Op-Ed: Tough questions about Obama needed to be asked http://jta.org/ENTRY_PERMALINK_HERE/op-ed-the-debate-that-needed-to-happen/ The leader of the Republican Jewish Coalition says his organization's election-season tactics were fair -- and necessary. en-us mbrodsky@jta.org Copyright 2008 2008-11-09T;14:56:00-05:00 Comment by Alan Jay Weisbard alan.weisbard@gmail.com Brooks and the RJC have shamed themselves and will rightly harvest the bitter fruits of their despicable smear campaign. They deserve a term in the wilderness, and should not return to the scene until they are able to engage in civil and constructive discourse. Judging from Mr. Brooks’ post-election statements and degree of self-deception (his success in deceiving others is clearly minimal), that is likely to take some time. Serious atonement is in order. --The Wise Bard Brooks and the RJC have shamed themselves and will rightly harvest the bitter fruits of their despicable smear campaign. They deserve a term in the wilderness, and should not return to the scene until they are able to engage in civil and constructive discourse. Judging from Mr. Brooks’ post-election statements and degree of self-deception (his success in deceiving others is clearly minimal), that is likely to take some time. Serious atonement is in order.
--The Wise Bard

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by Larry Greenfield Lrg01@earthlink.net Did Rabbi Waskow just describe the film Obsession, which makes clear its concerns are about all victims, (including Muslim victims) of radical Islam, a “ vile attack on all Islam?” Do you have to have any common sense or intelligence to be a Rabbi ? Did the good RABBI condemn the fraudulent Israelis for Obama video, which Israeli Generals had to come out and dispute, as they did not endorse Obama?  Did he condemn Rep. Robert Wexler, who purposefly smeared Gov Palin as a supporter of Buchanan, when she adores Israel and endorsed Steve Forbes? Does the Rabbi condemn the hate speech of Dennis Ross, who compared Jewish Republicans to Arafat ?  Or MJ Rosenberg, who lied and claimed the RJC engaged in Race Mongering and called Obama a Muslim Terrorist ? Take the far left wing bias elsewhere, Rabbi.  Shame on you. Did Rabbi Waskow just describe the film Obsession, which makes clear its concerns are about all victims, (including Muslim victims) of radical Islam, a “ vile attack on all Islam?”

Do you have to have any common sense or intelligence to be a Rabbi ?

Did the good RABBI condemn the fraudulent Israelis for Obama video, which Israeli Generals had to come out and dispute, as they did not endorse Obama?  Did he condemn Rep. Robert Wexler, who purposefly smeared Gov Palin as a supporter of Buchanan, when she adores Israel and endorsed Steve Forbes?

Does the Rabbi condemn the hate speech of Dennis Ross, who compared Jewish Republicans to Arafat ?  Or MJ Rosenberg, who lied and claimed the RJC engaged in Race Mongering and called Obama a Muslim Terrorist ?

Take the far left wing bias elsewhere, Rabbi.  Shame on you.

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by Bruce Levine wepeccant@hotmail.com On April 22, when Hillary Clinton was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, her response was that she would have U.S. forces attack Iran. President-elect Obama’s response was that her language was much too strong.  I guess he would want to have dialog with the Iranians to discuss next steps. We all know that President-elect Obama has publicly rejected the support of Louis Farrakhan. We also know that Barak Obama left the Trinity Church at the very end of May of 2008 when the he took heat about the somewhat radical sermons and writings of his religious mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I would like to hear the answer to one simple question.  Why did Barak Obama not leave Trinity Church at the beginning of November 2007 when the church held a gala event at the Chicago Hyatt Regency and honored Louis Farrakhan there with a lifetime achievement award?  This wasn’t something that happened many years ago, like the William Ayers issue.  This happened just 12 months ago. I try to imagine the uproar that probably would have occurred if it was revealed that John McCain attended a chuch that gave, say for instance, David Duke its Man of the Year award. Please help me understand this. Blessings to all. On April 22, when Hillary Clinton was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, her response was that she would have U.S. forces attack Iran.

