In the NY Times book review section on Sunday there was a quote from Walter Isaacson, the author of a biography of Kissenger and the president of the Aspen Institute that caught my eye. He said, "the George W Bush team took office trying to create complete control of the message as opposed to serving the truth". Now, everyone is expressing their desire to go off message and W is having a fit. Scott McClellan and his book is a wonderful example of this sounding off syndrome. McClellan it seems wasn't supposed to function as a press secretary at all, but to impersonate one. He gained the spotlight for several weeks going on TV and talking about his book, "What Happened". This is the latest product of what Isaacson calls the"it wasn't my fault industry". Does this seem somewhat immature to you to lie in order to ingratiate yourself with the man/woman who is most popular? As my friend Judy just pointed out ,Karl Rove has a teen mentality and wants to take his best shot at everybody who disagrees with him. ****Maureen Dowd quotes Rove as saying,"“Even if you never met him, you know this Obama guy. He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.” Really, I'd like to know what country club Obama would have gotten into some fifteen years ago and still today? Rove never grew up and does a lot of damage by name calling and trying to tarnish a person's reputation. His adolescent behavior ,name calling, starting rumors, and pitting one group against another is just not going to work against Obama. Who is going to believe that this Obama who grew up with a single mother and just paid off his college loans was sitting around at country clubs? In fact this sounds very much like young W who was often drunk or stoned most of the time and indeed was a member of many such clubs. This need for Rove to lie, keep on message no matter what, sounds like a desperate teenager covering his behind. Unlike W says Dowd,"Obama doesn't have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn't make snarky remarks. He tries to stay on a positive keel and see things from the other person's perspective". How refreshing is that , for a young man who the GOP says has not gained enough experience to be so wise. I'd say he has it all over those old farts, nostalgic for high school pranks. Here's to Obama, the good guy reaching out his hand to negotiate problems vs old Rove, W, and McSame acting like spoiled angry children who didn't get their way.
Love,Sunny
A Mama 4 Obama
****From Judy:
More Phony Myths
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
Karl Rove was impressed with Barack Obama when he first met him. But now he sees him as a “coolly arrogant” elitist.
This was Rove’s take on Obama to Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club Monday, according to Christianne Klein of ABC News:
“Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.”
Actually, that sounds more like W.
The cheap populism is really rich coming from Karl Rove. When was the last time he kicked back with a corncob pipe to watch professional wrestling?
Rove is trying to spin his myths, as he used to do with such devastating effect, but it won’t work this time. The absurd spectacle of rich white conservatives trying to paint Obama as a watercress sandwich with the crust cut off seems ugly and fake.
Obama can be aloof and dismissive at times, and he’s certainly self-regarding, carrying the aura of the Ivy faculty club. But isn’t that better than the aura of the country clubs that tried to keep out blacks? It’s ironic, and maybe inevitable, that the first African-American nominee comes across as a prince of privilege. He is, as Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic wrote, not the seed but the flower of the civil rights movement.
Unlike W., Obama doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn’t make a lot of snarky remarks. He tries to stay on a positive keel and see things from the other person’s point of view...(Read the rest on line Click here: Op-Ed Columnist - More Phony Myths - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com )
From Barbara in KS:
Thought you would like to read this. Patti and I went to college together and Don is her brother.
Subj: Political Treachery in the Name of Israel
This week's Chicago Daily Observer column. Should be circulated widely, especially to Jewish voters who may have received some of the propaganda described herein.
--don
Political Treachery in the Name of Israel and Judaism
By Don Rose
As an American Jew I find that the most deceitful, depraved and disgusting subcampaign of the presidential season is the viral e-mail and blogging attack on Barack Obama that characterizes him as an enemy of Israel if not Judaism itself.
This campaign goes far beyond the false but persistent rumor that he is a Muslim--as if that in itself were a criminal position--but tries to put him in the political bed of every enemy of Israel and America of the past half century.
Some of the slime that enters my inbox makes Joseph McCarthy look like the chairman of the ACLU.
The most recent, well-circulated missive comes from one Leon A. Weinstein of California who offers as his bona fides the claim that he is a Russian immigrant who first lived in Israel before coming to the States, and elsewhere describes himself as a marketing expert who has pledged to do all in his power to stop Obama.
