I haven’t looked at the religious affiliation of the newly elected freshmen class to see if any Jewish-Americans were elected as Republicans, but currently Eric Cantor is the only Republican in the House who is also Jewish. The Jewish community votes overwhelmingly Democratic, and for good reason. I think it is safe to say that the Democratic Party is a stalwart supporter of Israel, and I support that. I think if the Democratic Party had some kind of off-kilter position vis-a-vis Israel that American Jews would speak rather loudly and let us all know. But that is not the case.
What is off-kilter is the Republicans’ support for Israel. They don’t just support Israel; they support the expansion of settlements in Palestinian territory. And they oppose any concessions that Israel might make to achieve a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians or their Arab neighbors. It’s all part of a misguided effort by Wall Street banksters to conquer Jesusville.
That’s fine. It’s just politics. But, at some point, you have to follow the McCain-Palin creed and put Country First.
The Republican stance toward the occupied territories is defined by the fact that the nationalism and bigotry in Israel acts as a normalizing reference for the nationalism and bigotry in the American right. That the victims are Muslim and the American Christians have some wacky beliefs about the Holy Land are all just gravy for them. But don’t expect any decviance from this stance (or pushback from the American establishment) for all of these reasons.
And, of course, Palin doesn’t put country first.
Eric Cantor and Debbie Wasserman Schultz had an interesting exchange on one of the morning talk shows that really was an exchange – one could see him engaging rather than parrotting talking points. Seemed to me he got a glimpse of what he was missing out on by belonging to the party of no.
If someone said they were a stalwart supporter of South Africa before the 1990’s, don’t you think we should look at them strangely?
Yes, that’s true. But not even Jesse Helms, who was the most vocal of them on foreign affairs, took the step of trying to undercut the President in foreign policy. Cantor is way out of line.
And Palin is just being Palin.
Oh, he’s definitely out of line. He’s also the biggest douche in the House.
My point was more about Democrats and BooMan calling themselves stalwart supporters of Israel. I get that you can disapprove of a country’s policies and still support them, but I would not call myself a stalwart supporter of any country that’s effectively propping up apartheid.
As for being the biggest douche in the House, I thought that Louis Goehmert had that one so locked up that no Democrat ran against him. Paul Broun also comes to mind.
I don’t support Israel’s policies, I support their existence.
I can only speak about my own family and social circles, but I don’t think the support of the Democratic Party is quite what it used to be among the Jewsish population here. Those of us who remember the American Civil Rights movement and think of themselves as Americans first are probably still voting Democratic. But post 9/11 a tremendous number of our leaders and institutions went totally nuts and veered rightward, much to the disappointment of many American Jews. But now I see the ideas of this right wing leadership spreading and posing as the opinions of ‘real jews’, AKA Jews that forgive Israel any action simply because it is Israel.
Forgive? Hell, they get in the streets and scream their support and hate that it requires. It just sort of frightens the rest of us into a reaction that might be summed up like this: “Wow! If you care so damned much, you can have it.” This reaction only empowers them further, so they get louder and louder and louder and will be dominating the conversation for the foreseeable future, I am afraid.
He met with Netanyahu one-on-one and made promises about what the Republican Party will deliver for Israel. He did not say what he was paid, and no mention was made of the documents he gave Netanyahu.
There is treason going on with Cantor.