Posted on 01/01/2010 10:56:47 AM PST by Brugmansian
Abstract
For more than a year, Sarah Palin has been a national Rorschach test. The views expressed about her reveal the distinctions and conflicting perceptions of often antagonistic groups of Americans—the religious and the secular, the conservative and the liberal, the urban and the small town, the elitist and the populist.
And now, with the publication of her autobiography, Going Rogue, and Matthew Continetti’s The Persecution of Sarah Palin, the Rorschach tests are being administered anew, and with increasing fervor.
For her conservative admirers, she continues to exemplify independence, moxie, common sense, the superiority of the common American over the nation’s elites, and the embodiment of modern womanhood and Christian faith.
For her detractors, both conservative and liberal, she is uncouth, unschooled, a hick, anti-science and anti-intellectual, an upstart, and a religious fanatic. There is no group so firmly in the latter camp as American Jews. And there is much to learn in their reaction to Palin, both about her and about the sociological makeup of American Jewry today. While Palin enjoys support from some prominent Jewish conservatives, it is not an exaggeration to say that, more so than any other major political figure in recent memory (with the possible exception of Patrick J. Buchanan), she rubs Jews the wrong way . . .
Ask an average American Jew about Palin and you are likely to get a nonverbal response—a shiver, a shudder, a roll of the eyes, or a guffaw. Naomi Wolf, the feminist writer, sputtered that Palin was the “FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal,” articulating the mixture of contempt and fear that seemed to grip many Jewish women.
The disdain is palpable and largely emotional. While 78 percent of American Jews voted for the Obama-Biden ticket, it is fair to say that most did not harbor animosity toward or contempt for Senator John McCain; the same cannot be said of their view of Palin . . .
The link doesn’t work.
Only 78% for Ogabe is actually a pretty good number, given all the factors that worked against McCain. An elderly acquaintance remembers when the Jewish vote used to be over 90% for the Democratic candidate, and this wasn’t during elections heavily tilted against the Republican. In the long long run, the Democratic party will lose its Jewish edge, because Orthodox Jews, who lean Republican, tend to have many more babies than liberal Jews, who tend not to have any. In the end, demography, not fancy talk, is destiny.
fail
“I am Jewish and I have been having knock down drag out arguments with my stupid relatives about Palin for over a year now.”
Incredible, isn’t it? Most American secular Jews would prefer those who overtly promise to destroy them over the much-feared “Christian Fundamentalists” about whom they know nothing but their own bigoted, yes, bigoted prejudices. That a group of Christians could possibly be more fervent supporters of Israel is absolutely a mental bridge too far for them.
I have argued repeatedy with my folks over this exact point. Their reply: Fundamentalists may be supporters of Israel but they are supporting Israel “for the wrong reasons”. OK, then, guess you’d prefer to have your throat cut and your people exterminated?
Pathology. It's like a blindness.
“.... the standard answer because we wanted change...”
No. Jews voted for 0bama out of plain self-loathing guilt and a near-genetic disposition to pull a “D” lever that will be very hard to overcome. Let’s hope they burned some of that off.
Now WHERE on earth could people EVER have come up with this impression?
Most thinking people know, but if you want to see a great analysis of this, I URGE you to check out this documentary: John Ziegler's "Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted"
The title says that all Jews hate Palin, and that’s not true. The piece is propaganda devised to divide, and so are many of the comments.
But that’s okay. We need a good man for our next president. That’s probably not going to happen so soon, and we’ll wait. See y’all at the polls, after you present a good, anti-globalism man as a candidate.
How do your relatives feel about Mike Huckabee?
I noticed liberal Jews hate Bush, Cheney, and Palin with passion. But think Huckabee is a likeable guy. Yet Huckabee is Baptist Preacher who supports school prayer. Go figure.
Commentary is a conservative publication. Believe me it's largely true, maybe more so among secular than religious Jews.
About 80% of Jews would vote for Ahmadinejad if he were on the Democrat ticket.
So why waste ink?