OK--that's his right. He is apparently a conservative Republican with lots of legitimate disagreements with the essentially liberal Democratic candidate.
But look at some of Weinstein's--and others--arguments: Obama, he says, is endorsed by "a scaring host of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli people and organizations" including: "Hamas Terrorist Organization," "Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades," "Socialist Party USA (Marxist Political Party)" "Raul Castro (Hard-line Communist Leader, Cuba)" and "Daniel Ortega (Marxist Sandinista Leader, Nicaragua)" to say nothing of Louis Farrakhan, whom Obama has rejected, renounced and denounced. (All the parenthetical descriptions above are Weinstein's.)
Where did Weinstein get such information?
On the Internet, he acknowledges.
But this tissue of guilt by associations, apparently, is not sufficiently "scaring." Weinstein goes on to identify a host of actual Obama supporters who have varying positions on the Middle East and misrepresents both their ties to the candidate, as well as their positions.
Weinstein charges that Obama asked Zbigniew Brzezinski to be his "chief political advisor"--a lie. The former National Security Advisor is simply one of many secondary and tertiary foreign policy advisors.
Brzezinski's sin? He advocated talks with Hamas--talks such as Israel has been undergoing for several months now!
In a major howler, Weinstein tries to make the arch cold-warrior Brzezinski into a Communist sympathizer by taking some odd quote out of context.
And so it goes with half a dozen other figures Weinstein cites.
The goal of these long-winded, demonstrably dishonest rants obviously is to discredit Obama as anti-Israel and his Jewish supporters as self-haters--the ultimate smear of any Jew who does not toe a 250 percent hard line in support of Israel with no sympathy for any Arabs or Palestinians.
It is religion used as a weapon in a way that would make Jerry Falwell envious.
The fact is, Obama already toes a pretty hard line in Israel's favor. One arbiter of such is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful Jewish lobby, which accords Obama a 100 percent pro-Israel rating.
More fact: many progressive Jewish organizations, which do not share AIPAC's hard-line thinking, have criticized Obama for going overboard in AIPAC's direction, as in his calling for an undivided Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
Obama has plenty of Jewish support. In the primaries he won about 43 percent of the Jewish vote against Clinton and others who have spent decades courting the tiny but potent Jewish base. Compare that to 39 percent of the rest of the white vote.
Even Sen. Joe Lieberman's stepson Ethan Tucker--a rabbi--is an Obama endorser.
Conservative Republicans have long tried to use Israel as a wedge issue to peel Jewish voters away from their solid Democratic roots.
With something less than 3 percent of the population, Jews cast nearly twice that number of votes and are a major political funding source.
Want to talk political power? With that small percentage of the population, Jews constitute 13 percent of the U.S. Senate, comprising 9 Democrats, 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats and 2 Republicans.
Little wonder the Republicans want to break up this powerful voting bloc.
Ever since Franklin Roosevelt got 90 percent of the Jewish vote, only one Republican ever got 40 percent--Dwight Eisenhower. Ronald Reagan came close with 36 percent.
Bill Clinton got the vote back to 80 percent; Al Gore got 79 percent and John Kerry 76 percent.
With Obama's unusual background, odd name and the backdrop of race, GOP strategists see a potential of eating further into the constituency. Guys like Leon A. Weinstein among others don't seem to care how they accomplish the goal.
The whispering campaign about Obama being a secret Muslim was denounced by Jewish leaders of all stripes--most recently by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York.
Earlier in the year a letter signed by groups ranging from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee and National Council of Jewish Women said:
"…many in our community have received hateful e-mails that use falsehood and innuendo to mischaracterize Senator Obama's religious beliefs and who he is….
"These tactics attempt to drive a wedge between our community and a presidential candidate based on false attacks and innuendo based on religion….
"Attempts of this sort to mislead and inflame voters should not be part of our political discourse and should be rebuffed by all who believe in our democracy."
Now it's time for Bloomberg and the rest of Jewish leadership to stand up again and denounce the political treachery of the Weinsteins and those who falsely use the issue of religion and the Jewish homeland to accomplish their political ends.
