Christian nation. Jews and Christians, outside of prominent theological differences, share a common belief system expressed in the Bible. Old Testament and New Testament. A shared belief in God. Interdependence in the defense of a nation that houses both the cradle of a faith in Bethlehem and a biblical homeland for a chosen people. The only democracy in the Middle East.

To further consolidate mutual reliance, it is Christians and Jews who are the express targets of radical Islam. Arab Islamists (see Wahhabis) want to destroy what they call "Zionist America" while wiping Israel from the face of the planet. These facts are clear and incontrovertible. Recently, talking heads in Washington spoke of "moral clarity" in defining who America's real enemy is, what we should do about it, and the need to formulate a coherent approach to defend America and Israel.

It comes down to raw politics. A recent Gallup Poll has grabbed the attention of Democratic strategists: 64 percent of Republicans polled said they sympathized with Israel, compared to 38 percent of Democrats.

"The Republican leadership is actually being very smart," said Benjamin Ginsberg, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University. "Jews have always been the brain, the wallet and the legs of the Democratic Party. If that core of activists can be even partially detached from the Democrats, it could have a huge impact."

Jews constitute 4 percent of the national voting public but wield extraordinary influence in three key states: New York, Florida and California.

Certainly there are still differences between conservatives and liberals on abortion, gay rights, vouchers and school prayer. But on closer examination, it is Republicans and conservatives who have compromised and reached out to accommodate contemporary realities, both domestically and internationally.

According to the Republican Jewish Coalition: "The RJC wishes to express its solidarity with our brethren in Israel. As the United States has stated, there is no place in this world for terror. As was true on Sept. 11 in this country, it is time to take our pain and turn it into resolve to rid the world of the evil that has been cast upon us."

These are not normal times. Three thousand Americans have been murdered by radical Arab nationals, and the U.S. is at war. Israel is attacked on an almost daily basis. Israel and America are, for lack of better words, in survival mode. In parallel, Jewish Americans and Christian conservatives share a correlative objective in defending Israel, without compromise, in a manner understood and expressed definitively by a GOP focused on foreign policy.

The Democrats don't know what they want, other than to make sure they don't resemble Bush, which makes them appear to be pro-Palestinian.

We cannot pull any punches nor compromise sound policy by buckling to the politically correct self-destruction manifested by the Left. There are militant Islamic support networks and terrorist groups secretly operating on American soil. Steven Emerson's chilling omen contained in the documentary "Jihad in America" (first aired in 1994) shows interviews with Islamic extremists in New York, Boston, New Jersey, Texas, California, Florida and Kansas. The study details Islamic hatred and violent intentions against all Americans, and specifically Christians and Jews. I have seen the tape. Anyone who hasn't, should. It is astonishing.

Any guesses about who defends these extremists in courts of law? Lawyers from the ACLU, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Freedom of speech is an American right. But is advocacy of death and destruction to Americans and Jews, conducted right here in America, "protected" speech? Apparently so, according to these lawyers.

Naturally, it is trial lawyers who are the No. 1 contributors to the Democratic Party, and the ACLU membership identifies with the Democrats. The closer one investigates this association, the harder it is to imagine how one could vote for this party and the more compelling the reason becomes for Jews to vote Republican.

Michael Kelly, in "An End to Pretending" (published June 27 in Jewish World Review), said: "The administrations of Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin knew of course that Arafat was wholly duplicitous, wholly incompetent and a delusional murderous schemer. They knew his people knew this. They knew he was lying when he pretended to want a workable peace. They knew his people knew this too. Yet they treated him as an honest man upon whom could be built a decent peace and a decent state."

Texas Republican Tom Delay, a Christian conservative, spoke recently at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and suggested that Israel should hold on to every scrap of West Bank and Gaza land. A strong position, to be sure, but clear.

Many Democrats, however, still hold on to the Oslo peace accords, despite terrorism and despite Arafat's refusal to acknowledge the existence of Israel. Of all the confused, dithering and recurrently anti-American policies of the Democratic Party, this one is perhaps its most ludicrous.

The Democratic Party has been largely silent on the fact that this country was founded on the belief in God. Conversely, President Bush has stated publicly that God is the source of moral guidance and values.

Conservatives are attracting adherents because of their willingness to declare that radical Islam is not a moral equivalent of Judaism and Christianity, regardless of how much this statement conflicts with the mantra of diversity and tolerance. There is indeed a difference between the parties.

I trust that the administration, though unwilling to be as publicly demonstrative as we'd like, understands the magnitude of the threat, both domestic and abroad, with the appropriate moral clarity. The Jewish political elite recognizes the dramatic conversion from foe to indispensable ally in their relationship with conservatives and the Republican Party. How this alliance translates at the polls remains to be seen.

But be certain that for the first time in many years, the Democratic Party can no longer assume a lock vote from a majority of Jewish Americans. This vote must be earned, and the Republicans appear to be doing a far more energetic and genuine job of it. Again, our perilous circumstances did not come about by chance. We are being tested. We have loyalties, like family, that will not be broken.

As for the liberals, the Left and the Democratic Party, it's extremely difficult to determine where their loyalties lie. Why nobody will ask the junior senator from New York, a putative candidate for president in 2004, where her loyalties lie, or why she has been given a free pass by the liberal press, is anyone's guess.

