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Why George W. Bush has earned the support of American Jewry
JERUSALEM POST ^ | Aug. 26, 2004 | MICHAEL J. WISSOT

Posted on 08/28/2004 2:16:40 PM PDT by Cincinna

Waffling and 'sensitivity' won't beat terror THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 26, 2004

Why George W. Bush has earned the support of American Jewry

Why should Jews want the re-election of George W. Bush? Let's start with the removal of Saddam Hussein, his resolve in fighting Islamic terrorists, his unequivocal support for Israel's government and people, his willingness to confront the appeasers of terror in the United Nations, and his steadfast commitment to the principle of prevention.

The case for George W. Bush is the case for a clear and consistent US foreign policy. In three and a half years, President Bush has done more for Israel than any other president in the last 50. And, unlike his opponent, he has never wavered, vacillated, or equivocated in his support.

For all practical purposes, national security and defense are among the few issues that truly fall under presidential power.

Budgets, taxes, spending programs are crafted and approved by Congress. Nor do presidents determine social policy - including such contentious issues as abortion and prayer in school. Congress makes the laws, and it is up to the Supreme Court to interpret them. A president cannot even determine the makeup of the Supreme Court. Just ask Robert Bork and all the judicial nominees rejected by the Senate over the last few decades.

In fact, about the only almost unchecked power a president does have today is in foreign policy. When it comes to national security and international relations, what a president says and what a president does is taken seriously.

So when Senator John Kerry says we have to be more "sensitive" in our efforts against those who fly planes into skyscrapers on American soil, or those who send children to blow themselves up in crowded Israeli restaurants and buses, exactly what message is he sending? Kerry's philosophy, also held by the man he first mooted as a "special Middle East adviser," Jimmy Carter, is based on "consensus-building." But how do you build consensus with people who support the destruction of our land and our people? "War is not the answer" is an easy bumper sticker to display, but it is hardly an effective foreign policy for a peaceful world in the 21st century.

When President Bush declared war on global terrorism, America's agenda became Israel's agenda, and vice versa. The words he used at this year's AIPAC conference were direct, blunt, and unwavering: "Freedom-loving people did not seek this conflict. It has come to us by the choices of violent men, hateful men... Israel longs for peace. America longs for peace. Yet there can be no peace without defending our security. There is only one path to peace and safety. America will use every resource we have to fight and defeat these enemies of freedom."

In a survey my firm conducted for the Hudson Institute, beating terrorism is the single greatest priority in America today. The president adopted Israel's approach for fighting terror - bringing the fight directly to the doorsteps of every terrorist network, no matter where their disciples may hide. And just as Israel's non-sensitive approach has reduced a flood of deaths by terror to a trickle, there has not been a successful terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11.

Now compare that language and approach with Senator Kerry's speech at the Arab American Institute National Leadership Conference last October. "I know how disheartened Palestinians are by the Israeli government's decision to build a barrier off the Green Line, cutting deeply into Palestinian areas," said Kerry. "We do not need another barrier to peace."

To be fair, Kerry did eventually recognize that the fence was a "legitimate act of self-defense." But hundreds of Israelis had been murdered before Kerry decided to parrot Palestinian propaganda. Is that what the Jewish community wants in their president - someone who flips one way and another as Israeli blood is being spilled? This type of political tiptoeing has even loyal Democrats nervous. They fear that an absence of conviction will reveal an absence of strength and leadership.

Another significant difference between the two candidates is their world view. Senator Kerry has argued that US policy needs to be more attentive to and respectful of the Europe Union and the United Nations, the same bodies who turn a blind eye to global anti-Semitism and terrorism.

It should not be surprising what happens when Kerry's world view is applied to the Middle East. In his 1997 book The New War, Senator Kerry wrote, "Terrorist organizations with specific political agendas may be encouraged and emboldened by Yasser Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman." What a warm, gracious tribute to a despot who bankrupted his own people, broke every commitment made at Oslo, supplied illegal arms and funding to terrorist organizations, and has allowed subordinates to rain down incessant violence on innocent Israelis.

