Posted on 02/13/2007 10:00:19 PM PST by Mount Athos
It is no secret that Jews in America have historically not favored the Republican Party. Several polls estimated that only 25 percent of Jews voted for Bush in 2004. Although disputed for of its small sample size, the National Jewish Democratic Council's 2006 poll showed only 12 percent of Jews voted for the GOP. The Jewish Community Relations Council estimated that Bush got just 19 percent of the Jewish vote in 2000.
Commentators in the Jewish community and party pollsters debate endlessly why Jews are not more favorably disposed toward the GOP. Jews are wealthier and more educated than the average American, generally oppose affirmative action and favor strong support of Israel. On these counts the GOP should, many say, have greater appeal.
Is it because Jews have an historical affinity for FDR and the party of immigrants and the "little guy"? Is it because of Jews' religious devotion to "tikkun olam" — repair of the world — which they translate to support for governmental social services? Maybe some of each but perhaps something else is at work
The dustup over the location of Mitt Romney's presidential announcement — the Henry Ford Museum — may be revealing. For Jews over the age of 40 or so, the name Ford means more than Mustangs and American innovation. Ford, of course, was a notorious anti-Semite, publisher of the International Jew (an update of the Protocols of Zion), and an apologist for Hitler who received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Hitler's Nazi government in July 1938. In many Jewish homes, owning a Ford was verboten.
He was no cultural icon.
Fast forward to today. As soon as Romney announced that he would make his presidential announcement at the Ford Museum, the accusations and statements started to fly. The National Jewish Democratic Council came out first, chastising Romney for making a pilgrimage to the site of this famous anti-Semite. Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks fired back in a press release today, saying, "I'm saddened and disappointed by the attack today by the NJDC against Gov. Romney."
Pointing out that former President Clinton had once said nice things about Ford, the RJC said that "The RJC believes that the NJDC does a disservice to Gov. Romney's strong record of support for the Jewish community and to their own reputation by their actions."
The NJDC responded, ""Presidential campaign announcements are as much about symbolism of the location as the substance of the speech. Mitt Romney went to a museum named after the most premier anti-Semite and xenophobe in American history. But his choice of location suggests that he should do his homework on basic American history."
It is doubtful either of these groups believe Romney is really an anti-Semite. Democratic consultant Dan Gerstein perhaps said it best: "I don't think Romney is guilty of anything other than obliviousness.
But you could argue that obliviousness is indicative of a broader problem with the social conservatives Romney is trying to court, which is a lack of sensitivity to the concerns many Jews have about their place in American society."
Indeed, the incident may say something not only about Romney but about the GOP's problem with Jews. In his boatload of advisers, Romney apparently did not have anyone to say, "You know, a lot of Jews really hate Ford, and it might mess up your message. Let's try Edison's lab to make a point about American innovation."
The GOP has become a rural, overwhelmingly Christian and Southern party. It is not populated by urban ethnics who, even if they aren't Jewish, understand Jews' cultural references and sensibilities. Ask an Italian New Yorker in October why the restaurants are empty, and he'll say "It's Yom Kippur, silly." You would never catch a Greek from Chicago saying, as a Republican from southern Virginia just did, that asking the state to apologize for slavery was like "asking the Jews to apologize for killing Christ."
In short, the Republicans are not just our kind of people, many Jews say. They don't sound like us, they don't talk like us and they don't understand us. Unless and until that changes, Jews likely will likely be voting overwhelmingly Democratic for years to come.
LOL. Whom are you identifying with?
You are not trying to understand voting patterns; you are throwing your hands in the air with classic dismissiveness. Blacks have been voting Democrat long before Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. It's been since 1932.
Your distinction between an argument and a "point of fact" is a distinction without a difference: you are saying that somehow, blacks should now vote Republican because in generations past, southern Democrats -- who now barely exist at the federal level -- were anti-black. No such conclusion should reasonably be drawn; therefore your point of fact, though true, is irrelevant.
If you want an actual answer, rather than to rest smugly assured that blacks have no good reason for voting as they tend to do, it's due to the northern Democrats' general support for the welfare state and civil rights since the FDR era. Your job -- our job -- is to make the case that the welfare state (which I use in the academic rather than pejorative sense) has not served black interests and it's time to start looking at other factors when voting.
That statistic doesn't make sense because it leaves no room for any category in between rural and urban. What about suburban? Even exurban? Gotta do better than that.
So by "we'd" I am talking about Jews, Hebrews, members of the Tribes, Americans of Israelite descent who follow the rites of the Southern Mosaic tradition, .....
So being a member of the "Tribe" trumps political ideology. I gather you would like to see more Jewish congressmen even if they are liberals.
I was responding to the statement that, "Most urban-dwellers vote Democrat." I guess the person who made that claim must define what he meant.