From Andy Tobias NYC:
Eisenhowers for Obama
Published on June 25, 2008
Julie Nixon Eisenhower – who backed Bush in 2004 – is for Obama.
· Read the story here.
And Susan Eisenhower – Ike’s granddaughter and lifelong Republican – is for Obama.
I met her last week in Jacksonville at an Obama fundraiser organized in large part by a seriously wealthy Republican businessman who voted for Bush . . . twice . . . but is now persuading his Republican friends to support Obama.
· As Ms. Eisenhower wrote in the Washington Post this past winter:
I am convinced that Barack Obama is the one presidential candidate today who can encourage ordinary Americans to stand straight again; he is a man who can salve our national wounds and both inspire and pursue genuine bipartisan cooperation. Just as important, Obama can assure the world and Americans that this great nation's impulses are still free, open, fair and broad-minded. . . .
. . . If the Democratic Party chooses Obama as its candidate, this lifelong Republican will work to get him elected and encourage him to seek strategic solutions to meet America's greatest challenges. To be successful, our president will need bipartisan help.
Given Obama's support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole. Without his leadership, our children and grandchildren are at risk of growing older in a marginalized country that is left to its anger and divisions. Such an outcome would be an unacceptable legacy for any great nation.
Susan Eisenhower, a business consultant, is the author of four books, most recently "Partners in Space: US-Russian Cooperation After the Cold War."
F I’ve been making the case that your Republican friends only think they’re Republican.
The whole political landscape, I argue, has shifted so far right that they are now moderate Democrats. The Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin allowed me to make that case here.
Yes, the hard right – the Karl Roves and the James Dobsons and the Rush Limbaughs – will do their best to destroy Obama and make him out to be something he’s not. But if the liberals and the moderates and the Eisenhower Republicans – and even some 2004 Bush Republicans like the ones I met in Jacksonville – come out and vote November 4, the country could be reborn.
From Grandma Cathy NYC, a member of Women for Obama:
Sarah Heller Shapiro was born yesterday at a healthy 8 lbs 4 oz., 21 1/2 in long. Mother and baby are fine. **Note from Sunny: We now have three generations of Women for Obama, since Amy is in our blog as well as Sarah's Dad Ethan! Congratulations to the whole family including Grandpa Lloyd!
From Sue in the Hamptons:
Hi—
Just a quick reminder of a few upcoming events this week. Join us and support the Obama campaign!
1) UNITE FOR CHANGE BBQ ON SATURDAY, JUNE 28
Alex Merchant invites everyone from the East End who wants to see Obama win in November to join the fun.
Saturday June 28 at 5:30
The Merchants
50 Old Town Rd.
Southampton, NY 11968
RSVP at this link:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4ldl
or email alex at adm2143@columbia.edu
2) UNITE FOR CHANGE—‘FUN’-RAISER AT WANTAGH PARK
Obama for America volunteers in CD3, in conjunction with the Bellmore-Merrick Democratic Club, invite all Long Islanders to a Unite for Change picnic:
“Bring kids, family, neighbors, colleagues and friends. No speeches, just chat. Join Obama supporters and their families at Wantagh Park (South Picnic Areas #1 and #3). A ‘BARACK versus MICHELLE’ a softball game will be organized (both teams will be co-ed). Bring a glove and have fun. Voter Registration table. Volunteer sign-up table. Bring a blanket, sunscreen, lawn chairs, picnic basket, open canopy (max 10' x 10'). No pets. No liquor permit. A few bbq grills and several tables with benches are available. Picnic areas 1 and 3 are located at the end of the park drive near the bay and across from the boat basin (1 mile from park entrance).”
Saturday, June 28, from noon to 4 PM
Wantaugh Park, South Picnic Areas #! And #3
For more information or to sign up, here’s the link on the website:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/uniteforchange/4gpwc
3) UNITE FOR CHANGE—WALK ACROSS THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE
Join other Obama supporters and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge starting on the Brooklyn side at 9 AM and followed by a gathering in City Hall park.
Saturday, June 28. Contact Shannon Anderson (sanderson@newyorkobama.com) for details.
4) HOST YOUR OWN UNITY EVENT
Invite friends who supported Hillary and Barack for a coffee or BBQ to discuss what we all need to do to defeat McCain and the Republicans in the Fall.