You will not hear President Bush echo such sweet language about Yasser Arafat. Sure, his words are often simple and his world vision relatively black and white - but that's a value Jews should appreciate. In the war against terror, moral clarity is an asset, not a liability. The Bush approach is founded on a very simple principle: The best way to pursue peace is to maintain strength.

Not since the Yom Kippur War has an American president mattered more to the safety and survival of the Jewish state.

President Bush's support for Israel, and the greater war on terror, is not a stand-alone issue. It defines his entire agenda, domestic and foreign. Terrorism has already adversely affected jobs, taxes, and other important domestic concerns. Staying the course in these troubled times will indeed test who we are as a nation and as a people. The fact is, we cannot have economic or personal security without national and homeland security.

George W. Bush gets it. With unequivocal opposition to Palestinian terrorism, his public declaration that some areas of Jerusalem and the West Bank must remain under Israeli control, the public rejection of the Palestinian "right of return" claims, and the elimination of one of the great sources of evil in the Middle East, this president has earned the support of the Jewish community.

The writer, a vice-president at Luntz Research Companies and an adjunct professor of communications at Pepperdine University, was the Southern California director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bush; israel; jewishvote; jewry; judaism; terrorism
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To: bert

I know. The blindness on the Left amazes me.


21 posted on 08/28/2004 2:53:48 PM PDT by annyokie (Now with 20% More Infidel!)
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To: dc-zoo
Bush does not ultimately support Israel for the votes it'll garner him.

Being responsibly human at his - and at EVERY individual level - is part of the key to God's investment in us.

I believe he believes this too.

22 posted on 08/28/2004 2:55:05 PM PDT by onedoug
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: dc-zoo

It was difficult to understand the support that the Arafat-kissing Clintons got from Jews. That has to take some major disconnect --- like all democrats who worship the Kennedys but support Arafat who killed RFK and those diplomats.


24 posted on 08/28/2004 3:00:59 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: SBprone
I know there are some tough Jews in this world but I think most of them are in Israel.

Or Dead


25 posted on 08/28/2004 3:02:02 PM PDT by wardaddy
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To: jbwbubba

I've seen something I never saw before --- on a bumper of a car -- a Star of David next to a Vote Bush sticker.


26 posted on 08/28/2004 3:02:30 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: Cincinna

Just a guess...

Since the Conservative Christians find their home (for the most part) with the Republican Party, perhaps the Jewish people are a little reluctant to be thought of as hand-in-hand with them. Perhaps many of them, without even realizing it, shy away from Conservative Christians.

Perhaps they don't realize how much they are loved by most Christians!


27 posted on 08/28/2004 3:03:05 PM PDT by JudyinCanada
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To: Cincinna
Is that what the Jewish community wants in their president - someone who flips one way and another as Israeli blood is being spilled?

bump

28 posted on 08/28/2004 3:05:47 PM PDT by tuesday afternoon (Everything happens for a reason. - 40 and 43)
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To: jbwbubba

I can't believe that American Jews will buy into Kerry's dangerous approach to foreign policy. Not only does he plan to sell the US down the river to the band of murderous thugs at the UN, Israel's the next item on the block.


29 posted on 08/28/2004 3:08:47 PM PDT by hershey
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To: Cincinna

If the GOP wants to get a lot of the Jewish vote, it has to do better attracting it. It has done a terrible job doing it. They should have people speaking at synagogues, going to synagogues, going to Jewish communities, etc. The Democrats do more of that, and it is therefore that a bulk of the Jews (at least undecided, or who have been brainwashed just to vote with the D), who don't know that much about who is running, vote Democrat.


30 posted on 08/28/2004 3:09:28 PM PDT by yonif ("So perish all Thine enemies, O the Lord" - Judges 5:31)
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To: FITZ

Recently on a car bumper I saw the following three bumper-stickers: 1) the name of a Jewish elementary school 2) "Go Air Force" 3) the call-letters and number of the local Country Music station.


31 posted on 08/28/2004 3:50:56 PM PDT by Montaignes Cat
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To: Cincinna
As a Jew, it always astounded me that the Jews mostly voted for liberal Democrats. This was foolish on several levels but there it was. It pervaded my own family and I was almost an outcast in 1964 when I pushed for Barry Goldwater.

It would be the heart of irony if the first time the Jews left the Democratic fold, they went for a tyrant like Bush. I would be deeply embarrassed for them.

