21 Jul
Uncategorized

Florida: A Jewish Battleground State?

For Donald Trump, the road to reelection—his only viable path, experts say—runs through Florida, with its crucial 29 electoral votes. That’s why, between Labor Day and Election Day, the Republican campaign plans to spend $32 million of the $95 million TV campaign budget in Florida. As the GOP ad buy acknowledges, without the Sunshine State, Trump is a one-term president. 

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24 Oct
Latest

Finding the "Real (Jewish) Americans"

More than 200 professors of Jewish studies have joined to form the latest Jews-for-Obama group, reports The Jewish Daily Forward. But the Republican Jewish Coalition poo-poos the new alliance's potential impact. Jews won't listen to eggheads, reasons RJC executive director Matt Brooks. "hese elites in many regards just speak for themselves," he explained to The Forward. Brooks hits the nail on the head (if you'll permit a workingman's metaphor those ivory tower types probably wouldn't understand): Anyone knows that, say, Jewish seniors in Florida wouldn't hold much truck with woolly-headed, four-eyed academics. Jews' disdain for the university sort is legend. No, as Brooks implies, undecided Jewish voters are much more likely to take political guidance from "real" Americans like Moshe the Plumber and all his buddies at the Nuremberg Sarah Palin rallies. You've probably seen them on...

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24 Sep
Latest

Jewish Politicians Rip into RJC

Watch Joe Biden deliver last night's opening speech at the National Jewish Democratic Council's Washington Conference. Jewish politicians known for their support of Israel lashed out against the Republican Jewish Committee this morning, accusing it of dividing America’s Jewish community for the sake of politics. During a panel discussion titled “Israel: Bipartisan Consensus or Partisan Wedge Issue” at a conference hosted by the National Jewish Democratic Council in Washington DC, House Representatives Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Brad Sherman (D-CA), and former Representative Mel Levine (D-CA) criticized the RJC’s anti-Obama campaign as “BS,” emphasizing that historically Democrats have been the most staunchly and consistently pro-Israel party. “You cannot denigrate and destroy our community in the interest of getting someone elected and that’s exactly what they are doing,” said Berkley, who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from...

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Chuck Hagel
15 Jul
Latest

The Barack Obama Chuck Hagel Controversy

More controversy regarding Barack Obama and his policies on Jewish-related issues has bubbled up and, perhaps, simmered down in the past few days. According to the JTA, the Republican Jewish Coalition released a statement yesterday (which has since been removed from their website) condemning what they saw as Sen. Chuck Hagel's accompanying Obama on his upcoming trip to the Middle East. The RJC demanded Obama drop Hagel from the trip. Hagel is a controversial figure in the Jewish community for a number of reasons. Mostly, though, he is seen as less than totally supportive of Israel. Last year, the National Democratic Jewish Council created a list of some of his most unpopular actions regarding the Middle East; in January of this year, Haaretz saw Mayor Michael Bloomberg's associations with Hagel as a detriment to his potential...

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President Obama
15 Jul
Latest

President Obama and His Inner Circle

Yesterday's Washington Post featured a front-page article on President Obama and his inner circle of advisors and friends. Although the article focused on the Chicago-based commonality in Obama's circles, we couldn't help but notice another fascinating attribute they all had in common: The innermost circle that the Post assembled (which can easily be viewed in the accompanying graphic) is comprised of seven people, all of whom are minorities. Four of the seven—John W. Rogers Jr., Valerie B. Jarrett, Eric Whitaker and Martin Nesbitt—are African American. The other three—David Axelrod, James Crown and Penny S. Pritzker—are Jewish. Axelrod, Obama's senior political strategist, is a former writer for the Chicago Tribune and political consultant. He is in large part responsible for the hope rhetoric and focus on an outsider image that has driven Obama's success thus far. Crown and national...

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