I agree, the vote is mostly irrelevant. But the campaign against Palin the Jewish community could launch is not. I do think future attacks have been made difficult because the Kos kids, Letterman and the snot media went overboard. When I hear someone attack her, my first reaction now is to wonder if they are mental. If they have some sick sex thing going on in their head. The men who go after her can be profiled and the profile is not manly or healthy.
But they couldn’t stand Bush, Cheney, Gingrich, Reagan or any other conservative.
Gringrich, yes..sorta. But the intensity of the attacks against Palin are unlike anything I've ever seen.
i don’t know. it was pretty intense against Bush and Cheney, Gingrich, even Reagan(but Reagan wasn’t as openly evangelical as some others and the GOP hadn’t become as associated with the “Religious Right” and the South when he first ran).
Reagan also had the whole Hollywood actor/star thing going for him and there are lots of Jews in Hollywood who knew him and I think that added to the overall Jewish comfort level with him. He also had the fortune of following a guy Jews couldn’t stand in Carter(another evangelical not coincidentally who wore his religion on his sleeve and made an issue out of his christianity). The Reagan era from 80-88 was a very bad period for the dem party and liberals nationally as well so he benefitted from that.
Conversely, the GOP and conservatism fell apart starting in 2006-2008. So Palin was caught up in that as well.
If Palin had been nominated back in 2004 or 2000 I don’t think the opposition would have been as intense because the anti-GOP/anti-Bush mood wasn’t as strong.
Still, come 2012 she or any other Republican should have some advantages compared to 2008. Obama won’t be able to pull one over on Jews anymore and they’ll have seen who and what he really is(worth a few pts). Palin or whoever the GOP nominee is will have had close to 2 years worth of campaigning, a few speeches at various Jewish events, a much more comprehensive approach. It was hard for her last year because she had very little time and within two and half weeks of her being named to the ticket the entire economy collapsed and the campaign was over. If there had been a normal campaign, no financial meltdown, things would have been different.
A couple of speeches to AIPAC, maybe a trip to Israel, a few events or speeches here and there at a synnagogue or Jewish center, maybe someone like Lieberman or another high-profile Jew supports the GOP again, just some efforts at outreach, combined with reaction against Obama...and she or whoever can improve on the 22% of the Jewish vote the GOP got in 2008.
Not by a lot likely, maybe up to 25-26%. But Bush won in 2004 getting only 24%. He won in 2000 and only got 19% of the Jewish vote. If they can get 25% of the Jewish vote, that means they’ll have gotten that much more of the non-Jewish vote and they’ll have won the election.