Free Republic

Washington, D.C. (February 12, 2008) -- The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) announced today the launch of its new national advertising campaign. The series of ads entitled "I Used to be a Democrat" tell the true-life, political journeys of former Jewish Democrats. While the circumstances may vary, one common theme persists among them: Each is now a Jewish Republican. In one ad, Glenn M. Taubman of Annandale, VA says: "I don't agree with the Republicans on every issue, but the Democratic Party just doesn't represent me anymore. In another, Stephen Rosenbach of Arnold, MD says: "I couldn't stay in the party...

The little known story of a Revolutionary-era manifesto linking American Jews with the ideals of democratic government, individual liberty and toleration POLLSTERS report that Americans are tired of political campaigns rife with smear tactics and attack ads. They long for candidates to focus on issues rather than personalities, to debate substance rather than mount character assassinations. This preference for polite campaigning is relatively new to American politics and reflects a desire for civility in public life unknown in previous eras. In the early Republic, for example, the first two political parties, Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans routinely and falsely charged one...

Republican Jewish group wants Obama adviser cannedBy Sam Youngman Posted: 03/25/08 03:41 PM [ET] The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) called on Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) Tuesday to remove military adviser and national campaign co-chairman Gen. Tony McPeak from his team, citing past statements McPeak has made about the Middle East that the RJC finds troubling. Matt Brooks, executive director of the RJC, said in a statement that in keeping McPeak as a surrogate and campaign spokesman, “serious questions and doubts are once again being raised about Sen. Obama’s positions and judgment on Middle East issues.” In its statement, the RJC...

Republican Jews assailed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for saying he wanted a summit of the United States and Muslim nations. Obama, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said in a recent interview with Paris Match magazine that he wanted such a summit to start "honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows between Muslims and the West." That prompted the Republican Jewish Coalition to say in a statement it was "deeply troubled by Senator Obama's desire to 'hold a summit in the Muslim world, with all heads of state' -- many of whom have yet to...

 Ron Paul's Jewish Problem Daniel Sieradski, November 9, 2007 Ron Paul has a Jewish problem. Last month, the dark horse Republican candidate was barred from the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Candidate’s Forum due to his stance against providing further foreign aid to Israel. Typical of his view, at an event on September 11 of this year at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, Paul argued for withdrawing from the Middle East, telling his audience that “Israel is quite capable of taking care of itself” — though interestingly adding that US policy has “hurt Israel tremendously.” Paul also downplayed the...

Rudy Giuliani has never been shy about saying he is the only Republican who can beat Hillary Clinton. And lately he has been cranking up the volume on his pragmatic plea for the nomination, saying he is the only one who can scramble the Electoral College in the G.O.P.'s favor. Speaking to a group of Jewish Republicans on October 16, Giuliani made the case that he alone could put states in play that Democrats have long taken for granted. "We need a candidate that, you know, the day after the nomination, we don't close down our offices in 20 or...

This year, I've decided to do something about bigotry, starting with my own. I want to examine and root out some of the most deep-seated of my personal prejudices. This week, for example, I am resolved to take a look at the irrational queaze I feel when I consider the idea of Jews voting Republican. As oppressed minorities go, the Republican Jew may appear to be anything but downtrodden. The stereotype, that of the upwardly mobilized breathing the rarified air of the American Dream, was already in place in the early 1960s, when satirist Allen Sherman set the tune of...

Georgia state representative from the Atlanta has switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party, bolstering the wide GOP majority in the state House of Representatives. "My strong belief in fiscal responsibility and restraint... is not a good fit within the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives," Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Atlanta, wrote in an entry on his blog Tuesday morning. Rep. Jacobs' move to the Republican Party increases the GOP House majority to 107, and reduces the Democratic minority to 73 members. House Democrats criticized the move as opportunistic.

Jewish Community Challenged to Examine Changing Party The Republican Jewish Coalition today released the latest advertisement in its national advertising campaign targeted to the Jewish community. The ad depicts former President Jimmy Carter, along with quotes from his recent interview with Der Spiegel magazine [August 15, 2006]: "I don't think that Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon." And, "I represent the vast majority of Democrats." The ad also highlights a recent Wall Street Jounal/NBC poll in which 84% of Republicans said they sympathize more with Israel than with the...

Reply to Mark Blum's "Ain't No "Jew" in G.O.P." "Ain't No "Jew" in G.O.P." states, "Nothing a Jew believes in; socially, politically, morally, or economically is consistent with the Bush Administration and current Republican doctrine." While Bush might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, his primary loyalty is to the United States which is more than I can say for Kerry, Clinton, and the people they surround themselves with. It's the Democratic Party's own fault that it lost the 2004 election. If it had put up a decent human being with a body temperature of roughly 98.6 degrees...