President-elect Obama’s response was that her language was much too strong.  I guess he would want to have dialog with the Iranians to discuss next steps.

We all know that President-elect Obama has publicly rejected the support of Louis Farrakhan.

We also know that Barak Obama left the Trinity Church at the very end of May of 2008 when the he took heat about the somewhat radical sermons and writings of his religious mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

I would like to hear the answer to one simple question.  Why did Barak Obama not leave Trinity Church at the beginning of November 2007 when the church held a gala event at the Chicago Hyatt Regency and honored Louis Farrakhan there with a lifetime achievement award?  This wasn’t something that happened many years ago, like the William Ayers issue.  This happened just 12 months ago.

I try to imagine the uproar that probably would have occurred if it was revealed that John McCain attended a chuch that gave, say for instance, David Duke its Man of the Year award.

Please help me understand this.

Blessings to all.

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by John Hanks portage@uwyo.edu So far, I’d say “What’s the beef?” Obama has answered every right-wing Zionist prayer so far.  He has followed the Israeli line to the letter.  No talks with Iran or Hammas.  Emmanuel as gate-keeper. So far, I’d say “What’s the beef?” Obama has answered every right-wing Zionist prayer so far.  He has followed the Israeli line to the letter.  No talks with Iran or Hammas.  Emmanuel as gate-keeper.

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by richard nodel rnodel@nodelparks.com For Mr. Brooks to claim that the RJC in any way contributed to constructive and intelligent debate during the camapign is not only extreme “chutzpah”,but untrue. By resorting to inuendo and smear,the RJC embarrssed itself and all Jews. The ads they ran each week in our local Jewish News could have been taken from any fringe group that seeks to gain support through intimidation and fear. For Mr. Brooks to claim that the RJC in any way contributed to constructive and intelligent debate during the camapign is not only extreme “chutzpah”,but untrue. By resorting to inuendo and smear,the RJC embarrssed itself and all Jews. The ads they ran each week in our local Jewish News could have been taken from any fringe group that seeks to gain support through intimidation and fear.

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by Reb Bahir Davis hayair@comcast.net B’H How sad that we are judged by association.  McCain had associations that also might have been attacked, as do we all. We have different views and the accuracy of them will unfold with time.  I find some hint of hope in the new chief of staff.  I find some sadness in the partisan bickering that still holds sway.  I do not find that the RJC handled itself in an open and straightforward manner.  I felt that much of their message was sent out in the form of attack ads and attack dogs.  This is unfortunate.  A good debate, without rancour opens the mind.  Name calling and attacking associations and ill-informed fear mongering does not. The election is past.  It is time to work together on so many fronts.  As Jews, we have a responsibility to our spiritual homeland and to the homeland that has nurtured us.  Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise spoke of Minhag America.  I look at the broader meaning than services and rituals.  I see it as our place in this country.  Let us be good conservators of Minhag America, arguing our postions in honest good faith.  Let us leave the muck-raking to another era.  And when conflict of opinion does occur, let it be as gentle as the conflict of rain on a leaf. Many blessings Reb Bahir B’H

How sad that we are judged by association.  McCain had associations that also might have been attacked, as do we all.

We have different views and the accuracy of them will unfold with time.  I find some hint of hope in the new chief of staff. 

I find some sadness in the partisan bickering that still holds sway.  I do not find that the RJC handled itself in an open and straightforward manner.  I felt that much of their message was sent out in the form of attack ads and attack dogs.  This is unfortunate.  A good debate, without rancour opens the mind.  Name calling and attacking associations and ill-informed fear mongering does not.

The election is past.  It is time to work together on so many fronts.  As Jews, we have a responsibility to our spiritual homeland and to the homeland that has nurtured us.  Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise spoke of Minhag America.  I look at the broader meaning than services and rituals.  I see it as our place in this country.  Let us be good conservators of Minhag America, arguing our postions in honest good faith.  Let us leave the muck-raking to another era.  And when conflict of opinion does occur, let it be as gentle as the conflict of rain on a leaf.