(Conservative Jew, here, so don’t flame unknowingly)
I think the FR reaction is overwrought. Only 78% for Ogabe is actually a pretty good number for the GOP, given all the factors* that worked against McCain in 2008. An elderly acquaintance remembers when the Jewish vote used to be over 90% for the Democratic candidate, and this wasn’t during elections heavily tilted against the Republican. In the long long run, the Democratic party will lose its Jewish edge, because Orthodox Jews, who lean Republican, tend to have many more babies than liberal Jews, who tend not to have any. In the end, demography, not fancy talk, is destiny.
* (1) 8 years of unrelenting media attacks against GWB, (2) Afghanistan and Iraq, which - whether you are for or agin - cost $700b, (3) the huge anti-Bush media push over Katrina, (4) 4 years of unrelenting media love for Ogabe, et al.
It’s because Sarah is an “out of the closet” Christian woman. Bigotry toward white Christians is a big and proud part of minority tribal diversity thang. Who cares? Jews make up 2% of the US population.
Envy is a terrible thing.
Whats a Mosaic ?
First off, hate is a strong word. I doubt most Jews hate her. Dislike, not care for? Sure.
2nd, most Jews probably don’t like her because most Jews are liberals(and on the left side and more liberal than most at that)and urban/upscale/intellectual type folks...and she’s pretty much the polar(word used deliberately)opposite of that.
Northeast liberals tend not to like people who are religious(especially evangelical christians). They don’t like people they see as “hicks” or “white trash”. They make a big deal about going to the Ivy League, being intellectual, urbane, witty, cosmopolotan, etc...
It’s why they liked Obama but didn’t take to hucksters and more typical old-school blacks like Sharpton or Jackson who don’t project the same campus cool and smarts that Obama does. They see a woman who went to the University of Idaho and that doesn’t play well. They don’t like having 5 kids. They don’t like the husband who also isn’t an intellectual and is more into the hands-on and outdoors approach. Not too many Jews are going out hunting and fishing, having animal skins in their office or moose heads on the wall, and working with their hands and racing snowmachines in subzero temps. He didn’t graduate college. Again, compare that to Columbia/Harvard and Princeton/Harvard Barack and Michelle. If Todd Palin had a diploma from Harvard Law they’d probably be a little more comfortable.
I suspect if you polled Jews and broke it down by ideology/party/region you’d get different results. Most democratic/liberal Jews from the urban areas in the northeast, south Florida and the west coast(the overwhelming majority of Jews) probably can’t stand her. But they couldn’t stand Bush, Cheney, Gingrich, Reagan or any other conservative. It’s not unique to her. They just don’t like conservatives(and especially the more christian and southern conservatives). But republican/conservative Jews(the small % of them), Jews in the South and more rural areas(what few of them there are), more religious/orthodox Jews, etc... they probably like her, certainly as much as they like any other Republican.
It’s not really a big deal in the big sceme of things. Commentary has a large Jewish base so this issue matter to them, but in terms of winning an election for a Republican, the Jewish vote is irrelevant. It only really matters in NY(possibly FL). And if the GOP is close enough in either of those 2 states for the Jewish vote to come into play, they’ve likely won the state already.
In 2008, for example, McCain/Palin did about as well among Jews as Obama/Biden did among evangelicals, but you don’t see any “why do Christians hate Obama?” articles. And that was after the economic meltdown and it became obvious for 6 weeks that McCain was finished. If the election had taken place under normal circumstances and there was no sept/oct meltdown, McCain/Palin would have easily gotten the 24% Bush did in 2004 and probably a few pts higher. As it was they still did a few pts better than the 19% of Jews who voted for Bush in 2000.
But the answer to her question is the same answer you’d get if you asked “why do liberals hate Sarah Palin”. Most Jews are liberals. There’s your answer.
Most Jews are secular, educated, urban liberals. They’re pro-choice, pro-gay rights and gay marriage. They’re anti-gun. Don’t understand hunting. Value higher education and careers like doctors, lawyers, accountants, professors etc... They don’t get the outdoors and living in rural areas far from New York or Los Angeles or DC or Miami.
Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out and hope others do so as well.
I highly recommend, if nothing else, that you watch his exclusive interview with her they offer for free.
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