Free Republic

GOP Jewish Group Hits Sen. Robert Byrd for Filibuster RemarksBy Alan Fram Associated Press Writer Published: Mar 2, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - A Jewish Republican group accused Sen. Robert Byrd on Wednesday of making an "inappropriate and reprehensible" comparison between Adolf Hitler's Nazis and a Senate GOP plan to block Democrats from filibustering. Byrd spokesman Tom Gavin denied that Byrd, D-W.Va., had compared Republicans to Hitler. He said that instead, the reference to Nazis in a Senate speech on Tuesday was meant to underscore that the past should not be ignored. "Terrible chapters of history ought never be repeated," Gavin...

On a recent rainy Sunday night, I added my umbrella to the stack outside the door of a Woodland Hills home and crept into the parlor to witness one small step in a revolution. Larry Greenfield, director of the 3,000-member strong Republican Jewish Coalition of Southern California, canvassed the Southland before the last presidential election, speaking to audiences and participating in debates -- including single-handedly taking on Zev Yaroslavsky and Rep. Brad Sherman at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino. But after President Bush kept the White House, Greenfield wasn't ready to rest. Feeding off momentum from a jump in the...

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean's election Saturday as chairman of the Democratic National Committee has prompted a fierce fight between two partisan Jewish groups about Dean's record on Israel and how it could impact Jewish support for the Democratic Party. The Republican Jewish Coalition, a grassroots group of Jewish Republicans, published an advertisement in US newspapers this week suggesting Dean supported Hamas. A photo of Hamas suicide bombers, camouflaged in white and wearing explosive belts – alongside a child wrapped in an explosive belt – is topped with a quote from Howard Dean from September 2003, which reads: "DNC Chairman...

People often ask me when I stopped being a liberal and, depending on their own political persuasion, either saw the light or sold my soul to the devil.     The truth is, it was a fairly gradual process. I grew up in a typical middle-class Jewish home, the son of immigrants. In other words, Franklin Roosevelt was our patron saint. In our house, the feeling was that Mr. Roosevelt could walk -- or at least roll -- on water. When, after FDR's death, Harry Truman recognized the state of Israel, that clinched it. After 1948, if the Republicans had run God,...

The man at the Christmas tree tent in Malibu kept winking at me and nodding when no one else was looking. I smiled and kept looking at the trees. (In Malibu, we Jews have Christmas trees.) Finally, he motioned to me to come over to is table. He cupped his hand over his mouth and took my hand. "We won," he said. "We won." I knew exactly what he meant. "You can talk about it," I said. "This is America." "Yes, but it's also Malibu and I don't want people yelling at me." A few minutes later, I was grabbing...

Bob Beauprez: Republican party is 'encouraged' by the newfound alliance with tradiional Democrat supporters. The American Jewish community's Orthodox sector has begun a long-term "love affair" with the Republican party, according to a U.S. Congressman speaking Tuesday in Jerusalem. "What we're seeing is not a flirtation [between the two camps] but rather a serious love affair," said Congressman Bob Beauprez of Colorado. "Jews one after another have been very open about their support for the President and they backed that up recently at the ballot box." Beauprez, who is in Israel this week for the Jerusalem Summit conference, said that...

RJC Analysis of 2004 Jewish Vote Shows Unmistakable Shift Toward Republicans Washington, DC... Based on several exit polls recently released, it is clear that President Bush did substantially better among Jewish voters this year than he did in 2000. From 1992 to today we've seen more than a 100% increase in the Jewish Republican vote. The trend is unmistakable: · In 1992, President Bush (41) won 11% of the Jewish vote · In 1996, Senator Dole won 16% of the Jewish vote · In 2000, President Bush (43) won 19% of the Jewish vote · In 2004, preliminary results indicate...

When I pull the lever on November 2nd for George Bush, I will be voting with more passionate conviction than I have ever mustered in a lifetime of voting Democratic. My motive is simple: I believe the moral imperative of our time is to fully prosecute the War on Terror. As a Jew, I believe this sacred fight embodies the deepest Jewish values, so eloquently expressed by the ancient sage Hillel: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

If the word is put out that former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer is in town to speak at a local synagogue about Israel and President Bush, will he be able to fill the room? In Beverly Hills? Yes. Somewhere around 700 Jews showed up to hear Ari tonight. It was a mixed crowd, really mixed, with college age guys, young professionals, many Holocaust survivors, and the middle age set. I really looked around. These are people that none of the polls are identifying. Frankly, I think the polls about "Jewish voters" are frauds. How do they know who...

