Jan. 16, 2008
Jewish Voters Lean Toward Clinton
Politico: Clinton Has Bulk Of Establishment Jewish Backing, But Obama Is Reaching Out For Support Too
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Photo
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks during a media availability in Las Vegas, Nev., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. (AP)
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Photo Essay
Hillary Clinton
A look at a life and career full of firsts.
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Photo Essay
Barack Obama
A look at the life and meteoric rise of the president-elect.
Eight years ago, in her first campaign for the Senate, Hillary Rodham Clinton was scrambling to put out fires with a troublesome local minority: Jewish voters.
Now, she’s emerged as the candidate with the bulk of establishment Jewish support as the presidential campaign moves to Nevada, home to Las Vegas and the fastest-growing Jewish community in the country.
Clinton, whose embrace of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1999 made the front pages of the New York Post, won her Senate seat despite receiving fewer votes from Jewish voters than the norm for a Democrat, her aides say.
She spent the next six years winning the trust of the hawkish leadership of New York’s Jewish community.
Her record, as well as an impressive roster of key endorsements, leaves her well positioned to win the Jewish vote in Nevada’s Jan. 19 caucuses and in the Jewish centers of New York, New Jersey and California on Feb. 5. Sen. Barack Obama has also pressed hard for Jewish support, winning the endorsements of influential Jewish members of Congress.
But he has been forced to wage, through surrogates, a defense of his record in the face of a viral e-mail smear campaign.
“It’s really a matter of a longtime relationship versus a new face, and there’s not a lot of dramatic difference between [Clinton and Obama] on the issues that are critical to the community,” said Douglas Bloomfield, a former legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“There’s also a right-wing assault on him that part of the Jewish community is involved in or at least passing along.”
A survey last November conducted by the American Jewish Committee found that 53 percent of Jews view Clinton favorably, compared to 38 percent for both Obama and Edwards.
Clinton spent her Senate term taking a hard line on Israeli security and working diligently on low-profile issues of concern to the community’s leadership: She helped win international recognition for the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross and fought anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks.
“Like so many other once skeptical constituencies, Hillary Rodham Clinton has won over Jewish voters,” said New York Democratic Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, who has endorsed her. “She is the favorite of the community now.”
Both her campaign and Obama’s have focused on Jewish community leaders with a steady stream of e-mails and conference calls that has accelerated recently.
“The Jewish vote is an increasingly important component of the bottom line as you approach Super Tuesday,” said Clinton adviser Ann Lewis.
Obama has, in some ways, started down the same course that Clinton did. In the Senate, he proved his pro-Israel bona fides by, among other moves, backing Israel’s side of the 2006 war with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
He has the support of prominent Jewish members of Congress, including Reps. Robert Wexler of Florida, Adam B. Schiff of California and Steve Rothman of New Jersey.
Clinton’s larger number of Jewish congressional supporters includes Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada and nearly a dozen members from California and New York.
“Like many other segments of the American community, Jewish Americans see him as a unifying figure with the intellect and skill to make change,” said Rothman.
But Obama has also stumbled a bit: At one point in a late-night speech to AIPAC, he appeared to equate the risks to Israel from terrorism with those from “cynicism.”
And he’s drawn some substantive criticism, notably for taking on Carter administration national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski as his national security adviser.
Brzezinski has clashed with pro-Israel groups since the 1970s. An Obama adviser said Brzezinski advises the candidate only on Iraq.
Obama has been the subject of a storm of viral e-mails tht seem to have gained particular currency in Jewish political circles.
One characterizes Obama, who is Christian, as a sort of crypto-Muslim Manchurian candidate.
It has reportedly appeared in Hebrew translation, as well as in a more widely circulated English version.
Another e-mail, circulating in New York Jewish circles, holds the fact that he studied at Columbia University - “a hotbed of controversial, Middle Eastern studies teachers” - against him.
“There is a scurrilous e-mail campaign going on. I’ll continually get e-mails from my father, who lives in Florida, that were sent to him, with wild accusations,” said Schiff.
“Every time someone sends me one of those e-mails, I’ll send them a copy of Obama’s positions on Israel or his speech to AIPAC, and they’ll send it to the same list,” he said.