Just a side note: There are more than a few Jews among Libertarians, far more than their part in the overall population. This is a sign that long term thinking is not an altogether lost art to Jews.

32 posted on 08/28/2004 3:58:35 PM PDT by Mike4Freedom (Freedom is the one thing that you cannot have unless you grant it to everyone else.)
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To: FITZ

I agree with your premise. Jewish people have a strange misguided sense of loyalty.


33 posted on 08/28/2004 5:34:22 PM PDT by dc-zoo
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To: Cincinna
Why should Jews want the re-election of George W. Bush? Let's start with the removal of Saddam Hussein, his resolve in fighting Islamic terrorists, his unequivocal support for Israel's government and people, his willingness to confront the appeasers of terror in the United Nations, and his steadfast commitment to the principle of prevention.

The case for George W. Bush is the case for a clear and consistent US foreign policy. In three and a half years, President Bush has done more for Israel than any other president in the last 50. And, unlike his opponent, he has never wavered, vacillated, or equivocated in his support.
After the election, the US needs to build a border-length fence with Mexico, along with an electronic frontier security barrier behind it, and another fence behind that. We'll say we're working on the infiltration of the jaguar population.
George W. Bush will win reelection by a margin of at least ten per cent.

34 posted on 08/28/2004 5:42:08 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
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To: dc-zoo

Hey...it's 10% more than 2000. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised


35 posted on 08/28/2004 6:49:54 PM PDT by Cincinna (GREETINGS from the home of the REPUBLICAN CONVENTION)
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To: gcruse


Whither the Jewish vote?

15 posted on 08/28/2004 5:39:14 PM EDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)

Click on the link above to get actual numbers and stats.
Whither the Jewish Vote?
The last Republican candidate for President to carry it was Warren G. Harding in 1920. George Bush, running for re-election against Bill Clinton, received only 11% of the Jewish vote compared to almost 35% four years earlier.

"The long view is that Jews in America have voted overwhelmingly Democratic since the New Deal," Mr. Harris said. "And every two years and every four years, Republicans say this is the election where it's going to turn around ... but there will be nothing [in 2004] that won't be what has happened every election in the last 70 years."

American Jews already have a track record of not rewarding pro-Israel pols at the polls, if those candidates dare to be conservative. During Ronald Reagan's presidency, a Jewish exodus from the Democratic to the Republican party seemed imminent. After all, Reagan was enthusiastically pro-Israel. Moreover, the social ABC's - affirmative action, busing, and crime - divided Jews and liberals. Nevertheless, Reagan's percentage of the Jewish vote actually dropped, from 46% against Jimmy Carter in 1980 to 35% against Walter Mondale four years later.

Average percentage of the Jewish vote won by the Democratic presidential candidate in the 1980s: 59 [Voter News Service (Brooklyn)] Average percentage since then: 79.

Of course, polls guarantee nothing for the Republican Party, but these trends are not “perceived;” they are concrete indicators that a shift among Jews is taking place

Exit polls show that younger Jewish voters are increasingly abandoning the Democratic party. Generally, the older the voter, the better Gore did. An exit poll, conducted by Zogby International, showed that younger voters aged 18 to 29 chose Bush over Gore 59.3% to 40.7%. Gore received 95% of Jewish voters over 65 years old and 82.4% of those 30 to 49


36 posted on 08/28/2004 6:55:16 PM PDT by Cincinna (GREETINGS from the home of the REPUBLICAN CONVENTION)
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To: hershey

This may be just anecdotal evidence, but I have noticed a change this election cycle.
I live in NYC and have many Jewish friends and neighbors who are supporting Bush.
My dentist, in his late fifties,who says he is still a liberal, says there are some things that are more important. He, his parents,his wife and children, all voting for Bush. Same with my Reform Jewish neighbors.
Taking anyone group's vote for granted is arrogant and stupid. I believe things will change.


37 posted on 08/28/2004 7:03:53 PM PDT by Cincinna (GREETINGS from the home of the REPUBLICAN CONVENTION)
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To: Cincinna

After the convention and coming events that may be a reality.


38 posted on 08/28/2004 7:19:46 PM PDT by dc-zoo
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