Posted on 07/20/2004 7:23:03 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
South Florida's Jewish retirees may not live to see the day the country elects its first Jewish president, but they could settle for the next best thing: a president with a Jewish brother.
Presidential candidate John Kerry's younger brother, Cameron Kerry, brought that message to town Monday when he campaigned as a Jewish convert in Palm Beach County Democratic Jewish strongholds west of Boca Raton and in Boynton Beach.
It was the first time that many of the politically active retirees in Century Village and Westchester Country Club had heard about Cameron Kerry's unorthodox credentials.
Reared Catholic like his older brother John, Cameron became Chaim ben Abraham Avinu when he converted to Reform Judaism in 1983, the year he married a Jewish woman.
"The family was at ease with it," Cameron Kerry said of his conversion after his public appearance.
Cameron Kerry, 53, is not as tall or craggy as 60-year-old John Kerry.
His morning speech to some 150 people and afternoon speech to 550 people were nearly identical, hitting the standard themes of John Kerry's character and experience.
Monday's campaign stops in South Florida are part of the Kerry campaign's Jewish strategy that dispatched Cameron Kerry on his first trip to Israel last week to meet with officials and shore up support there.
Cameron Kerry, an adviser to his brother and a lawyer in Boston, played to a receptive audience, touting the presidential candidate's unstinting support for Israel and admiration of all things Jewish.
Ultimately, though, many retirees were more united in their dislike for the current president than in their awe for Cameron Kerry's adopted Yiddishkeit.
"Religion, color -- it makes no difference to me," said Ira Kaufman, a Century Village resident.
Added Lois King, another Century Villager: "As long as he's a good guy, I don't care what he is."
Is John Zogby and CAIR aware of this???
John Zogby or CAIR? What about bin Laden? Is this enough to rescind his endorsement?
From dissenting Catholic to Reform Judaism. Lukewarm to lukewarm.
Smart money says he's really a drunken hillbilly per the Democrat Brother M.O.
Citing Kerry's brother converting to Judaism as Kerry's Jewish connection is comparable to saying "some of his best friends are Jews", and just as hollow an indicator of John Kerry's actual behavior. In the 10 most closely decided Senate votes important to Israel during his career, Kerry voted pro-Israel on only six (source:Jewish Virtual Library). Hardly a stalwart supporter. Jack Rosen, Democrat and president of the American Jewish Congress, questions "Would he support Israel as aggressively as the President, with the same guts?". While we all might prefer that France and Germany put the principle of defeating threats to Israel or Mideast peace or world security on a plane as high as their billions of illicit profits from Saddam's stealing from the UN's Oil-for-Food program, Kerry's assertions that he would consult more with them promises little better results, and insults the thirty other allies contributing forces in Iraq. Kowtowing to the UN's anti-Israel programs and leaders by Kerry is not a program for US or Israeli security, just witness the stacked International Court of Justice members from actively anti-Israel nations ignoring the many security walls in other countries to say that Israel has no such right of self-protection. Compared to Kerry's repeated votes to eliminate intelligence and defense funding, for whatever that contributed to the building crises Bush has had to face down, the choice should be Bush. No one likes being in Iraq, but a process has begun of shaking the Mideast satraps out of their insular and hostile ways, to confront the extremist Islamism within, which may finally lead to enough sanity for Israel to live in greater peace and security, as well as America.
I find it astonishing that we have a lawyer who apparently broke into another campaign headquarters and was arrested lecturing others on the "integrity" of his brother who is nothing more than a lying weasel, but of course, those deaf people in southern regions of Florida probably think he's Elie Weisel.
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