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Agreed if McCain can pounce on Obama harder and harder on the issue of Israel and Obama’s Anti-Israeli picks whom he had to fire to still keep the Jewish votes, it might go up. 32% is actually bigger than the Jewish vote for President Bush. However the last time that Jews voted overwhelmingly for a Republican was Dwight David Eisenhower which I read somewhere on here.

I am, however, alone from that forefront. I think that a part of this drive to vote for Democrats is because Jews usually live in very Liberal areas, they are mostly Liberal religiously, think that the Democrats are the Party of FDR and Truman on foreign policy, and were victims(like many groups were) all the way back then. I am Jewish but I am not a Democrat. I also personally believe that the first ethnic minority to leave the Democrats should be the Jewish people. But then it seems like everybody is cozy in lockstep.

Possibly also a biggest reason why my Jewish Aunt and Uncle will not vote for a Republican is because of a fear that they will be converted to Christianity by people like President Bush. There is nothing more powerful than irrational fear.

By way of full disclosure, I am an unalloyed goy so I might be wading into waters which are much deeper than I know as I make the following generalizations:

There is a scriptural commandment in the Torah and in those writings which exegete it, to go forth not to proselytize but to do good. As conservatives, we recognize there is a human tendency to want to do more good by grabbing the levers of government to organize the whole of society to do even more good.

If one is secular, and I think these statistics embrace secular Jews to a far greater degree than observant Jews, the temptation is almost irresistible to play God. If one is to play God, by definition, one seeks to play in the biggest playground of all and that is offered up along with control of the levers of government. Hence, Jewish secularists, like Christian secularists, as a group tend to be statists.

Jewish tradition going back to Russia is a tradition of socialism. For example, that tradition was carried over into the kibbutzim in Israel.

Jewish culture puts a premium on education and traditionally makes the fool the butt of jokes. This is been especially harmful to George Bush. In the modern American secular Jewish culture to announce oneself to be a Republican is the practical equivalent of taking a pratfall in front of all your neighbors and friends at the country club. Can you imagine a Jewish intellectual at a prestigious American University confessing to one and all that he supports George Bush?as a kid I can recall being told how stupid Dwight Eisenhower was and every subsequent Republican president in my lifetime has been called either stupid or clumsy or both -except Nixon.

Liberalism is a substitute religion and therefore secular Jews, like secular goyim, gravitate to that political persuasion. Liberalism as a religion trumps religious affiliation of non- observant Jews and trumps cultural affinity to Jews who might otherwise be sympathetic to Israel.

Because of Europe's unfortunate history of programs, Jews traditionally are wary of aggressive Christianity and many secular Jews have not yet come to the understanding that American fundamentalist Christians are great friends of Israel and hence of Jews in general. There are other issues which Jewish history make Jews as a group favor one side as a matter of self-preservation. These include, for example, immigration. And they also include the end to segregation and civil rights for all races and creeds.

Barak Obama, of course, is the beau ideal of the black man, well-educated and articulate, who is on the right side of all of these issues and who embodies in his own person the inclusiveness which, if universally practiced, protects Jews as a class.

“I am Jewish but I am not a Democrat”

I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. My Jewish family and I have never been Democrats. We discuss politics and world affairs all the time. One of our endless discussions is how to slap up the American Jewish collective upside the head and get them to actually see what they are supporting. Oy, it gives me a headache. For so-called intellectuals many American Jews sure are stupid and short sided. While Israel celebrates her 60th birthday, they support a candidate who is supported by people who are planning her funeral.

...the last time that Jews voted overwhelmingly for a Republican [for President] was Dwight David Eisenhower.

Not quite. Eisenhower did relatively well for a Republican with Jewish voters (he was associated with victory in WWII and liberation of the Nazi concentration camps), but he fell far short of obtaining a majority among Jews. Actually, the last time that Jews voted for a Republican was for Warren Harding in 1920.

Before the influx and assimilation of large numbers of eastern European Jews into to the US - from whom the majority of today's American Jews are descended - Jews regularly did vote predominantly Republican from the Civil War to the early twentieth century. Abraham Lincoln and his legend were once honored in the American Jewish community, but Lincoln was subsequently replaced in that role by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“if McCain can pounce on Obama harder and harder on the issue of Israel and Obama’s Anti-Israeli picks whom he had to fire to still keep the Jewish votes, it might go up.”

Probably NOT, none of the other red flags have mattered thus far. BHO just gives more lip service to Israel, and regarding those anti-semitic picks he fired, he would only point to that as further evidence of just how pro-Israel he is, after all. Because, of course, “he had NO idea of their intolerable views when they were hired”. I’m tellin’ ya, he’s the ultimate spinmeister on absolutely everything thrown at him (putting Slick Willie to shame). Almost seems as if he’s made a deal with the devil.........

“they are mostly Liberal religiously, think that the Democrats are the Party of FDR and Truman on foreign policy, and were victims(like many groups were) all the way back then. I am Jewish but I am not a Democrat.”

Merta - first of all, bless you for your wisdom, and courage to speak out against such an apparent tide!! The tragedy is that they are so clueless on how very, VERY far left their party has strayed - if Truman and JFK were around today, they’d be considered Conservatives!! At least on foreign policy - most importantly. (sorry, can’t even include FDR in that comparison) :-)

“they are mostly Liberal religiously”,

I’m a little confused about this one. I was raised Presbyterian, which is generally considered “liberal” religiously. HOWEVER, if faced with a threat whose dangerous mission is to erase not only Christianity (and Judaism), but ALL other world faiths, suddenly “liberal” goes out the window.

As I said in an earlier post, Americans appear to be the only ones with the (heretofore) luxury to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to a history that may soon be repeated...only in spades this time. (before anyone calls me on this, no pun intended, honestly)