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What’s A Jewish Voter to Do?

May 22nd, 2008
By SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist


01aabushknesset.jpgOne can forgive Florida’s substantial Jewish population for being confused these days. One day George Bush hints in a speech to the Knesset that Barack Obama is a Neville Chamberlain-like appeaser who would talk to enemies of Israel and the next day Israel is talking to its enemy Syria.

Were it only that simple.

A New York Times story today reveals that Sunshine State Jews — and predominately older ones — to be not only confused, but conflicted, paranoid and in some instances bigoted in their views toward Obama. Younger Jews, meanwhile, have turned out for Obama in respectable numbers.

All that noted, when it comes to enemies of Israel, it would be hard to beat the Bush administration.

As Israel celebrates the 60th anniversary of its birth this month, I state unequivocally that I would sacrifice my life to defend my Jewish brothers and sisters. But once the bloody intransigence of Hezbollah and Hamas are duly noted, the anniversary is an especially bittersweet one because of the Jewish neoconservatives who hijacked the Bush presidency, and that needs to be hammered home.

In polite company, my German Jewish grandfather would have used the German word zudringlich to describe the likes of Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz. That means “meddlesome.” In less polite company, he would have used one of his favorite profanities.

Granddaddy would agree with me that these neocons have been the worst thing to happen to Israel in a very long time because their fantasy of creating democratic, which is to say pro-Israel and therefore pro-Western states, in the Middle East was predicated on bellicosity and built on a willful ignorance of Arab and Muslim history.

That has been so abundantly apparent in Iraq, the first state where the neocons meddled. The result has been a slow-motion disaster that has taken many thousands of lives, been a sucking chest wound on the American economy and made Israel less safe, less able to leverage its interests, and the region as a whole less stable.

The timing of the Perle-Wolfowitz wet dream, coupled with the ham-handedness of Secretary of State Rice, could not have been worse for Israel, and with friends like the Bush White House, who needs enemies?

Photograph by Mandel Ngan/AFP-Getty Images



This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 6:09 am and is filed under Mideast, Newsweek Blogitics, Florida, Syria, Jews, George W. Bush, Israel, Barack Obama, 2008 Elections. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 4 Comments

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    [sigh] It's not they who are paranoid and exhibit the other problems you list. What projection these days!

    For readers who want something more sane than Shaun's full-throttle current "stuff" to read, here's something much more valuable, both the article and the comments.

    http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/...
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    The fact that Israel is busy 'appeasing' Syria by negotiating with it, just goes to show how shallow the hysteria is in discussions about Israel.
    Appeasing is simply whaever the other guy wants to do, but when I do it, it's something else. The word has lost all meaning.

    The older Jewish voters in Florida are bing treated like idiots, incapable of understanding concepts deeper than breakfast.
    They are not idiots, and if they were talked to honestly and openly instead of being used for political fodder, they would get what the meaning behind the words is.
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    Israel is not appeasing Syria necessarily, though the Olmert government is seen as weak and has little respect (not only for weakness but because of current scandals).

    "The word has lost all meaning."

    Not to the literate and informed.

    Appeasement, particularly the granting of concessions to one's enemies to placate them, in exchange for nothing, or for worthless promises, makes no sense with Syria, Iran, or terrorist organizations, obviously. It cannot be given a high-minded illusion (though many believe and even support the illusion, especially if they want to believe the illusion, and especially if they wrongly consider the other party as "bad" or "wrong" as the USA views the USA and the West versus Iran) by saying it's "peaceful," or superior to "crude" confrontation, etc. ad nauseum. It cannot simply be subsumed glibly into the concept and word, "diplomacy." At least, more intelligent, mature people aren't fooled by this.

    Israel is willing to compromise itself time after time in nearly a 100% one-way string of concessions to its enemies, at an enormous cost. I just hope Olmert and his government know what they're doing. Many people suspect they do not.
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    "fantasy of creating democratic, which is to say pro-Israel and therefore pro-Western states, in the Middle East "

    That's what the Left imagines and insists is instantly possible in place of Musharraf in Pakistan, if you parse their squawking about Pakistan (including the Bush-bashing cheap shots that go nowhere among the learned). How about a little consistency? Oh, that's such a stultifying, demanding, boring, conservative kind of thing...

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