Posted on 05/10/2011 9:10:15 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Republican Jews to Donald Trump: You’re not hired. That is, not until you at least turn up to an interview with a resume.
And the same goes for Sarah Palin, another media favorite who keeps flirting with a bid for the Republican presidential nomination but never commits.
Leading Jewish Republicans, many speaking off the record, confirm what the rank and file is happy to say on the record: These two GOP “likelys” consuming so much publicity are not likely to last.
“All politicians enjoy the title ‘likely’ -- it gives them relevance on the national scene,” said Jay Zeidman, a former White House Jewish liaison and now a Houston businessman who heads the Republican Jewish Coalition’s local chapter. “It allows them to have a pulpit to speak from. But when you look at who's putting the infrastructure together, who has the money to sustain themselves through the primaries, I don’t see Sarah Palin and Donald Trump putting it together.”
Trump, who has generated much buzz with his personal attacks on President Obama -- questioning where he was born, and whether he has the smarts or the integrity to do the job -- does not resonate as serious, said Alan Joel Steinberg, a conservative New Jersey political analyst.
“A serious candidate does not use the kind of language he used,” he said.
Republican Jews, with a substantial base among the Orthodox, are turned off by the a real estate magnate’s grandstanding, Steinberg said -- for instance, in attacking the president’s China policy in a recent speech in Las Vegas laced with profanity.
“That's bathroom language,” he said.
Trump, of course, has a familial tie to the Jewish community: His daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism before marrying fellow real estate empire heir Jared Kushner.
Yet Trump has said little thus far in his presidential flirtation about Israel policy, a key component of any candidate’s appeal to Jewish Republicans, Zeidman said. That’s especially a concern now that the party is dedicated to slashing budgets and with Jewish Republicans wanting assurances from candidates that aid to Israel is sacrosanct, he said.
“We have to call our community and members and say, ‘It’s important we make tough cuts, but not to Israel,’ ” Zeidman said. “That's the issue that resonates most with us.”
Off the record, a number of Jewish Republican leaders who have had dealings with Trump say they don’t think his colorful financial history -- peppered with triumphs and bankruptcies -- befits the intense scrutiny that all modern candidates must bear.
Fred Taub, a Jewish radio host in Cleveland who has been active on a number of campaigns, said Trump is never going to want to open up his books to the press.
“He has a lot of issues,” said Taub, who recently authored “Boycotting Peace,” a book about the Israel divestment movement. “Is he a serious campaigner? Not really. Is he going to disclose his entire finances? I don’t think so.”
Palin, at least, is adding substance to her thin governmental resume, most recently in a speech on foreign policy, Steinberg said. But she has yet to demonstrate that she is willing to make the commitment to a run, although Steinberg said he has heard from those around her that she is seriously looking at a presidential bid.
“I think if she ran, she would get substantial Orthodox Jewish support and among right-wing Zionists,” he said. “The problem is it's not clear whether she's running or not. Her followers tell me she is, but she's not raising money or having events in Iowa,” the first caucus state. “She has to make a decision.”
The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate recently stopped in Israel on her way back from giving a speech in India, and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But she has also confused Jewish neoconservatives who admired her outspoken embrace of American exceptionalism and a strong U.S. role overseas with her May 2 speech in Colorado advocating a lower international profile for the United States.
“We can’t fight every war, we can’t undo every injustice in the world,” she said in that speech, which was first reported by Politico.
That incensed Jennifer Rubin, a Washington Post columnist who had been one of Palin’s earliest champions among Jews. Rubin wrote that Palin’s fecklessness suggested superficiality.
“Her views then and perhaps now don’t spring from a well-grounded understanding of foreign policy but from briefing cards,” Rubin wrote. “Change the cards, and presto, a new foreign policy! To the dismay of many who saw great potential in her, she chose not to immerse herself in issues and put meat on the bones of her intuitive policy positions.”
Her speech also drew expressions of concern from Bill Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, previously a strong backer of Palin.
But policy positions aside, Jewish Republicans question Palin’s seriousness in part because she has not vigorously reached out to Jewish Republican activists and donors. When visiting Israel, Palin snubbed the Republican Jewish Coalition’s well-oiled Israel program for candidates thinking of a run for office.
