Posted on 07/29/2012 4:03:10 AM PDT by Libloather
Pelosi: Republicans using Israel policy to distract Jewish voters
By Meghashyam Mali - 07/28/12 04:31 PM ET
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended President Obama’s record on Israel, accusing Republicans of using the issue to distract Jewish voters from the party’s economic policies.
“Many of the Republicans are using Israel as an excuse, what they really want are tax cuts for the wealthy. So Israel, that can be one reason they put forth,” said Pelosi on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital,” according to a transcript of her remarks.
“That’s why some of the Republican Jewish supporters are really active,” replied host Al Hunt.
“That’s how they’re being exploited,” said Pelosi. “And they’re smart people. They follow these issues. But they have to know the facts. And the fact is that President Obama has been the strongest person in terms of sanctions on Iran, which is important to Israel. He’s been the strongest person on whether it’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling, any of these weapons systems and initiatives that relate to Israel. He has been there over and over again.”
Pelosi’s comments come amidst GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s three-country foreign tour which takes him to Israel, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Romney has made Israel a centerpiece of his attacks on Obama’s foreign policy, as both campaigns work to win over Jewish voters.
Republicans have accused the president of being a weak ally and have criticized him for failing to visit the country in his first term.
The administration however as pushed back, pointing to legislation Obama signed Friday which reaffirmed military ties between Israel and the U.S. The United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act restates U.S. commitments to provide Israel with defensive weapons, oppose anti-Israeli resolutions at the United Nations and moves forward plans to develop the “Iron Dome” missile defense system.
The bill had been passed by Congress 10 days ago, but Obama waited until Friday, just as Romney embarked on his overseas trip.
A campaign official last week also said that Obama would visit Israel if reelected for a second term.
“This president has been a staunch supporter of Israel. Many of the things that he has done, in terms of Israel’s qualitative edge in terms of how we have, have supported Israel in that regard, for them to defend themselves … No president has done more,” said Pelosi in the Bloomberg interview .
Asked if Obama would do as well with Jewish voters in November, she said “I think that he will.”
A Gallup poll released late Friday showed Jewish support for Romney slipping slightly.
The survey found Obama with support from 68 percent of Jewish voters to Romney’s 25 percent. A Gallup survey in June found Obama with a 64-29 edge over his GOP challenger.
The 68 percent tally, however, is a double-digit drop from the 78 percent Obama won in the 2008 election against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
I confess I got a little chuckle out of that line, but we really shouldn't be joking about mental illness.
The Bloomberg guy who was interviewing her responded as if everything she said was perfectly normal and understandable.
According to Gallup, Romney slipped from 29% to 25% in Jewish support. But the two results were arrived at by different methods, and each of them, especially the last one, by questionable techniques. So, as I said, I wouldn't read any credibility into the statement that Romney is slipping.
Barring unforseen circumstances, Romney should get about 40% of the Jewish vote nationally come November.
Well, Obama is off 10% from 2008 and like you, I can’t see his numbers going anywhere but down.
There seems to be consensus that it doesn’t matter much anyway, Jews making up such a small % of voters. I guess Florida could be an exception, though.
Aside from Florida, also talk about a swing in the Jewish vote possibly making a difference in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and perhaps a few other very close ones.
Don’t forget that many of the votes lost in Florida are also absentee votes lost in New York.
Not sure of the extent of the problem of voters voting in more than one state in the same election.
Although I'm generally not a fan of federalization of crimes, I can support federal criminalization of voting in more than one state in the same presidential election. Of course, the Obamatons would call that "suppressing the vote."
Let us be honest, they don’t care about Jewish VOTES, they care about Jewish MONEY. And that seems to be fading away from Obama, at least enough that he is worried.
Don’t read too much into new PRRI poll of Jewish voters
The Democrats in 2008 won 78% of the Jewish voters. This year they have an approval factor of 62%-a drop of 16%. Furthermore the polls are looking at this as if it is evenly divided. If that drop is everywhere else but California and New York, it can create problems.
Ronald Reagan won with 40% of the Jewish vote.
They may end up caring about Jewish votes on the day after the election if it turns out that a swing in the Jewish vote was sufficient to cause them to lose Florida, Pennsylvania, and/or Ohio and the White House as a result. Probably won't happen, but it's a slight probability.
And if it does happen, you can't say that they didn't deserve it, based on their policies and inane statements like the ones from Pelosi at the top of this thread. Certainly performances like Pelosi's won't help with either Jewish money or Jewish votes.
Obama is pretending to be an ardent Israel supporter and as for Carney, well, as far as State and WH are concerned, Tel Aviv is the capital. That is the OFFICIAL US position. Carney is lame and his boss is, just pathetic.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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I think you’re right. I looked up some prominent NY Dems who are Jewish, and were big donors to Barry in 2008... not this time around; nothing for 2012.
They’re not giving to Romney, either, but only to local candidates. Barry definitely losing financial support, but will they still vote for him in November? No way of knowing.
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