Posted on 01/05/2007 2:34:10 PM PST by shrinkermd
A record number of Jewish members will enter Congress Thursday, but more remarkable are the unparalleled positions of power they will hold on committees related to Israel, many local Jewish activists say.
Six new Jewish legislators will be joining 37 familiar faces as the 110th Congress convenes, making the total the highest-ever, according to Doug Bloomfield, a former legislative director for AIPAC.
"It's unprecedented that there have been so many [Jews] in so many positions of leadership in both houses," Bloomfield said, using a Jewish simile for how that fact will affect support for Israel: Like chicken soup, it won't hurt...
...Plus, Jews - who voted overwhelmingly Democrat in the November election (87 percent, according to exit polls) - often see more eye-to-eye with Democratic members on domestic issues and have strong personal relationships with them, according to Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council...
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
"...Moreover, while relatively few Jews will question the intentions of the Bush Administration when it comes to Israel, Jewish Americans increasingly believe of the Administrations ham-handed polices in the Middle East have led to a weaker America, a stronger Iran, and less security for the state of Israel.
"...Other issues matter to Jews as well. However, on these issues the two political parties stand diametrically opposed. These other issues are why Jews will vote in landslide proportions for Democrats this fall.
"....A few years back, the House of Representatives to allow prayer in schools. Nearly all Republicans voted in favor of the bill and nearly all Democrats opposed it. Just this year Republicans voted in lock step to kill a Democratic effort to prohibit coercive and abusive religious proselytizing at the Air Force Academy. One senior Republican even characterized this attempt to uphold the separation of Church and State as a war on Christianity .
Similarly, on the question of embryonic stem cell research, Jewish religious institutions from Reform to Orthodox have opposed the position of Bush and the majority of Congressional Republicans.
Then there are questions of economic justice. Republicans in overwhelming numbers have opposed Democratic attempts to get a straight up or down vote on increasing the minimum wage. The Bush Administration and its Congressional allies have also insisted on vast transfers of national wealth, in the form of tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, that have resulted in an explosion of federal debt which our children and our grandchildren will have to repay.
Everyone can have an opinion. If you believe American Jews are socialists that is your perogative. I don't think anyone else does. I know George Soros who spent 200 million trying to defeat President Bush made a 750 million bonus for 2005. I can't imagine anyone describing Mr. Soros as a "socialist."
I did not skip most of the quote, nor did I say unequivocally that most American Jewish people are Socialists. Rather, I said if the author is to believed, most of the quote indicates that most American Jewish people are Socialists.
There are several signposts in the author's piece, but none more obvious than one of the paragraphs you posted to me in bold:
Then there are questions of economic justice. Republicans in overwhelming numbers have opposed Democratic attempts to get a straight up or down vote on increasing the minimum wage. The Bush Administration and its Congressional allies have also insisted on vast transfers of national wealth, in the form of tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, that have resulted in an explosion of federal debt which our children and our grandchildren will have to repay.
If that isn't a Socialist point of view, then Socialism doesn't exist. To re-emphasize so you can't miss it: It is this point of view that the author ascribes to American Jewish people, not I.
In my experience the secular jewish people don't care at all about Israel.
There are many reasons for not identifying with republicans. It's a long history of fear of the Christian Right.
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