George W. Bush's 1998 trip, before running for president, was considered critical to formulating his adamant pro-Israel views while he was in office. In more recent years, the RJC has hosted former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
Steinberg said that assessing the seriousness of Republican candidates when it comes to Jews comes down to “Show me the donors.”
By that measure, he said, count Romney as a contender. He has at his side Lewis Eisenberg, a former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a close ally of Netanyahu, and Mel Sembler, a leader in the RJC and a major donor to the Bush campaigns.
“The real Jewish impact on the Republican Party is on the fundraising side,” said Steinberg, who noted also that Romney has become deeply conversant with Middle East policy. “And now Romney has recruited the best fund-raisers in the Republican Party.”
This forum is private property. Last I checked, you are a guest of Jim Robinson. He typically takes a dim view of anti-semites pretending to be conservatives.
Yes, and I applaud Jim for recognizing these attacks for just what they are. You and your ilk have conducted the mob mentality name calling against another freeper simply because it hits so close to home. I make no apologies for speaking my mind even if you misconstrue it to be racist in nature.
I see no false allegations against you here.
LOL! You are indeed a phony conservative. You would fit right in on DU.
I doubt Jim considers your worthy of notice to zot. Yet.
one could not say that you are a man of few words, however, one could say that you are a man of few intelligent words. have a nice evening.
How sweet! Sounds like I struck a nerve of a latent, emotional disability! Thank you for revealing your hidden desires.
You have class.
Half of my family is Jewish and I KNOW they despise her because she’s Christian..... and that she’s too STUPID.
I have taken everything I know about how my Jewish think by HEARING what they say about things. It’s not a guess, it’s a fact.
It seems that this picture is exactly what you’ve been doing with all your postings since your pathetic tirade against me. I guess I should expect nothing less from such a small minded schmoe.
ML/NJ
The irony of it all. Sorry Jeff, I won’t lower myself again to your low level, mindless blusterings. You are a loser and I really don’t care to exchange posts with you from this point forward. The least you can do, if not completely apologize for your unwarranted verbal attacks, is honor my request to not post to me again.
“Really, you need to disappear from Free Republic. Your posts here embarrass us all.”
Really, you need to butt out as I don’t recall posting anything to you. Based on your ridiculous unwarranted comments, you are the embarrassment.
This Jewish Republican (well, conservative - not a big GOP fan at present but no other choice) has always been impressed by Palin. She is a huge Israel supporter. It took a while to find anything to slightly disagree with her on, and there is very little.
I am also impressed with the way Trump took on Obama the way no one else would. Don’t like his language for speeches either, didn’t know the lovely and smart Ivanka was Jewish (each week I watch for her pregnancy bump on their show - I believe she is due when I am, but of course the show episodes are weeks old). I do not think Trump will run for President, but I’d like to see him hammering Obama some more. He had him on the ropes and made him put out that PDF of some kind of birth certificate!
When you post her, you post so everyone can see. And enemies of Free Republic can see too. They look for N*z*s like you hoping to make us all look like sk*he*ds.
Se*g He*l, meiner Bruder.
ML/NJ
“When you post her, you post so everyone can see. And enemies of Free Republic can see too.”
This is common knowledge. However, you think you know me by a few posts that may rock your sensibilities but you really know nothing about me. I don’t appreciate the way some of you have taken a statement I made about the liberal Jewish democrats and tried to paint me as an effing skinhead. I support Christians United for Israel and believe that salvation was offered to the Gentiles (for which I am thankful) because Jews rejected their Messiah. I don’t know why you jumped on this post but at this point it doesn’t really matter. I refuse to let certain posters on this forum paint me into a corner, plain and simple. You were wrong about the Clintons and you are also wrong about me, unwise one!
I've met a number of CUFI folks and the notion that they would have you among them is laughable.
Just as is the notion that I was wrong about the Clintons, except maybe that Clinton wasn't forced to resign, is laughable.
Every post you make defines you, Pal. Sometimes people say stupid things and then apologize. You doubled down.
Be gone!
ML/NJ
ml/nj, you are a fool to the nth degree! This charade started after I made a blanket statement about liberal Jews and you and your pseudo “conservative” Jewish friends have turned it into a 3-ring circus. I’m not at all impressed with your self-congratulatory profile. You have validated much of what I already suspected. Don’t post to me again. I want nothing to do with your type.
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