Many blessings

Reb Bahir

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by Lee Ann leannsherman@sbcglobal.net Just because a lengthy list of rabbis, Jewish scientists, and other Jewish notables supported Obama doesn’t make those supporters right - and contrary to Mr. Stolow’s assertion that we Jewish non-Obama supporters engaged in ‘outright lies,’ it’s no lie that Barack and Michelle Obama were members of Jeremiah Wright’s church for TWENTY years.  (Yes, I know they left the church - when it was politically expedient.) Surely not all of his associates - Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, Khalid al-Mansour, Tony Rezko, Edward Said, and more - are merely tangential.  And I have to ask - What kind of First Lady spends her leisure time with the woman sitting front and center in this photo?: http://eforum.reviewjournal.com/lv/showthread.php?t=24270 Just because a lengthy list of rabbis, Jewish scientists, and other Jewish notables supported Obama doesn’t make those supporters right - and contrary to Mr. Stolow’s assertion that we Jewish non-Obama supporters engaged in ‘outright lies,’ it’s no lie that Barack and Michelle Obama were members of Jeremiah Wright’s church for TWENTY years.  (Yes, I know they left the church - when it was politically expedient.)

Surely not all of his associates - Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, Khalid al-Mansour, Tony Rezko, Edward Said, and more - are merely tangential. 

And I have to ask - What kind of First Lady spends her leisure time with the woman sitting front and center in this photo?:

http://eforum.reviewjournal.com/lv/showthread.php?t=24270

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by David Stolow dstolow@comcast.net This article gives new meaning to the word “mendacity.” After a constant barrage of hate, half-truths and outright lies, the RJC is now trying to pretend that they engaged in some sort of salon-room debate. What they did do is take a page from the Joseph Goebbels/Lee Atwater/Karl Rove txtbook of political discourse and make Israel into a wedge issue within the Jewish community. Now, if one doesn’t toe the Likud line as promulgated in the US by AIPAC, The RJC, Malcolm Hoenlein and the like (let’s just call them the “American Friends of Likud” or AFL) then you must be pro-Arab and willing to give up on Israel. This outrageous undermining of the Zionist project will do nothing but lose support for Israel among younger Jews while those of us who have been around a while are going, like me, to start asking how many members of the AFL are on the allocation committee before we write our next check to a Jewish organization. Obama got 78% of the Jewish vote because most Jews, no matter how much we earn or how much the AFL tries to scare us, still know the difference between right and wrong. A lesson the AFL has yet to learn and, based on this article, has no intention of learning.. This article gives new meaning to the word “mendacity.” After a constant barrage of hate, half-truths and outright lies, the RJC is now trying to pretend that they engaged in some sort of salon-room debate. What they did do is take a page from the Joseph Goebbels/Lee Atwater/Karl Rove txtbook of political discourse and make Israel into a wedge issue within the Jewish community. Now, if one doesn’t toe the Likud line as promulgated in the US by AIPAC, The RJC, Malcolm Hoenlein and the like (let’s just call them the “American Friends of Likud” or AFL) then you must be pro-Arab and willing to give up on Israel. This outrageous undermining of the Zionist project will do nothing but lose support for Israel among younger Jews while those of us who have been around a while are going, like me, to start asking how many members of the AFL are on the allocation committee before we write our next check to a Jewish organization. Obama got 78% of the Jewish vote because most Jews, no matter how much we earn or how much the AFL tries to scare us, still know the difference between right and wrong. A lesson the AFL has yet to learn and, based on this article, has no intention of learning..