“We’re trying to meet it very forcefully,” Schiff said.
Obama’s efforts have been aided in some of the quarters most given to alarm. Tuesday, Obama issued a statement “strongly condemn[ing] the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister [Louis] Farrakhan,” after a Washington Post column noted that Obama’s Chicago pastor had praised the Nation of Islam leader.
“When someone close to a political figure shows sympathy and support for an individual who makes his name espousing bigotry, that political figure needs to distance himself from that decision. Sen. Obama has done just that,” Anti-Defamation League President Abraham Foxman said in response.
Foxman was one of several Jewish leaders across the political spectrum who signed an open letter Tuesday denouncing “hateful e-mails” directed at Obama.
The fiercely pro-Israel New York Sun has also gone out of its way to lend support to Obama.
“He has chosen to put himself on the record in terms that Israel’s friends in America, at least those not motivated by pure political partisanship, can warmly welcome,” the paper wrote, in an editorial promptly and widely circulated by Obama’s campaign.
By Ben Smith
Copyright 2008 POLITICO
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See all 65 CommentsWhere''s the NEWS about the Destroyed Emails?
Where''s the NEWS about Republicans wanting Nuclear Power Plants in YOUR neighborhood?
Is CBS owned by MURDOCH? Or just run by Cheney?
WHERE THE FU*K IS THE REAL NEWS?????
"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual ... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of."
- Suzanna Gratia-Hupp
"Jews are prohibited from acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons. Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority.
Firearms and ammunition found in a Jew''s possession will be forfeited to the government without compensation. Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions...will be punished with imprisonment and a fine."
- Regulations Against Jews'' Possession of Weapons, 11 November 1938, German Minister of the Interior
Frick
...... you are either a republican or an Obama supporter trying to stir something up ... get a grip!
Many Jewish leaders imagine that ''open borders'' will allow them to play one group against the other...despite the warnings from the West Coast regarding the anti-Semitic elements behind La Raza and like organizations and papers in LA. It is well to remember that the Finance Capitalists, many of them Jewish, felt that they had control of Hitler after he rode to power on money supplied by them... shades of the hubris shown by Ariel Sharon when he told his Cabinet not to worry about America..."We control America.''...
Which way are Irish-Americans leaning CBS?
Which way are British-Americans leaning CBS?
Which way are French-Americans leaning CBS?
Which way are Pakistani-Americans leaning CBS?
I could go on, but I don''t expect CBS to respond with anything but more Jewish interests.
Responsible citizens today can own automatic machine guns as long as they pay an expensive federal tax and they submit to a complete background check that can take months. There are about half a million legally-owned machine guns in America and also these legally-owned machine guns are basically never used in any crimes.
They have about as much in common with afrika as a cracker like me has.
Posted by GreatDriveW at 01:50 PM : Jan 17, 2008
Jews run entertainment, law, medicine, and NEWS! Are you just realizing this?
The Obama''s Church believes Blacks are superior to all other races and that other races should be subservient to Blacks.
Oprah, Obama, Louis Farrakahn and his followers believe that if Obama convinces Whites, Latins and Asians to vote for Him, that will prove Blacks are superior mentally to other races and them should serve Blacks as slaves. Black supremacists forget crime statistics which say Blacks kill and rob people of all races on a daily basis.
Obama is a pathological liar that comes from a very dysfunctional family.. He lies, and lies and then shamelessly hides.
He%u2019s a successful drug dealer-user, that was never caught.
He never takes responsibility for anything, he lies about change and then tries to peddle false hope. He%u2019s a complete Muslim fairytale.
This is the sign of a deeply troubled person who might also be addicted to crack cocaine.
We have asked him to show proof he did rehab and he accused us of being racists..
Women must be aware what this man means; Obama means slavery for Women forever.
Obama was born a Muslim and is a closet Muslim. He was indoctrinated 6 years as a radical Muslim. Obama is a Muslim ticking bomb. Obama is a Black Hitler.
Muslims believe Women are inferior, way below dogs.
no surprise, the base is breaking for Clinton and people of the Jewish faith are appox. 3 percent of the electorate 74 percent went Dem in 2004.
