THE JEWISH LIBERAL VOTERS' DILEMMA

April 14, 2008

By Hal Netkin

My Jewish immigrant parents and all of my relatives were liberal Democrats with the belief that Republican politicians were corrupt and belonged to the party of the rich while Democrat politicians were honest and looked after the working class and the poor. I remember their disappointment when I registered as a Republican in 1957 just after leaving the U.S. Air Force

A large percentage of Jews -- including affluent Jews -- blindly vote Democrats into office because voting for Democrats is Jewish tradition. Traditional voting for Democrats often times is not in the Jewish community's interest. Traditional Jewish voting was so strong, that they were blind to the 23 members of congress who voted in August, 2006, against the House and Senate resolutions of support for Israel. Nineteen of the 23 were Democrats (details).

When I ask many Jewish liberal voters who voted for former president Jimmy Carter, who In January 2007, wrote an anti-Israel book "Palestine; Peace not Apartheid" and who plans to meet next week in Damascus with Khaled Meshal, the head of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in a direct rebuke of the Bush administration's campaign to isolate it, the typical answer is "I didn't know that about Jimmy Carter when I voted for him."

So what do the three presidential candates say about Jimmy Carter's love affair with terrorist Khaled Meshal?

The campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) was quick to blast Carter's plans and called on both Obama and Clinton to condemn the meeting with what the State Department lists as a terrorist group. So can we count on Obama and Clinton to condemn the meeting? I don't think so.

As Jewish Chief Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor for the US House of Representatives says in this piece:

While in the past, Hillary Clinton was sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, her opponent for the Democrat presidential nomination, Barack Obama, is a personal friend and supporter of the PLO and Hamas sympathizer, Professor Rashid  Khalidi of Columbia University. In other words, don't expect a comment from Clinton or Obama regarding Carter's fraternizing with terrorists.

So fellow Jews, who will it be?

Disclaimer: This writing should not be construed to mean that WatchdogAmerica endorses John McCain.