From my perspective, a slight change. I would gladly see all of them save Cantor replaced by a conservative.
I'm criticizing the Jewish Democratic organization for even making an issue over this for cheap political gain. The fact that Henry Ford ran for high office as a Democrat and that he never identified (to the best of my knowledge) as a Republican certainly throws the Jewish Democrats' argument back in their collective faces. Bringing up Henry Ford brings up a history of antisemitism within Democratic ranks, but does not taint the GOP, neither historically nor with respect to Gov. Romney.
Perhaps some Jews are suspicious of Christians who support Israel due to the fact that this support is often in the evangelical context of Jesus returning and converting the Jews. There are branches of Christianity that devalue the Old Testament. I do think that Jews and Christians often have simplistic views of each other and this is to some extent unavoidable human nature being what it is. I don't presume to speak for anyone and I'm not really blaming anyone or presenting myself as some sort of objective expert. These are just my observations over the years.
It is funny how some people (Christian and Jews) who decry others who mix religion and politics often do the same thing themselves.
I was raised to think that a working party system was the safest for humanity and human rights. I have been told by family that knew my father before the war that he didn't have the same beliefs until his unit liberated Dachau.
It was like the shock of the whole awful ordeal fried a few wires in his psyche when it comes to politics. My brother still follows my father's political beliefs and probably will until the day he dies.
Be wary of any party that proclaims to be "for the people." The Nazis claimed to be for the German Volk and the Soviet communists claimed to represent the oppressed "proletariat." Both sponsored mass murder within their borders and outside.
I am very leery of them. I was raised a socialist Democrat but broke away. My brother on the other hand doesn't have a political thought of his own. He depends on the union to think for him.
Republicans also allowed women to vote under Theodore Roosevelt as well as conserved thousands of acres of forest for the National Parks. Problem is, nobody knows these facts about Republicans because liberals at the very least omit these facts from history books. Many Jews and secularists have a dim view of Christians. I don't think Christians may ever live down the Salem witch trials which of course involved one city and a limited number of unfortunate victims. Many liberals only focus on the negative about Republicans and their GOP allies. Funny, if this is our only shot at existence then you would think liberals would believe in redemeption in this life but I guess they are not that forgiving and they certainly over generalize.
I've been thinking about this, and, having been there myself, I think I can say that radicalism is a 19th century tradition among enlightenment Jews, mostly in response to oppression in central and eastern Europe.
Baby boom radicals joined the Democratic party in 1968 and 1972, and in 1980 a lot of Jews, myself included, believed all the propoganda about the religious right, equating them with the ultimate bogeyman - Nazis,
In the 1960's, the left turned against the Vietnam war, a war started by leftist Presidents, and when Nixon was elected in 1968, the left turned against the America that nominated Humphrey, and elected Nixon.
Because of this radical tradition among enlightenment Jews, and the slandering of the religious right, modern Conservative and Reformed Jews can be found in disproportionate number in that America-hating left, which is now the base of the Democratic party.
I am 57 years old and I remember a lot of this.
Check out lewrockwell.com and antiwar.com, libertarian Web sites that claim affinity with the pre-World War II isolationist movement. America, Britain, and Israel are invariably the bad guys, just as Britain and France were to the isolationists 70 years ago. You will find a similar story at the conspiracist and white supremacist Web sites. Some things don't change.
Frank Meyer and Frank Chodorov, who co-fouding Fusionist Conservatism with Buckley, became Catholic largely due to Buckley's influence.
The post-World War II conservative movement was largely led by Catholics, including William Buckley, Russell Kirk (a convert, I think), James Burnham (a cradle Catholic who returned to his childhood religion in his old age), Brent Bozell, and, as you point out, Chodorov and Meyer.
Ralph De Toledano, the only Sephardic Jew of the group just passed away on February 3rd.
Sadly, the first wave of American conservatives is fading away. Milton Friedman died recently. William Buckley is 80, and William Rusher is in his early 80s.
Any Rabbi or any other religious minister that stands up and spews his personal politics during services should be told to stick to religion. All of us need to speak up. Being silent will get us destroyed. Read history everyone.
I'm a conservative Republican Jew and I spent 8+ years working in local, state, and federal politics with hundreds of Christian GOP friends. I can assure you that American Jews do not hate the Christian GOP. That's a myth put out there by Liberals and the MSM.
The leadership of the GOP should take their fair share of credit for not educating Liberal Jews on how deceptive Democrats are. A perfect example is Queen Hillary sucking up to Arafat's wife and making anti-Semitic comments behind closed doors. The Democrat Party uses Jews money and sucks up their votes, while behind closed doors, they revile them. The same goes for the black vote.
The GOP likes to play nice and that loses elections. All Liberals fear is exposure, exposure, exposure. It's up to the GOP leadership to expose Liberals for what they are. Then you will see some enlightenment of the people.
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