Now that's either a foolish statement, or the Jews who actually did despise her are fools themselves. Do you think that Jews should despise her because she owns guns and hunts moose, as no less an authority on the issue as black Democrat Congressman Alcee Hastings claimed?
I'm Jewish and I liked Palin and still do. I'd be confident that just about all Jewish conservatives would agree with me. Frankly, I can't see any sane reason whatsoever why being Jewish should cause someone to dislike her, as if she were a female version of Adolf Hitler. The fact of the matter is that Palin is definitively pro-Israel and, if anything, is philo-semitic.
There's nothing antisemitic or anti-Israel about Paul Ryan, either. If there was, you can bet that the Jewish Left would be out there talking about it already.
That is worth about 500,000 votes (based on 5 million Jewish voters, and they ALL vote).
5 million Jewish voters has to be an overestimate, because there are between 5.2 and 5.8 million Jews in the country - depending on your source - and at least a million are probably under 18 or too elderly or incapacitated to vote.
Moreover, the four states with the largest Jewish populations account for 127 of the 270 Electoral votes needed to secure the presidency.
Of the four states with the largest Jewish populations, two of them, CA and NY , are so overwhelmingly 'Rat that the Jewish vote isn't going to make a difference in the presidential election outcomes there. Only in Florida, and possibly Pennsylvania and Ohio and a few smaller states, will the Jewish vote possibly be decisive in a very close statewide election.
I'm Jewish and I liked Palin and still do. I'd be confident that just about all Jewish conservatives would agree with me. Frankly, I can't see any sane reason whatsoever why being Jewish should cause someone to dislike her, as if she were a female version of Adolf Hitler. The fact of the matter is that Palin is definitively pro-Israel and, if anything, is philo-semitic.
I've been absolutely baffled by not just the disagreement, but outright hatred displayed by many Jews, especially Jewish women, towards Sarah Palin. When I'd ask about it, I never received any sort of a thought out answer. It was visceral, mostly driven by the merciless hammering of the media, as well as the so called entertainers. On more than one occasion, I got the "She's so dumb she said she can see Russia from her back yard." They didn't believe it was actually Tina Fey until I showed them on YouTube. Then, it was "funny."
I think a part of it was she was young, vivacious, intelligent, and independent. I think that many women, "city girls" especially, were put off by her love of guns, fishing, hunting, and the outdoors, as being "unlady-like."
I think another reason for most liberals' vitriol towards Sarah was her stance on abortion, her acceptance of Bristol's out of wedlock birth, and most importantly, her decision to have Trigg, a baby born with birth defects. She made the conscious decision to have that baby, showing that she REALLY stands by her pro-life values, and I think that for most liberals, it shames them. And that shame leads to their hatred.
Mark
Be honest, you're amongst friends, I vote three times, you probably vote more, so of course a Jewish population of 5.5 million or so produces 5 million voters. And that's not counting the dead.
More seriously. Perhaps the "Jewish" vote could be significant in a close race, but it's important to note that in those "big" states you mention, Florida, PA, Ohio the Jewish population are 3.4%, 2.3% and 1.3%. In a close race could that be significant, sure, but to focus on it from a political perspective kind of missed the point, the non Jewish populations are 96.6%, 97.3%, and 98.7%. Should Romney lose a close election, ant those are the states, it's not really about the Jews though we'll read that. BTW, should Nevada be in play, 2.8% there. Not sure it could be an issue anywhere else.
I am too, and I have never seen such venom and animus from my relatives towards any candidate for any office that they unleashed on Palin. There are two I still will not speak to, one due to her email campaign to our extended family bashing Palin, and my nasty replies to her. Rosh Hashana dinner 2008 was a nasty affair with extreme political division. This year will be totally different. Already the relatives desperately pimping Obama in '08 are either oddly silent, or grumbling about his Israel backstabbing. This is a real opportunity for Romney if he knows how to seize it.
Pamela Geller of the Atlas Shrugs blog was a member of Jews for Palin.
However, I think most Jews are against Sarah Palin and not for good reasons either. The adoption of Liberalism as a religious faith by many of my co religionists has not been good for America or for us Jews ourselves.
Thanks justiceseeker93, great response.
You state there are between “...5.2 and 5.8 million Jews in America”. The question is, are the majority capable of stepping outside of the knee-jerk reflex “Republicans are greedy Capitalists and remind me of Nixon” stereotypes? I think not. We have a lot of work in front of us. The new Republican R&R ticket deserves our vote - now we have to get off our duffs and make sure many Jews do not make the same mistake, (voting for BHO) again, G-D FORBID!!!!