Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Obama, the Jews, and Israel, Part II

Sometimes it's just funny how far removed from reality the Republican talking points are. As you may recall, Republicans have been trying to push the message that Obama is bad for Israel and has a long, scary pattern of associating with anti-semites.

Today he chose Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff. Emanuel is an Orthodox Jew. His father is Israeli. During the first Gulf War, Emanuel was a civilian volunteer in Israel, rust-proofing brakes on an army base in the north. He supported this Bush's Iraq war, too.

What an Israel-hating anti-semite that Obama is.

16 comments:

jewish philosopher said...

I'm excited about the gay marriage thing being defeated. Thank God for that.

Holy Hyrax said...

Are you sure he is an orthodox jew? He sends his kids to a conservative school

Holy Hyrax said...

wait, I think you are right.

Comrade Kevin said...

Nice to think we'll get a break from having to hear those scare tactics for a while.

Anonymous said...

Alright! Can't wait to show this to my entire family, who warned me direly, "Obama is a terrorist; Obama will cause another Holocaust" and other garbage fed to them by McCain and the rabbis.
This is great :D

mOOm said...

Always thought that guy was an Arab or something, but turns out that Rahm is just a weird spelling of ram = high.

Anonymous said...

Sheesh JA - couldn't we take just one day out to celebrate, instead of going straight back into the partisan stuff? Heck, even I managed to say something not completely terrible about Obama in the last thread...

But okay. As to pushing the message - the only problem with dismissing this as a smear is that Obama *does* have a long, scary of associating with anti-Israel types (you can find plenty of quotes from Rashid Khalidi and Bill Ayers all over the web to back this up, and doubtless there are others) - whether they're anti-Semites or just anti-Zionists (the usual excuse for left-wing anti-semitism) is a matter of opinion, but it's surely inarguable that Obama has long cultivated people who have a history of less than positive feelings towards Israel.

As for Rahm Emmanuel, he wasn't picked because he was a Jew and a friend of Israel - he was picked because he's a product of exactly the same corrupt Chicago machine as Obama (he even has his own felon who helped with his rise). It's just another sign that Obama has no intention of putting his past behind him and instead intends to bring the worst of Chicago to Washington. In any case, if you want to understand what the Obama administration's policy towards Israel is likely to be, you need to see his SecState and SecDef appointments, not chief of staff.

I for one am not particularly worried about this - Obama has never given the impression of being a man overburdened with principle, and I am quite certain that the anti-Zionists who helped him on the way up will be joining rev. Wright and all the others under the bus and Obama will adopt a position on Israel not significantly different to any of his predecessors.

asher said...

Why didn't he pick him as Sec of State?

Hey, give Obama a break. He only spent 600 million in advertising and had the backing of Wall Street (5 to 1 vs. Mccain...it's been reported) as well as millions in undocumented "contributions". But this is has got to be the greatest con job in the history of politics.

You've got to look at who voted to try and figure it out. Single women were 79% Obama to 20% or so for Mccain. Jews voted for Obama in a higher percentage than they did for Kerry. Amazingly, Obama recieved almost 99% of the afro-american vote....but that's not relevent.

I could laud you with tales of waiting on line to vote at 6:10 am, but I can only attribute it to the good work of ACORN. I'm sure folks must have voted at different places using different names all day.

And did you hear, Al Franken seems to have lost by about 850 votes? I guess folks out there really take these things seriously. Then again, didn't they vote in Jesse the Body Ventura as governor some time ago?

It was quite a day.

mOOm said...

Most of the comments on the Fox NEws website also claim that Obama could only have won through a fraud of some sort... I was surprised instead that he wasn't more consistently ahead during the campaign. When the economy is bad the incumbent party usually loses the presidency and vice versa. So it would've been surprising if Obama had lost. The only states that swung to the Republicans were Arizona and Alaska (expected due to candidates) and Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and W. Virginia (deep southern states with lower black populations to offset the racist vote) and very strangely Louisiana.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/05/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_RECAP.html

The Candy Man said...

Yeah, I was struck by this irony earlier today as well. What do you expect from Orthodox Jews though. They have an innate distrust of anyone who is not Jewish, particularly if they are of another race.

The best thing for Orthodoxy would be if all the Orthopraxers came out of the closet. My, what a show that would be.

Scott said...

Emanuel is a pro-war democrat who stated to Tim Russert he would have voted for the Iraq war even if he *knew* there were no WMD's.

Not the change we need.

Anonymous said...

But look what they are about to do to the Jew Lieberman.

Anonymous said...

The Candy Man said...
Yeah, I was struck by this irony earlier today as well. What do you expect from Orthodox Jews though. They have an innate distrust of anyone who is not Jewish, particularly if they are of another race.

That's called bull crap. As for Emanuel he may be Orthodox but he he pushed for Arafat and Rabin to shake hands.

EnnisP said...

You must go easy on Obama. His past friends were the only ones who would associate with him in his early years and they had something in common other than anti-semitism. I am sure his individual colors (no pun intended) will become more apparent as he leads.

Nelson Mandela was in a similar place during the apartheid years. The only friends he had were undesirable in any other context. Once freed from prision, and apartheid laws rescinded, Mandela, the individual, shown through. The only thing he had in common with the undesireables was anti-apartheid sentiment. I think we will find the same thing is true with Obama.

Personally, I think what he has done and who he is bodes well for American relations with Israel. I doubt he will do much for orthodoxy of any kind but he will keep a respectable peace. He is no Black Panther.

I actually voted for Obama and I have never voted for Dems before in my life. I may be a hopeful dreamer but so be it. I couldn't stomach the mud slinging scare tactics of the Republicans.

Jack Steiner said...

I'm excited about the gay marriage thing being defeated. Thank God for that.

Better watch out. Those angry gays are going to target you. In a couple of days you're going to be sprayed with the secret gay pheromone and you'll be one of them too. And what will you do then, it is so dangerous to be gay.

I am still laughing at all the people who suggest that the only way Obama won was to have engaged in dirty tricks.

Poor losers.

Jacknhoo said...

Rahm is a jewish heretic...100% Pro Abortion.