Thanks for your help and support.
Obama for America
631-294-9324
From Nancy:
When I saw this, I thought of you since you were among the first people to share the great Obama image (in a similar hopeful style) with me…I hope you are well! I’ve been thoroughly enjoying your e-mails throughout the campaign. All the best,
From Brave New Films:
Joe Lieberman is a war hawk, plain and simple. He staunchly supports George Bush's War in Iraq and John McCain's plan to stay in Iraq for 100 years. But Lieberman's new alliance with the Republican Party runs even deeper. He has endorsed and stumped for McCain, wants to be the star of the Republican National Convention, and has even served on a 527 group that smeared Barack Obama with a nasty attack ad.
And yet Lieberman still holds a top rank within the Senate Democratic Caucus as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Senate Democratic Steering Committee needs to know just how much of a conflict of interest this is. That's why we created Lieberman Must Go.
Watch the video: http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/25427481/43061?utm_source=rgemail
Here's what you can do: Sign our petition today and tell the Senate Democratic Steering Committee to strip Lieberman of his leadership role in Congress. Then, e-mail this video to everyone you know and spread it on sites like Digg and elsewhere.
Recently in Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall suggested that the best way to limit Lieberman is by encouraging the Steering Committee to render him powerless in 2009. Lieberman must go, and you can make that happen by donating to Brave New Films today.
Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Team
From Ashley:
During the next week, more than 1,000 Obama supporters across the Country will be hosting Unite for Change parties. The goal of Unite for Change is to bring together people who supported all of the Democratic candidates, as well as Independents and even some Republicans. We want to reach out to anyone who is tired of the politics of the past and looking for new solutions to the challenges we're facing. We'll talk about the common values we share and our strategy for bringing more people into the political process than ever before. All are welcome! Please spread the word.
We hope you’ll join us on Monday, June 30, from 6 to 8 pm. Our home is at 10 Johnson Place, Rye, NY 10580. Please email ashleycraig@verizon.net to let us know if you are coming. Our number is (914) 381-4214.
Rob and Ashley Craig
From Elizabeth:
Dear friends,
...in case you didn't know about this effort.
Elizabeth
Subj: Signers Update: 5 Days Left on Declaration Signature Ad in NYTimes
Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you for signing your name to A Declaration for Our Times, which the Bill of Rights Defense Committee is publishing as a display ad in The New York Times on or near Independence Day (July 4, 2008) to stir nationwide debate and civic action toward restoring constitutional liberties and human rights for all U.S. residents.
So far 350 individuals and organizations have signed on and contributed about $14,000 of the $30,000 we need to pay for the ad. We hope to double the number of signers by our deadline of Sunday, June 29, 2008, at midnight Eastern Daylight Time.
If you have already asked your friends and family to join you in signing on, thank you! If you have not already done so, we ask you to encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to sign on to the ad as well. Here is a letter you can send to those you know about this exciting project:
Thank you for all you do.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee
8 Bridge Street, Suite A
Northampton, MA 01060
www.bordc.org
LAST CHANCE! Join Me in Signing a New Declaration in The New York Times!
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) is running A Declaration for Our Times (text below) as a display ad in The New York Times on or near Independence Day (July 4, 2008) to stir nationwide debate and civic action toward restoring constitutional liberties and human rights for all U.S. residents. (See the text below.)
I have already added my name to the declaration. So far 350 individuals and organizations have signed on and contributed about $14,000 of the $30,000 we need to pay for the ad. BORDC hopes to double the number of signers by our deadline of Sunday, June 29, 2008, at midnight Eastern Daylight Time.
I know that you, too, support the fundamental liberties and human rights guaranteed in our Constitution. Please join me in signing on to this ad to send a message to the government and the public. To sign on, go to http://www.constitutioncampaign.org/ad/. BORDC asks individual signers to donate $25 or more, and organizations to donate $50-$500 to help cover the $30,000 cost for the half-page ad. You may contribute online or by mailing a check. If you like the declaration but don't want your name to appear, you can still support this initiative. Go to the same page and check I would like to contribute without having my name printed in the Independence Day ad.