Israel is not mentioned in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. But when Moore showed up as a journalist at the Republican National Convention, the conventioneers were none too pleased. Earlier this summer, a coalition of Jewish Republicans researched his stands on Israel over the past two decades. Michael Moore dedicated his 2003 book, Dude Where's My Country? to Rachel Corrie, an International Solidarity Movement volunteer who was accidentally killed when she climbed in front of a caterpillar bulldozer destroying tunnels used by Palestinian terrorists to illegally smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza. Moore expressed his understanding for other victims of the...

We are living at a most challenging time in our history - one that our founding fathers could never have envisioned. Global terror and the breakdown of moral values menace our very lives. Such threats are not foreign to me. I am a child of the Holocaust, a survivor of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. I have experienced the degradation and the brutality of which he is capable, but I have also experienced the healing balm of faith, the magic of compassion and love which is the bedrock upon which our great Republic was built. Following a Holocaust memorial address to...

WHY BUSH LOVES ORTHODOX JEWS - Black Hat Trick by Noam Scheiber Post date: 09.02.04 Issue date: 09.13.04 new york, new york John Kerry may or may not know what agita is. (It's an Italian word for indigestion appropriated by American Jews of my grandparents' generation.) But Neal Turk could give it to him. Turk is the head of Beth Israel, an Orthodox Jewish congregation of some 250 families in Miami Beach. He's visiting New York this week for two reasons. First, to drop in on his son at Yeshiva University in New York City; and second, to attend a...

September 1, 2004 -- Forget the subway's stifling heat — this family's biggest problem yesterday was figuring out how to get through the turnstile. Meet the McMinns of Hempstead, Texas — population: 4,981. The farm-lovin' family took their first trip to the Big Apple this week for the GOP convention, where 55-year-old Tom is a state delegate. Yesterday, there was only one thing to say about their experience so far: Is there a translator in the house? "I've heard some people that I've thought were from other countries . . . but then you realize they're from New York," said...

WASHINGTON - The most prominent Jewish presence at the Republican National Convention that opens today is likely to be none other than the Orthodox Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, who has been chosen to open the second day of deliberations at the convention with a blessing. Rebbetzin Jungreis, a charismatic Orthodox leader, is an enthusiastic supporter of President George W. Bush and is expected to tell the audience about her childhood under Nazi rule in Europe and about the need to impose democracy on the world and to aid the oppressed, whoever they may be. The choice of Jungreis shows that the...

How can any Jew not vote for Bush after listening to this..The speekers,Sen frist, mayor bloomberg etc the repub. party platform (dems didnt mention israel)

August 2, 2004 Jewish Republicans "Stacking" Bush-Kerry Internet Poll In this edition of NJDC's News Digest: The Forward reports today, "The director of Jewish outreach for Bush-Cheney '04, Michael Lebovitz, is trying to stack an online presidential poll at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's Web site, according to an e-mail message from him that is making the rounds." At the time of this e-mail, JTA's unscientific Internet poll shows Bush/Cheney leading Kerry/Edwards by a margin of 53 percent to 38 percent, respectively. For purposes of comparison, a Gallup Organization report in May determined that "the data reviewed in this report continue...

Traditionally, American Jews have ranked among the most loyal of Democratic voters. But U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman is hoping to launch a new tradition. Coleman, a freshman Republican from Minnesota, has embraced an unusual niche in this year's presidential race. It is focused, in part, on encouraging Jewish voters to switch tickets and vote for President Bush. "I'm working on trying to energize the Jewish community," Coleman said. "I think Bush got about 19 percent of the Jewish vote in 2000, and I think he could do much better in '04." When presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., speaks...

The heads of a delegation from the Republican Jewish Coalition who visited here last week appeared very upset when we met early Wednesday morning. "Explain why your government is surrendering to terror," one of them demanded of me, adding "there has never been such sympathy for Israel on Capitol Hill and understanding of its needs. There has not been any pressure by the administration on Israel. On the contrary. During Bush's years in office it was possible to win American support for a determined fight against terror, for preventive action. Someone on your side failed big when it comes to...

President Bush’s strong pro-Israeli attitude, war on terror, and most of all his anti-Arab position may sway Jewish voters this year according to the Jewish Times. Traditionally reliable Democratic voters, Jewish voters could hold the key to several critical battleground states such as Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Arizona. "Anything that has the power to move a few hundred or a few thousand voters one way or another in any state can cause a seismic shift," according to pollster John Zogby. Marc Racicot, Chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election team, believes that Bush could gain more than the 19%...

The enduring value of a journal that rallied intellectuals against anti-Americanism The label "anti-American" is not a particularly useful term. Loaded with the baggage of the McCarthy era, using it evokes a political confrontation that most Americans would like to forget. It is a pejorative that clouds rather than clarifies policy debates. But as the United States goes to war in the face of opposition from most of the chattering classes, it is hard to escape the fact that behind much of the opposition is the notion that America, and not its foes, is the focus of evil in the...