When Studio City entertainment lawyer Susan Rabin told her daughter that she planned to attend a convention of Jewish Republicans, her liberal offspring told her to have fun with "the other Jewish Republican." Little did she know... Some 150 energetic, enthusiastic and mostly middle-age men and women gathered recently at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Newport Beach for the first Republican Jewish Coalition All-California Conference. Hailing from the state's nine RJC chapters, they networked, knoshed and heard from Orange County Congressman Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), radio talk-show host Michael Medved and Dr. Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Knesset chairman of the Foreign Affairs...

As the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting prepared to announce his successor as chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson defended his tenure on Thursday, saying he had no regrets in trying "aggressively" to balance what he said was overly liberal programming in public television and radio. Board members, who plan to meet Monday in Washington, said this week that the leading candidate to become the corporation's next chairwoman was Cheryl F. Halpern, a Republican fund-raiser and former chairwoman of the Republican Jewish Coalition. SNIP Mr. Tomlinson has come under heavy criticism from Senate Democrats, who say he has injected politics...

Anticipating Hurricane Rita (still in the Gulf of Mexico, but a Category 5 'cane with winds at 165 MPH), President Bush declared a state of emergency for Texas and Louisiana, mobilizing federal assistance. He spoke at the Republican Jewish Coalitions Anniversary Luncheon in Washington, and also met with R and D Senate leaders to discuss the upcoming O'Connor USSC vacancy (as he did before nominating Judge Roberts). Bush met with the speaker of Iraq's Transitional National Assembly, Hajim al-Hassani, in the Oval Office. Welcome to Sanity Island!

Pity Larry Lowenthal. His job as executive director of the Boston branch of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) includes finding and training leaders from among the 700,000 Russian Jews who have immigrated to the U.S. in the last 30 years. Mr. Lowenthal has fared well: Today there are Russians helping to guide a number of major Jewish organizations, like the one called Boston for Israel. But now these immigrants turn out to be … oh no! Republicans! To judge by his public statements and writings, Mr. Lowenthal's idea of a faithful Jew is someone who opposes the nomination of Judge...

The public policy committee of Conservative Judaism's synagogue union is backing John Roberts for the U.S. Supreme Court, sending a letter to all senators saying "he is qualified to serve" on the basis of criteria "derived from Jewish tradition." It was the first time the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism , with more than 700 member congregations, has taken a stand on a Supreme Court nominee. Monday's letter said some Conservative Jews might not concur, but the decision by the public policy committee "reflects the position of the United Synagogue." The committee said Roberts fits criteria it set before he...

On a sweltering June afternoon, Eric Cantor was making his way on foot through Pouncey Tract Park in Henrico County and the track at Short Pump Middle School. And not a bead of sweat appeared on his forehead or the back of his oxford cloth shirt. Perhaps that is appropriate for a man who, on a regular basis, finds himself in the company of the president of the United States, discussing the issues of the day. "It never ceases to amaze me that I'm in those meetings," Cantor said. "Sometimes, they are very intimate, not a lot of people are...

ProfileGeorge Soros’s Right-Wing TwinMultibillionaire commodities king Bruce Kovner is the patron saint of the neoconservatives, the new Lincoln Center’s crucial Medici, owner of a vast Fifth Avenue mansion—and the most powerful New Yorker you’ve never heard of. By Philip Weiss (Photo credit: Courtesy of Bruce Kovner) After the opening-night performance of Tosca at the Met this spring, a handful of people found their way through a side door of the hall to the narrow corridor that leads backstage. One or two held flowers; a couple were in eveningwear. They were headed for the dressing rooms to congratulate soprano Maria...

Leading Jewish Republicans are rejecting Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean's characterization of the G-O-P as "pretty much a white, Christian party." On "Fox and Friends," Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman said that would surprise "a lot of folks who attended my Bar Mitzvah." Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, who's Jewish, calls Dean's remark "hateful" and dismissive of "tens of thousands of Republican Jews across America." Some prominent Democrats have distanced themselves from Dean's comments. But on N-B-C's "Today" show, Dean defended his characterization of the Republican Party, insisting that the G-O-P has "the agenda of the conservative Christians."

Quite a claim in that title, isn't it? Anyone who is interested in voting trends and tendencies in the United States electorate is well aware that Jewish Americans usually vote far more often for the Democratic candidate in our presidential elections than they do the Republican. However, a recent survey on Jewish voters in the 2004 election relayed the startling fact that half of American Jews who attend Temple regularly voted for George W. Bush. This is survey was not made by a Republican either, by the way. The man reporting this finding is Democratic candidate John Kerry's pollster, Mark...

GOP Jewish Group Critizes Byrd's Remarks Email this Story Mar 2, 8:45 PM (ET) By ALAN FRAM WASHINGTON (AP) - A pair of Jewish groups accused Sen. Robert Byrd on Wednesday of making an outrageous and reprehensible comparison between Adolf Hitler's Nazis and a Senate GOP plan to block Democrats from filibustering. A GOP senator called for Byrd to retract his remarks. 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....