Denying Obama the Jewish Vote, the Christian Vote, the Patriot Vote

By: Teddy
Published On: 5/23/2008 1:00:24 PM

Storm signals are popping up on the campaign, like the first flutters indicating an approaching storm, a storm that is intended to deny Obama not only the so-called "Jewish vote," which traditionally goes to Democrats, but the evangelical Christian vote and uber-patriot vote, which, while traditionally Republican, has shown signs of wavering this time around. Jim Meyers, writing in ultraconservative Newsmax.com on 23 May (http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/florida_jews_obama/2008/05/22/98181.html?s=al&promo_code=62EB-1) quoted Shirley Weitz, a South Florida Jew, interviewed by Judi Kantor of the New York Times, "The people here, liberal people will not vote for Obama because of his attitude toward Israel. They're going to vote for McCain." (bolding added)

The Times noted that the Jewish vote has a high turnout rate and will be critical to Obama in New York, California, New Jersey, and Florida, all key states for victory in November.  Meyers listed the following reasons for the Jews' having misgivings about Obama:
  *Obama is "too cozy" with Palestinians, does not show a serious commitment to Israel
 * Obama has Muslim ties because his father was a Muslim and he was raised in Indonesia (a Muslim country)
 * Obama says he will speak "without conditions" with Iran's leadership, yet Iran's President has a nuclear program and has threatened to "wipe Israel off the map"
 * Obama has been endorsed by Jesse Jackson, who has made many comments offensive to Jews, including calling New York "Hymietown"
 * Obama did not secure endorsement by independent Senator Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew and former Democrat, who is strongly backing McCain and plans on campaigning extensively for him in Florida
 * Obama will likely lose the endorsement of Ed Koch, former Mayor of New York, who has indicated he probably will also endorse McCain because McCain "has no equal" when it comes to opposing Islamic terrorism, and says he is bothered by Obama's relationships with Reverend Wright and William Ayers

When it comes to the evangelical Christians and the very patriotic, many of the same factors are trotted out to question Obama's devotion to Christianity (of the "right" sort), and to label him not just a liberal, but a dangerous radical Marxist with extremely questionable loyalty to the United States.  In an article in The Washington Post on 23 May, Dana Milbank calls this attack "Obama as You've Never Known Him!" based on his observations of a recent meeting of a group called "America's Survival, Inc," with two dozen conservatives in a Washington, D.C., basement coffee house.

Milbank took note of charges fired off by leading participants:

 * Obama "would have serious difficulty getting a security clearance" because of his past links to foreign and hostile interests, according to Cliff Kincaid
 * Obama is a member of an organization that is "openly a front for two socialist groups," said Trevor Loudon
 * Obama has limited world view because he was raised and educated in "a very Marxist-rich environment," opined Max Friedman
 * Obama grew up in an atmosphere saturated with Communist Party 1930's points of view in Hawaii, claimed Herbert Romerstein (who had once worked for the old House un-American Committee, presumably in the days of Joe McCarthy), ignoring the fact that Obama was born in 1961
 * Obama's "mentor" when Obama was a teenager in Hawaii was a "key member of a Soviet-controlled network that was sponsored by Moscow and active in Hawaii," according to Kincaid
 * Obama admitted to selecting Marxist professors in college and attending socialist conferences, Kincaid added
 *Obama actually launched his political career in 1995 at the home of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, former members of the Weather Underground, a terrorist organization, noted Kincaid, implying that Dohrn killed a policeman in 1970 (a charge no prosecutor has ever made)

As implausible as these accusations might be, similar absurdities did not hamper the Swift Boat campaign which sank John Kerry in 2004 and are, as we all know only too well, the stock in trade of many Republican campaigns today.  Although Milbank did not identify the members of the rather small audience, I suspect it was composed of Republican campaign operatives and right-wing 527 agents because the questions they asked were even more outrageous:

 * Explain the link between "the American left and Islamofascists"
 * Discuss nefarious influences on Obama's wife Michelle
 * Isn't Obama's "Change" slogan based on the 1960 Communist "Movement for Change"
 * It is clear that the communists and socialists are backing Obama
 * Didn't Obama give $23,000 to his (radical) church, and was the money connected to Tony Rezko
 * Why were the results from Gary, Indiana (in Obama's race for the US Senate) delayed in being released
 * How could Obama sit in the pews and listen to "a raving anti-American racist," even bringing his children to hear Wright's ravings
 * Obama's chief strategist is David Axelrod, the protege of "a man with a Communist Party-front record" in Chicago, all of which makes Friedman see "something much bigger" going on

Irrational fabrications and crazed innuendoes from flimsy premises, nuttier than a UFO gathering?  Oh, yes, but watch for these themes and catchwords as they begin to appear here and there in experiments to see which ones work before launching the "best" in a full bore assault to selected audiences.  Be prepared to respond to cries of fear from alarmists and the gullible.  I am sure there is more to come.  

Comments



E-mail campaign (Teddy - 5/23/2008 8:15:38 PM)
against Obama already includes many of the themes expressed at the meeting of America's Survival, Inc., and it is every bit as ridiculous... unfortunately, as you might expect, it is taking on a life of its own and also includes the Jewish issues mentioned in the diary.

I'd like to dismiss it out of hand, but frankly cannot muster that much confidence in the typical voter. Has anyone devised counter measures to this sort of sludge fest?