I believe Sarah did hurt the Jewish vote. (note: I am not Jewish, so just take this has my opinion and nothing else.)
Jews have been persecuted by Christians for centuries, and have a deep seated fear of anyone that claims a strong Christian faith. There are two flavors of Christianity today as far as Jews should be concered. One they should be afraid of, and the other they shouldn’t.
Those that believe in “replacement theology” (basicly Israel has been replaced by the Chrisitan church), which constitutes the majorty of Christian denominations, can be very hostile towards Jews, and I can’t blame Jews for being afraid of them.
Evangelicals/fundamentalist/literalist on the other hand (who take the statment that God blesses those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel, and beleive that God’s promises to Israel still hold today) are not a threat to either Jews or Israel. They are in fact Israe’s (and Jews) strongest supporters.
Palin is clearly out of the evangelical camp.
The irony is that most Jews, get it backwards. They fear evangelicals the most and more liberal Christian denominations (which tend to adhere to replacement theology) the least.
I don’t blame Jews for being afraid of Christians, but it would do both sides good to do a better job of explaining which Christians are their friends and which aren’t.
It's not that they fear evangelicals. It's that they despise them for the same reason that secular humanists despise evangelicals. Namely, evangelicals tell them they are going to go to Hell if they don't accept Jesus.
Antipathy towards evangelicals is a growth emotion in America. I even noticed a lot of it directed against Mike Huckabee from non-religious conservatives in this very forum during the primaries.
A Jewish child from a very early age is taught about how special they are in God’s view of the world’s peoples (orthodox or otherwise). This leads them to be over achievers and such. Not that there isn’t true talent there but extreme effort is the norm.
With the majority of American academia, media and entertainment being decidedly liberal it would be easy to see why so many American Jews associate themselves with the left.
Explanation for a 6 year old; they want to be cool, hip, in-the-know and they have been literally taught that liberalism and Democratic theology equals intelligence or progressiveness.
Until the Right gets more involved in the educational, entertainment and news institutions in this country we will never truly have the American Jewish vote
Being in the evangelical camp myself, I’m for a free Israel forever.
Just my 2 Lincolns,
jc