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by Rabbi Arthur Waskow Awaskow@aol.com Dear chevra— Advertising that voting for Obama was inviting a Holocaust—now that wasn’t smear and calumny? Supporting the distribution of a vile attack on all islam (the “"Obsession" film) through ads in newspapers distributed specifically in “swing” states—that wasn’t vile calumny?  Refusing to denounce a candidate who claimed that Senator Obama was palling around with terrorists—that was responsible campaigning?  Attacking Obama for having conversations with a Palestinian-American scholar and learning from him how Palestinians see the world—that attack wasn’t abysmal stupidity and smear? All these were actions of the RJC. Thank God—and I do mean thank God, and the deep Torah-rooted values of our community— these attacks seem to have motivated more, not less, Jewish support for a calm, focused, even-tempered, and highly intelligent man who has sought to understand the wide variety of opinion in the world, and integrate all of it into his ability to lead America and the world; who keeps saying (and setting forth policies that say), “We ARE our brothers’ keeper; we ARE our sisters’ keeper.” If the RJC would remember that it was Theodore Roosevelt, scourge of corporate greed and protector of nature, who put the first Jew in an American cabinent—Oscar Straus—they might become both better Jews and better Republicans. -- Rabbi Arthur Waskow (Awaskow@aol.com) Dear chevra— Advertising that voting for Obama was inviting a Holocaust—now that wasn’t smear and calumny? Supporting the distribution of a vile attack on all islam (the “"Obsession" film) through ads in newspapers distributed specifically in “swing” states—that wasn’t vile calumny?  Refusing to denounce a candidate who claimed that Senator Obama was palling around with terrorists—that was responsible campaigning?  Attacking Obama for having conversations with a Palestinian-American scholar and learning from him how Palestinians see the world—that attack wasn’t abysmal stupidity and smear? All these were actions of the RJC.

Thank God—and I do mean thank God, and the deep Torah-rooted values of our community— these attacks seem to have motivated more, not less, Jewish support for a calm, focused, even-tempered, and highly intelligent man who has sought to understand the wide variety of opinion in the world, and integrate all of it into his ability to lead America and the world; who keeps saying (and setting forth policies that say), “We ARE our brothers’ keeper; we ARE our sisters’ keeper.”

If the RJC would remember that it was Theodore Roosevelt, scourge of corporate greed and protector of nature, who put the first Jew in an American cabinent—Oscar Straus—they might become both better Jews and better Republicans.

-- Rabbi Arthur Waskow (Awaskow@aol.com)

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00 Comment by Henry Levine hlevine@lb3law.com Suffice it to say that the campaign that Mr. Brooks remembers is not the one experienced by me or ( I believe) most of the other 78% of American Jewish voters who ultimately voted for President-elect Obama. To cite just two examples: 1.  I recall no attacks on Senator McCain’s support for Israel, but numerous false attacks on the President-elect’s views.  He was and is a strong supporter of Israel’s security, and there never were and are not now “serious and legitimate reasons to be concerned by [his] positions on Israel, Iran and the Middle East.” 2.  Senator Lieberman’s fate is undetermined as I write this, but in light of the fact that he not only endorsed Senator McCain but spoke at the Republican convention and [despite promises not to do so] criticized President-elect Obama during the campaign, any decision to replace him as chairman of one of the Senate’s most important committees can hardly be viewed as a threat, rebuke, or penalty.  The Democratic Caucus did not leave Senator Lieberman—he left it. Suffice it to say that the campaign that Mr. Brooks remembers is not the one experienced by me or ( I believe) most of the other 78% of American Jewish voters who ultimately voted for President-elect Obama. To cite just two examples:

1.  I recall no attacks on Senator McCain’s support for Israel, but numerous false attacks on the President-elect’s views.  He was and is a strong supporter of Israel’s security, and there never were and are not now “serious and legitimate reasons to be concerned by [his] positions on Israel, Iran and the Middle East.”

2.  Senator Lieberman’s fate is undetermined as I write this, but in light of the fact that he not only endorsed Senator McCain but spoke at the Republican convention and [despite promises not to do so] criticized President-elect Obama during the campaign, any decision to replace him as chairman of one of the Senate’s most important committees can hardly be viewed as a threat, rebuke, or penalty.  The Democratic Caucus did not leave Senator Lieberman—he left it.

]]> 2009-11-08T;20:17:00-05:00