If there ever was a time for Americans to echo the spirit of July 4, 1776, it is now. Your name and mine among hundreds of others from across the country will show America the breadth of support for demanding that our representatives uphold their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution.
To see the ad as it will appear in the Times, go to http://constitutioncampaign.org/ad/ad.pdf.
All donors will receive a complimentary copy of the ad!
Sincerely,
[Your name]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When in the course of human events the government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the Right of the People to alter it and demand restoration of those Constitutional Principles that have so long assured their Liberty, Safety, and Happiness.
Therefore, on the anniversary of our Independence, we offer this new declaration for our times.
The history of this president is one of arbitrary usurpations of power, the effect of which is to establish tyranny through false promises of greater security.
He has created a multitude of new programs and sent swarms of petty officers to spy on Americans in a misguided effort to combat foreign terrorism. He has invested these agents with sweeping new powers to monitor our conversations and ransack our personal papers and effects without judicial supervision or any reason to believe - as the Constitution requires - that a crime has been committed.
He has further claimed the power to disregard legislation that Congress has passed.
He has suspended the laws and treaties against torture, authorized the kidnapping of mere suspects, and transported hundreds of prisoners beyond seas so that no independent judiciary could question the legality of their mistreatment.
He and his supporters in Congress have granted amnesty to the officials who unleashed torture and humiliation upon helpless prisoners, to the disgrace of our nation.
He has denied these prisoners access to attorneys, family, and friends, and has claimed the right to try them before military tribunals specifically designed to disregard the most basic principles of law.
He has imprisoned thousands of lawful immigrants for months without charges, under brutal conditions, until his agents, rather than independent courts, decided that they posed no threat.
He has wrapped his usurpations of power and his deprivations of liberty in thick cloaks of secrecy, thereby showing contempt for the rule of law and the proper functions of Congress, the courts, and the press.
At every stage of these oppressions we have sought redress, but our petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
We, therefore, resolve to resist these usurpations by all lawful means at our disposal. To this end, we insist that the powers of our national government be shared by all branches of government and not concentrated in one alone. And we call upon Congress, the courts, and the press to reassert their constitutional functions vigorously and restore the promise that is America.
To these ends, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
By Christopher Pyle, with apologies to Thomas Jefferson
From Anne in Chicago:
Do you get this?
Begin forwarded message:
From: Doni Remba
Date: June 26, 2008 7:05:17 AM CDT
To: a.wedner@comcast.net
Subject: Fight the Obama Smears! Special Issue
Reply-To: dremba@comcast.net
Fight the Obama Smears!
Jews for Obama Newsletter - Issue #4 June 26, 2008
Greetings!
The smears against Senator Obama continue unabated. The New York Times has just reported on a new rumor campaign questioning Obama's religious background launched by Floyd Brown. He's the man responsible for the Willie Horton TV ad that helped torpedo Michael S. Dukakis's candidacy in 1988, a man who views the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," which slandered Senator John Kerry in 2004, as a paragon of virtue.
Every day at Jews for Obama we receive new attacks on Senator Obama intended to frighten Jews with distortions and innuendo.
There are many ways we can join together to fight back. We've assembled a "Rapid Response Team" which researches every major viral hate email sent our way and posts the facts on a section of our website called React! With just one click, you can forward any of our rebuttals to those who have sent you a "Schvitz Boat" chain mail about Obama.
The Obama campaign has rolled out its own Fight the Smears website, providing facts to combat a few of the biggest lies. Jews for Obama's React! page is the central online clearinghouse for the American Jewish community for combatting the many falsehoods circulating about Obama which are of special concern to American Jews (and not addressed by the Obama campaign anti-smear site).
If you receive anti-Obama scare-mail from someone, don't sweat it! Forward it to us at chief-editor@jews4barack.com and if it merits a reply, we'll assign our SWAT (Special Writing Action Tactics) team to provide a rapid yet well-researched response.
In this issue of the Jews for Obama newsletter, we bring you our knock-down replies to several of the top Schvitz-Boat hate-mails which have been circulating of late in the American Jewish community. That's playing defense. But we can also play offense.
Join the nearly 800 American Jews who have already signed our statement "We are Jewish. We Stand with Barack Obama."