Responsible citizens today can own automatic machine guns as long as they pay an expensive federal tax and they submit to a complete background check that can take months. There are about half a million legally-owned machine guns in America and also these legally-owned machine guns are basically never used in any crimes.
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Posted by gunownerdan at 01:51 PM : Jan 17, 2008
Oh, okay, I guess I''m going to have to start saving up for me a chopper.
think of that one?????????????????
Userverified has been repeatedly posting this smear for the last couple days. He doesn''t site any source or offer any context as to when this was allegedly said. I asked him yesterday to document the claim or stop swiftboating but he continues.
Since the charge defies common sense and he''s not even
convincing an Obama supporter like myself, I think it''s reasonable to conclude it''s a pile of ***.
The best thing to do is to stop reading his posts. The same goes for johnfrost.
Actually, I''m thinking they''re both really terrorislam.
won''t do it themselves. Has anyone realized how many
billions of billions of dollars of taxpayer money is given to Israel. Israel even owns the U.S. propaganda
media and uses it to their own benefit.. Check that one out. It is true..... The sad fact is the U.S. would protect Israel first before the United States.
The politicians have SOLD OUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Just to let you know because you wont get this on CBS News, The Culinary Workers Union is going to be allowed to caucus at work in Vegas on Saturday despite the efforts of the Clintons to prevent it.
Instead of "Rock the Vote" the Clintons should use "Stop the Vote" with Obamma being the undertone.
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
www.JPFO.org
"Tyrants mistrust the people, hence they deprive them of arms."
- Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
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Since Jesus was a Jew, he taught Judaism, and he taught exclusively for the benefit of Jews (check the NT): "Jews for Jesus", at least as a slogan, makes perfect sense.
What makes no sense whatsoever is the idea of any religion other than Judaism being passed off as the teachings of Jesus (again check NT).
Jesus was a Jewish teacher. His identification with a non-Jewish community is one of those strange ironies that human history throws up from time to time as a result of the general irrationality of mankind.
Both Hillary and Obama are Israel firsters and will dance to any tune called by the Anglo-American Oligarchy that runs the Zionist--and the Evangelical--scams in America today.
Yes, Hillary [and Pelosi] are obvious AIPAC loyalists. However, I don''t believe Barack would sell-out America like that. So I agree with you whole heartedly about Hillary, but not Barack. However, if Barack turns out to be an AIPAC loyalist, then his days are numbered too.
If you look at the old maps you will find the Arab names of hundreds of villages that the Zionists erased from the face of the earth--along with the cemetaries and other indications that they ever existed. You will also find settlements of Jews who lived there since time immemorial and Christians as well.
Whatever the people of Palestine were called, it was their land that was stolen. And the Zionist State, in contravention of all civilized usage and in violation of numerous UN demands, has refused to allow them to return.
His backers include considerable portions of the Crown family and the Pritzkers, both Zionists from Chicago...the former are a big power at General Dynamics...His speech to the CFR of Chicago is also of interest in devining his real positions.
He''s gotten a lot of political mileage out of that one vote against the Iraq war...That is probably what Slick Willy was referring to when he spoke of the "fairy tale..."
John, where do you come up with this stuff? Your parents at the dinner table? You are not helping your cause at all by being so publicly stupid. If one race is in fact mentally superior, it cannot possibly be yours.
Well, of course.
Was it Freud or Woody Allen, or both of late who made the age old connection between cerebrality and death?
Take race, *** or intelligence and what have you got?--something to talk about between wars...give peace a chance...and don''t vote for these freakin'' mainstream war pigs!
I sit in the land of the confederacy that peacefully seceded from the United States of America, who chose to attack the South because the north could not compete with them in the world markets. Our home were razed, our lands stolen, and many of our people genocided by the great Abraham Lincoln and his followers.
It is abhorrent to me that one people feel like they have the right to kill and take whatever they want from sombody else. But before I make judgments about the actions of the people of other lands, I remember the old adage, he who is without sin, cast the first stone.
I didn''t kill anybody, I didn''t steal anybody''s land, and I will fight to the finish to keep what I bought and paid for.
But don''t kick the bull unless he tries to gore ya!
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