Perhaps this specious double standard is a metaphor for the Democrats' reversal of fortune with Jewish voters in New York and elsewhere. After all, a ruse, built on animosity and division and standing for nothing, isn't a real party, is it?

much of this refreshing mindset is driven by respect and deference to traditional values and historic American principles that constitute footprints for honorable civil conduct.

Excellent article. I've always wondered how/why the Rats have had so much of the Jewish vote......when it is the Christians who so strongly come to the aid of the American Jews and Israel.....and the Christians are overwhemingly Republicans.......perhaps Bush, who has never once invited Arafat to the White House (unlike his predecessor, who hosted Arafat at the White House more than any other person), is the best representative, so far, of a Christian Republican defending the nation of Israel and prays to the same God as the American Jews......perhaps they can begin to see the similarities of our faith and needs and wants for our country........irrespective of some issues that, in the past, have kept the majority of our Jewish friends within the shackles of the Rats.

But it misses the point that Democratic and liberal support for the Palestinians is just as genuine and strong

I disagree. I feel that they are misguided because supporting the palestinians is a form of adolescent revolt. If they actually took the time to think through their actual feelings about what they seem to hold in higher regard, vis-a-vis support of the palestinian agenda over the fate of the Israeli nation and people, they would inevitably change to support Isreal.

Alas, to do this they would actually have to have an independent and original thought. Not one of these so-called democrat/liberals has ever been accused of this: reasonable debate.

To prove my point, take a jaunt to the DU(mmies) website and try and start a reasonable debate. within two to three responses the namecalling will begin.

I don't buy it. American Jews are not, and never have been, Israelis, unless you go back to the times of King David, and their loyalty is not to Israel, but to the agenda of the radical left in the U.S. This is a stereotype, I know, but one with a lot of truth in it, IMO. They are not going to vote Republican just because Christian conservatives (who apparently don't vote Republican, either) support Israel.

Think of it this way: the relationship of American Jews to Israel is analogous to the relationship of American Catholics to Italy. Tenuous at best.

The Democrats are right to worry. They didn't reach their current position by waiting around. They are proactive, but I want to see some poll numbers before I believe it. I think it's a cautionary tale for Democrats, a canard.

This has been going on for years in Israel.
Conservative Christians visiting Jewish sites like Masada, Yad Vashem, and the Western Wall have caused a bond between these two people. They may not agree on all issues but they respect eachothers beliefs. (kind of like FR)

Israeli Jews know these visitors respect and honor these sites

There are several factor here.

1. The collapse of the Black-Jewish alliance. Most commentators ascribe this to the rise of Black Power in the '60s, but I tend to ascribe it to something much more fundamental. By 1970, the alliance no longer served Jewish-American interests. By 1970, the old Gentleman's Agreement Wasp country club anti-Semitism was dead. Legal and social discrimination against Jews was dead. Ancestral memories of Cossacks and Storm Troopers, enemies on the right, had faded. America fully accepted Jews as white people, so why should they continue to see themselves as despised outsiders ? What is left of the Black-Jewish alliance is sentiment, not self-interest.

2. Looking at the SFSU pro-Palestinian types, you see the activist Black, Asian, and Hispanic student groups. It is no secret that among Blacks and Hispanics there is little pro-Israel sentiment. Jews realize this and are quite naturally reconsidering what membership in the Democratic Party buys them.

Perhaps-- I hope you're right, anyway. But there is a strong streak of romanticism in adult Democrats (who don't indulge in name-calling) that wants to see Palestinians as freedom-fighters, as the under-dog in a noble fight for self-determination, blah, blah, blah. They deliberately blind themselves to the true, verifiable actions of both sides, and make endless excuses for the Palestinians. I find this attitude a lot among my well-educated, liberal friends who have never had children (the experience of trying to turn little barbarians into civilized adults tends to destroy such romanticism.)

I don't know what it will take for the scales to fall from such people's eyes.

the relationship of American Jews to Israel is analogous to the relationship of American Catholics to Italy.

Having grown up on Long Island, with its heavy percentages of Catholics and Jews, my experience says this analogy doesn't work. The Catholics have some relationship to the Vatican, but it pales in comparison to the feelings the American (or at least, the New York) Jews have towards Israel.

Perhaps the analogy would work better if the Vatican constantly had Hamas attacking it with suicide bombers and all the surrounding countries were calling for its eradication. I think probably if that was the case, you would see a lot more concern from American Catholics. Probably on the order of what we do see from American Jews now.

"...it pales in comparison to the feelings the American (or at least, the New York) Jews have towards Israel".

Will these feelings manifest themselves when it comes time to vote? I just don't see it.

And much of this refreshing mindset is driven by respect and deference to traditional values and historic American principles that constitute footprints for honorable civil conduct.

What a beautifully written line!

What astounding anti-Semitism!

I don't know what it will take for the scales to fall from such people's eyes.

I can say that the scales fell from my eyes, and probably untold gazillions of others, by a life-altering or galvanizing event.

As far as my own ephiphany, it was eighteen months of hell (but at a good wage) in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) in the mid-80's. When those four airliners were hijacked to Beirut, the pilot of one interviewed with a gun pressed to the side of his head and, later, all four planes blown up on the ramp.

As a westerner and an American in the belly of the beast at that moment in history, I can tell you, no wahhabi islamist is our friend and the palestinians are cold blooded stone killers.

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.