Desperate democrats are trying to make the Palin pick for VP fit into a model of how they want the election to be campaigned, like shoving a square peg into a round hole. This will prove to be a mistake. Already the effort appears cynical and possibly is contributing to the new polls showing the McCain ticket moving ahead of Obama. Maybe the polls reflect the capricious and interpretative, serving the moment rather than the historical record, nature of the criticism (as evidenced in the article below) against Gov. Palin. The desperation and mistaken poll generated ideas of the career political activist Marc Stanley are evidence. Notice how the completely discredited Buchanan story is slipped into the OP/ED at the end capitalizing on the myth which has been kept alive by the liberal blogosphere.
Somewhere along the way to Utopian-socialist idealism, liberals have forgotten what the American legend is all about. They are about to re-discover it.
In fact, Sarah Palin may have already changed the political landscape in America for the better. Then again, maybe Governor Palin is merely restoring to America the value of citizen legislator like President Reagan a view held by our Founding Fathers as the way in which our country is responsive to the people. More over, the continuing fight to re-align the Jewish vote is heating up as will be seen below. The comparisons and criticisms used by Stanley in that fight are pretty comedic.
Desperation causes rational thought to give way to a failure to uncover inconsistency in logic. The "associations" argument which APRPEH made in the post, Barack Obama Myths, Facts and Obfuscation is a strong reason for any Jew to pause and think before pulling the lever for Obama. Here we have the desperate debunked story that Palin may have supported Buchanan and is also a risk because a Jews for J nut spoke at her church (not in the article below) and this somehow counteracts Obama's long history of antiJew associations. It is the height of chutzpah. Here is another example:
First, Palin has absolutely no foreign policy experience - it is ironic that McCain has spend his spring and summer telling Americans that the most important characteristic he is looking for in a vice president is an individual who is ready on day one to assume the presidency.
If it is so important to have foreign policy experience from day 1 in the White House, why is Obama running for President? Why is Obama qualified to assume the Presidency? Why do the democrats use McCain's interpretation of qualifications to be President? Speaks volumes about their guy doesn't it? Anyhow, look for the kitsch liberal red lines below as once again, another liberal tries to explain what Jewish values are without having a clue. Bring out the hammer, that peg will fit if pummeled enough times.
Sep 3, 2008 22:06 | Updated Sep 4, 2008 22:09, JPOST article - Sarah Palin and the Jewish community By MARC R. STANLEY, NJDC
found at Free Republic
Sarah Palin Doll
Upon returning from the Democratic Convention in Denver we find a political landscape that has drastically changed. In the course of just one week Sen. Barack Obama picked Sen. Joseph Biden as his vice presidential nominee while Sen. John McCain picked Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. These two picks say a great deal about the judgment of each presidential candidate and about their understanding of the American Jewish community.
Biden, of course, was the more conventional pick - especially for the Jewish community. The senior senator from Delaware is one of the most well-known and respected politicians among American Jewish leadership. He may be unique for a non-Jewish senator in that he loudly exclaims that he is a Zionist. Even his adversaries admit that there is no more knowledgeable senator when it comes to Middle East policy. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency describes his record his record on Israel as "sterling." On domestic issues he is totally in sync with Jewish public opinion - supporting the separation of church and state, reproductive freedom and energy independence.
Palin is another story. She is an exceedingly odd choice for a party which has spent the better part of the past year loudly exclaiming that it was reaching out to Jewish voters and made much to do about considering two Jewish legislators - Joe Lieberman and Eric Cantor - as vice presidential possibilities.
First, Palin has absolutely no foreign policy experience - it is ironic that McCain has spend his spring and summer telling Americans that the most important characteristic he is looking for in a vice president is an individual who is ready on day one to assume the presidency. Moreover, Palin has never visited Israel and besides signing a pro-Israel resolution passed by the state legislature, she has apparently never spoken out or focused on the Jewish state.
ON DOMESTIC issues she is totally out of step with public opinion in the Jewish community. Palin is against reproductive freedom - even in the cases of rape and incest - and as a result one of the first organizations to support her nomination was the Christian Coalition.
She speaks about the effects of climate change in the Arctic, but she also is clear that she does not believe that climate change is man-made. Another position which American Jews will find strange is one she shares with McCain - she believes that creationism should be taught in public schools.
The reform narrative that GOP operatives like to site when speaking of Palin could be appealing to Jewish voters. However, Palin has a few problems here, as well. She eventually came out against the "Bridge to Nowhere" but only after the issue became a public embarrassment to the Republican Party and it was apparent that federal funds would not cover the whole cost of the project. When she ran for governor in October of 2006, she was all for spending taxpayer dollars on this very dubious "pork." It took her another 11 months to see the light. Moreover when she was first elected mayor of Wasilla (population 6,000) she was severely criticized by the local paper for firing city employees because they had supported her opponent.
Then there is the Palin troopergate scandal. On July 11, she fired the state's top cop, Walt Monegan. Monega says Palin fired him because he refused to fire a state trooper who went through a messy divorce with the governor's sister. Palin initially denied the charge but later admitted that some of her officials spoke to Monegan about firing the trooper. Monegan claims that she herself put on the pressure and the state legislature has begun an investigation into the charges that the governor used the power of her office for her personal/family agenda.
FINALLY, THERE is the matter of two anti-Israel politicians - Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan. In February Palin in an interview lavished praise on Ron Paul. There is also a controversy over whether Palin has supported former presidential aspirant Pat Buchanan. To be fair there is no evidence that Palin shares either of these Republicans' anti-Israel creed. However, since the beginning of the GOP narrative within the Jewish community is that Obama can not be trusted because of a handful of people who have endorsed him. If this guilt by association standard is one the McCain stands by, then they also need to deal with Palin's past support for anti-Israel politicians.
The Jewish vote in 2008 has been a hot topic of conversation in the media. John McCain's fist major decision of this campaign - picking Palin for his running mate - leads us to believe that the Jewish community's concerns are not so high on his priority list.
The writer is chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council.
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