Worst Palin Smear to Date

by Janet Crain











Florida Representative Hasting has made the most outrageously ignorant remark concerning Sarah Palin I have seen yet. Being from Texas, it comes as no shock to me that a woman hunts and can skin a moose. Our country was founded by women like this, not to mention a history stretching into the dawn of time of indigenous women who were capable of such feats. Our own Democratic Governor Ann Richards liked to hunt. Why on earth would a man equate this with intolerance of minorities?

Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings on Wednesday warned two minority groups to beware of Sarah Palin because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”

Hastings, who is black and a Democrat, made the comment in Florida at a panel discussion hosted by the National Jewish Democratic Council. The group recently criticized Palin’s invitation to an anti-Iran rally held during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad’s visit to New York to speak before the U.N. General Assembly.

Hastings was explaining what he intended to tell his Jewish constituents about the presidential race.

“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,” Hastings told the audience, which burst into laughter and applause, according to individuals present.

Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to comment. The Republican Jewish Coalition strongly condemned Hastings’ statements.

“Rep. Hastings stooped to the worst kind of divisive politics yesterday,” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said in a written statement. “Hastings’ unconscionable remarks do nothing but sow seeds of fear and divide people. There should be no place in our country for this sort of political discourse. We can constructively disagree on the issues without denigrating others.”

This is just another example of someone (or a whole party of someones) who lacking facts, is attempting to scare people with unfounded out and out lies!!! JC

The Jewish Journal

August 29, 2008

ANALYSIS: Sarah Palin . . . and the Jews

When Sen. John McCain tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate today, the Jewish political blogosphere -- as loud and fast and opinionated as (for lack of a better word) the Gentile Web -- came to a screeching halt.

After all, you can fight about John McCain, and Barack Obama, and Joe Biden . . .but Sarah Palin?

It took an Internet eternity for Jewish Republicans to come out swinging for Sarah, an just as long for Jewish Democrats to hit back.

"Home run!" Larry Greenfield, the California director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, wrote me via e-mail five hours after McCain's announcement. "Governor Palin has a very close relationship with the Jewish community of Alaska, with Chabad (Rabbi Greenberg) and with AIPAC. She is close to the Frozen Chosen!"

Seconds later came a blast from Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) claiming Palin endorsed Pat Buchanan's presidential run in 2000: "John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for President in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans." (Palin never endorsed Buchanan)

An e-mail quickly circulated linking to an article on a right-leaning web site claiming Biden was in the pocket of the Iranian mullahs. As for AIPAC's kind words about Biden? "AIPAC has to say nice things," a Republican activist told me. "They have to be bi-partisan." And that pro-Zionist quote? Pretty words, just like his boss, Obama.

The Dems responded with a further defense of Biden's record. If you could call Biden's support for Israel into question, said the Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council Ira Forman, then you could call Golda Meir's loyalty to Israel in question.

The Veep debate among Jews is important because there are many Jewish voters who are still a bit leery about Obama. Jews traditionally vote Democratic (upwards of 75 percent voted for John Kerry in 2004 -- and we didn't even really like him). A growing number of Jews have found a home in the Republican party, and are fairly candidate-proof -- they vote red no matter what.

A significant number of Jewish voters, however, will change their vote depending on which candidate they perceive as "better for Israel." These voters believe that Israel is facing immediate existential threats from Palestinian terror, from a near-nuclear Iran, and from over-eager politicians forcing it to make dangerous territorial concessions for the sake of elusive peace. These voters -- call them "Israel Firsters" -- see their one vote as crucial to preventing another Holocaust, and theirs are the votes that Jewish Dems and Jewish Republicans are fighting over.

Obama and Israel is the battleground issue for Jewish voters in the 2008 election -- these are the Jewish votes up for grabs in this race. If Republicans can paint Obama as a Muslim or Muslim sympathizer, as an appeaser to Iran, as inexperienced on foreign policy, as insufficiently caring about Israel in his kishkes -- the Yiddish word for guts -- then they can peel off Jewish votes.

This strategy won't matter in heavily pro-Democratic states like California and New York, but it can matter in swing states like Ohio and Florida. And it matters elsewhere in the race: Jews give money, Jews get involved, Jews shape opinion far out of proportion to their numbers. (Yes, there are only six of us in the entire country. Amazing what controlling the media will get you!)

Enter Sarah.

If McCain had picked Mitt Romney or Tom Ridge or -- cue the bar mitzvah band -- Joe Lieberman, he would have unquestionably swept up the Israel Firsters. These men have track records and gravitas when it comes to Israel and foreign policy. (This debate among Jews and Israel reflects the larger foreign policy concerns about Obama that Republicans are making the centerpiece of their opposition. Many conflicts in Jewish life mirror conflicts in the larger culture -- that's Anthropology 101).

But he chose Sarah Palin: former mayor of a small Alaska town, governor of Alaska, devout Christian.

For Jews who are not necessarily Israel Firsters, she carries some positives and negatives. Positives: she is a crusader for good government and a fiscal conservative. She is smart and successful and patriotic. Jews like all these things.

"As governor of Alaska, Palin has enjoyed a strong working relationship with Alaska's Jewish community. She has demonstrated sensitivity to the concerns of the community and has been accessible and responsive," said Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/analysis_sarah_palin_and_the_jews_20080829/