BOYNTON BEACH, Fla., Oct. 13, 2008
The Great American Guilt Trip
CBS Evening News: Liberal Kids Make "Great Schlep" To Sway Florida Grandparents' Votes
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Play CBS Video Video The Great Schlep An online campaign has started aimed at getting young Jewish voters to encourage their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama. Kelly Cobiella has more.
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In Florida the weekend of Oct. 11-13, plenty of grandkids were paying visits to their grandparents on behalf of "The Great Schlep," including Emily Cahn, who visited her grandmother, Dorothy. (CBS)
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Comedian Sarah Silverman made an online video asking young Jewish people to "schlep" to Florida to convince their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama. (CBS)
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Photo Essay Barack Obama A look at the life and meteoric rise of the president-elect.
In Florida, something else was at work this weekend - at bagel shops and condo pools, grandkids like Emily Cahn were showing up on their own, CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports.
"All I heard was she's coming down and this thrilled me to no end because I hadn't seen her in two years!" Dorothy Cahn said.
Hang on Grandma Dorothy - there are strings attached.
"If you knew that visiting your grandparents could change the world, would you do it? Of course you would!" comedian Sarah Silverman said in an online video promoting what's being called "The Great Schlep." She continued: "Schlep to Florida to convince your grandparents to vote for Obama."
It's an online push started by two Jewish activists to get young Jewish voters to visit their grandparents - and encourage them to vote for Barack Obama.
Thousands signed up online, and last weekend dozens criss-crossed the country, armed with talking points
Andrew Steinzmetz came all the way from the University of Pennsylvania. His grandparents were easy. But their friends?
"I don't care for either candidate," said one friend of Andrew's grandparents, named Rita.
"You don't care for either candidate?" Andrew asked.
"No," she said. "I think you are going to make a great candidate."
It's no surprise to University of Miami political science professor Joseph Uscinski.
"Grandparents have very well defined voting patterns; they have very well defined partisanship," he said. "If somebody came to them and said, 'I want you to vote for this one or that one,' it's probably not going to have that much of an effect."
That may explain why their competition - Young Republicans - are looking for votes at tail-gaiting parties instead of retirement homes.
"You will hear from a lot of young people that this is the most important election of their lifetimes - short lifetimes, but nonetheless, lifetimes," said Harout Samra, a University of Miami student.
Still, for Jewish grandparents, the stakes are higher than ever this election.
"If they vote for Barack Obama, they're going to get another visit this year," Sarah Silverman says in the online video. "If not, just hope they stay healthy until next year."
Now that's political pressure.
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- You bunch of hypocrits. If this were a Republican strategy, you would be screaming blackmail. You people are unbelievable - you''re really the ones who will do and say literally anything to get your candidate elected. You people will move us in the direction of the socialist, anti-capitalist countries that have tried and failed at the policies Obama is promoting.
Listen to yourselves: you think it''s great that kids are making visits to their grandparents conditional on their support of their candidate!!!! There are just aren''t enough words to describe how discusting and dispicable that is. Nor for the matter of fact way in which the reporter told the story. Again, it''s a good thing this wasn''t a Republican story. - Reply to this comment
- My great great grandfather stated his views to a newspaper shortly after he settled in the United States and became a prominent member of society. And he wasn''t running for public office.
On the other side of my family --- I had relatives come over on the Mayflower and has ties to the American Revolution to present war times.
My mother''s generation in my family would be PLEASED if their grandchildren visited to share their political views!!!!! - Reply to this comment
- I am not jewish, I am Afro-American and I was deeply moved by this storey. I read about the mentors Obama had in the Jewish community in Chicago and this makes me realize that I am not for Obama because he Afro-American but more for his values. I don''t want to be apart of some old mans bucket list and neither should you pick the canidate that speaks to your heart. If your worried about Bill Ayers. Then you should also worry about.I f Jewish American think they have to worry when it comes to Obama read this.I read this excerpt on a NC Dem. Page:
"McCain has praised G. Gordon Liddy and attended fundraisers in his home despite the fact that Liddy served a four-year prison term for his role in the Watergate break in. He spent a year seeking the endorsement of Rev. John Hagee, despite Hagee''s history of anti-Catholic, anti-women, anti-LGBT, and anti-African American rhetoric. McCain''s former campaign manager, Terry Nelson, was responsible for a racist ad against Harold Ford in 2006. McCain himself even campaigned for George Wallace, Jr., a known apologist for racist groups.
"John McCain consistently says he will be a new kind of Republican, but time and time again he surrounds himself with some of the most radical and inflammatory voices in his Party," - Reply to this comment
- Is it a coincidence that ACORN has been fraudulently registering tens of thousands of erroneous voters?
Posted by OneAmerican7 at 12:46 PM : Oct 14, 2008
Registering Democrats AND Republicans...
PS...It is only fraud IF they actually vote... - Reply to this comment
- What is it with the jewish people voting against their own interest? If they could have, they would have voted for Hitler.
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- Don''t buy the Great Schlep!
The devil Obama will allow Israel to be destroyed!
Posted by OneAmerican7 at 01:08 PM : Oct 14, 2008
Gee - does anyone remember the USS Liberty ??
Israelis "misidentified" a US Navy cargo vessel configured for research as an Egyptian destroyer and fired on the Liberty.
With friends like that who needs enemies... - Reply to this comment
- GRANDPARENTS HAVE POWER
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- Our grandparents might be elderly, but they are also very intelligent! Most will not fall for this pathetic tactic, because they realize the truth about the Dems. They are however interested in a visit. So this is a GREAT idea, if for no other reason, to see the grandkids. Please don''t take our precious eldery for being less than intelligent, they''ll see right through it!
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- Just to clarify: Gosh that made me (as a grandparent and a Republican) really mad!!!
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- Unfrikking unbelievable!
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- You know, youngsters, you don''t have to be Jewish to visit your grandparents. Fly South - who says you can''t go home? Let them know you''ll be all right when Obama is elected, and they don''t have to be afraid. Reassure them he''s not the Great Satan or the antichrist. Tell them there are no red states or blue states, this is the United States. And we''re gonna need all our Grandmas and Grand Daddies, so ask them to come on board.
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Why would America REWARD complete Republican failure ?
We wont. - Reply to this comment