Send this message to the entire American Jewish community, and help get the word out - to Florida, Pennsylvania, and every state in the union:
As American Jews, we declare our support for Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. We stand with Senator Obama because of his lifelong commitment to values we as Jews hold dear, our tradition of tikkun olam - the Jewish mandate to "repair the world." We support Senator Obama as a leader who has demonstrated long-standing and unwavering support for Israel.
Senator Obama has earned our respect and gratitude for his statements of moral outrage at the use of murder and terror by groups like Hamas, and for his far-sighted rejection of an Iraq war that has destabilized the Middle East and strengthened Iran.
From the earliest days of this campaign, we have watched as unsubstantiated and vicious rumors have spread through our community. Not one of the rumors has proven true. We ask those who continue to stir up baseless fears of harm to Israel to cease at once. Each of us must choose to support a candidate based on his record and plans for the future, not malicious innuendo.
Click here to read and sign the full statement and to help us distribute this and other messages throughout the American Jewish community.
Forward this newsletter to at least 5 friends and family members and invite them to subscribe. Use the forward link above to insure that they receive the issue intact; the strict privacy of their email addresses is assured.
Top 5 Jewish-Themed Smears of Obama with Responses
The React! section of the Jews for Obama website provides extensive and frequently updated one-click email replies to the "Schvitz Boat" smears which continue to circulate through our community. Smear-mongers hope that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Here are five of the top recent smears of Jewish concern to which we've provided fleet-footed responses:
A. NY Mayor Bloomberg Blasts Rumor About Obama: Watch the web clip and read the article
B. Obama Not Linked to the PLO through Rashid Khalidi (J40 Exclusive)
C. Ted Belman and the anti-Obama Smear Machine, Jonathan Kamens (J40 Original)
D. Obama is NOT "the Hamas Candidate" (J40 Exclusive)
E. Myth: Obama Opposes Declaring Iranian Republican Guard a Terrorist Organization (J40 Exclusive)
Top 5 Recent Rabbinic Statements of Support for Obama
A. Rabbi Yosef Blau, Director of Religious Guidance at Yeshiva University and President of the Religious Zionists of America:
Obama's "record on issues of Jewish interest has been excellent." His "record is totally supportive of Jewish concerns." "Barack Obama's personality, record and policy proposals reflect a candidate with whom the Jewish community should be comfortable." Read Rabbi Blau's op-ed from the Jewish Week.
B. Rabbi Henry Jay Karp, Temple Emanuel, Davenport Iowa
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to you because I am increasingly disturbed by what appears to be a concerted campaign to discredit Barack Obama within the American Jewish community. Whether or not you choose to support Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, as rabbinic colleagues I feel a need to share with you what I have learned about the man - and it is quite different from the rumors that refuse to die in our Jewish community. Read Rabbi Karp's letter.
C. Mr. Obama Goes to Shul, Rabbi Kurt Stone, Boca Raton, Florida
Senator Barack Obama came to Temple B'nai Torah this afternoon [to speak to an audience of 750 mostly-Jewish men, women and teens.] The Senator won over the vast majority of the assembled minyan. During the more than two hours he spent speaking and dialoguing, Senator Obama made it abundantly clear that he was, is, and always shall be, a staunch defender of the Jewish State.
One should know a fact: After going over the voting records of both Senator Clinton and Obama vis-a-vis issues pertaining to Israel, AIPAC -- the main Israel support lobby in the U.S. gave both a 100% rating. That's 100% of the time that both senators voted in a manner that was favorable to the Jewish State. Read Rabbi Karp's testimonial on Obama's appearance at B'nai Torah in Boca
Watch Senator Obama speak at B'nai Torah in Boca Raton or read his speech
D. Rabbi Ethan Tucker (Senator Joe Lieberman's son)
E. Rabbi Gary Gerson, Oak Park Temple, Oak Park, Illinois
Barack Obama, A True Friend of Israel, Gidon D. Remba, The Jerusalem Report
Only two governments on earth are in shock over the newly revealed Israeli-Syrian dialogue: the Iranian regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Bush administration, which reportedly called Israel's overture towards Syria "a slap in the face." Such language is not unlike that doubtlessly heard in government halls in Tehran and Hezbollah's Beirut these days about their Syrian ally.
Barack Obama and John McCain bring to this pregnant Mideast moment two sharply divergent conceptions of America's place in the world. Read more
Will the Real Tax-and-Spender Please Fess Up?
Economists across the political spectrum question McCain's portrayal of Obama:
"The important thing is to look at overall impact on people" and on this score, "the vast majority of the population, almost the entirety of the middle class, would see more from Obama than McCain." -- John Irons of the Economic Policy Institute
To read more on why economists cast doubt on McCain's claims about Obama's economic policy click here.
Click here or on the image above to watch a brief interview with Obama on his approach to our economy.
What Obama Really Said About an "Undivided" Jerusalem
After delivering an historic speech to AIPAC testifying to his unshakeable commitment to Israel's security, did Senator Obama backtrack on his promise to support Jerusalem as the "undivided" capital of Israel?
Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., an Orthodox Jew, a strong supporter of Israel told ABC News, "that is not backtracking." Senator Obama's "position has been the same for the past 16 months," Wexler said.
"He believes Jerusalem should be an undivided city and must be the capital of a Jewish state of Israel. He has also said - and it's the same position as President Bush, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - that Jerusalem is of course a 'final status' issue," meaning it would be one of the key and final points of negotiation for a Palestinian state. "And Sen. Obama as president would not dictate final status issues. He will permit the Palestinians and Israel to negotiate, and he would respect any conclusion they reach."
Learn more about the Jerusalem controversy.
New York City Jews for Obama Organizing Party: Saturday, June 28, 8:00 P.M.
240 West 98th Street #7E (New York, NY)
House party for Jewish Obama supporters who want to work in the Jewish community to support Obama. Let's get to know each other and talk about how we can build Jewish support for Obama with Get Out the Vote activities in Pennsylvania, Florida and closer to home.
Guest speaker: Gidon D. Remba, President, Kahal America & Editor, Jews for Obama e-Newsletter
To RSVP please send email to chief-editor@jews4barack.com
Jews for Obama is a project of Kahal America, an independent issues advocacy 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, and not affiliated with the Obama Campaign.
In This Special Issue
1. Top 5 Jewish-Themed Recent Smears of Obama with Responses
2. Top 5 Recent Rabbinic Statements of Support for Obama
3. Barack Obama, A True Friend of Israel
4. Will the Real Tax-and-Spender Please Fess Up?
5. What Obama Really Said About an "Undivided" Jerusalem
6. New York City Jews for Obama Organizing Party: Saturday, June 28, 8:00 P.M
Watch or read Sen. Obama's historic AIPAC speech on Israel
Click on the image
"A government that truly represents these Americans - that truly serves these Americans - will require a different kind of politics. We will need to understand just how we got to this place, this land of warring factions and tribal hatreds. And we'll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break."
Congressman Rahm Emanuel Endorses Senator Obama
Congressman Emanuel and his wife Amy are active members of a modern Orthodox congregation, Anshe Sholom, in Chicago. Amy is heavily involved with the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, where Emanuel was educated. His father was born in Jerusalem, and he volunteered on an IDF base during the 1991 Persian Gulf War before serving as a senior advisor to President Clinton at the White House from 1993 - 1998.
Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2006 elections. After the Democratic Party regained control of the House, he was elected as the next chairman of the Democratic Caucus. He is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House.
Previous Editions
If you missed previous issues of the Jews for Obama e-Newsletter, you can now view them on the web
How the Bush-McCain Surge Harms Israel
Sign the Open Letter to Sen. McCain: It's Time for Straight Talk on Jewish Issues
The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn't, by Cliff Schecter
Thinking about voting for McCain? Read this book. Cliff Schecter's hard-hitting profile explores the gap between the public record of Senator John McCain and his media image. Drawing on a range of sources and adding his unique perspective and humor, Schecter guides the reader through McCain's long history of expedient flip-flops--especially on his signature issues of national security and campaign finance reform.
Paul Hackett, Major, USMCR: Cliff Schecter provides us with some real "straight talk" about John McCain. Everyone who wants to know why John McCain won't give us healthcare but will keep us fighting endless wars and sell our personal freedoms to far-right theocrats should read this book.
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