The Lying Despicable Campaign To Turn Jews Against Obama

[babylonsister]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/29/the_lying_despicable_campaign/

The Lying Despicable Campaign To Turn Jews Against Obama
By M.J. Rosenberg - February 29, 2008, 9:53AM

snip//

The bottom line is that Obama, like Senators Clinton and McCain, is a friend of Jews and Israel. But that won't stop his opponents in the community, from swearing on a stack of Bibles that one or the other of them hates Jews, Israel or both.

Remember the lies the people now maligning Obama told about Clinton when she ran for the Senate? If she wins the nomination, they will be repeating them and Tim Russert will be demanding an explanation for the Suha Arafat kiss despite Clinton's record in the Senate. For the haters, it's all fun and games -- although it is anything but for those of us who care about the Jewish people, about Israel and, above all, about America.

I really do not look forward to another eight months of this and I am not referring only to Russert. I refer to those circulating the hate emails in the Jewish community about Obama and Clinton. I refer to the Democratic operatives who are going to scour McCain's record to find evidences of some deviation from the Likud position on borders or Jerusalem or, God forbid, an expression of sympathy for Palestinian children caught in the crossfire. I refer to the attacks on Obama for having a Muslim-sounding name or on Hillary for that innocent and infamous kiss.

It's all garbage. There is no anti-Israel candidate running for President. The partisans of one party or the other who say that there is, and who distort and lie to "prove" their point, need to be told that their tactics are indecent and beyond the pale.

Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how to resolve it is a legitimate subject for debate, using Israel or anti-Semitism to score against opposing candidates is not. Worse than that, it disrespects and insults our community.

But don't expect to stop receiving those hate e-mails anytime soon. No matter that they are nothing but lies, just like those e-mails everyone gets promising that a particular pill will enlarge a particular body part. The e-mails about the candidates are no different: lies for the gullible. They deserve the same response. Just hit "delete."

[stellanoir]

1. This is from a really lengthy e-mail I received this week .

I can't find the full article on Tikkun's site.

A statement by Rabbi Lerner and notes of Obama's remarks to Jewish leaders Feb. 24 2008 in Cleveland.

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine, issued the following statement today (February 26, 2007):

"Presidential candidate Barack Obama has been very successful today in reassuring the bulk of American Jews that the innuendoes and overt attacks on his alleged hostility to or indifference to the well-being of Israel are false or that he has other commitments that might be deemed dangerous to Jews. Obama has shown himself to be a "spiritual progressive" supporting a "progressive Middle Path" that is both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. While some Jews, particularly those affiliated with the Republican party or the neo-con-influence wing of the Democratic Party, and those who support the policies of the Likud Party in Israel, are likely to continue to critique Obama and spread rumors and distortions, the vast majority of American Jews are far more likely to consider him a friend of Israel just as they consider Hillary Clinton and John McCain to be, and hence are unlikely to have the issue of Israel-support be the one that decides for them how to vote in either the primaries or the general election of 2008."

Obama reaches out to Jewish leaders

By Ami Eden of the Jewish Telegraphic Association (JTA)
We've received a rough transcript that came from the Obama campaign of a
closed meeting that the candidate held Sunday in Cleveland with about 100
Jewish communal leaders. Whoever recorded the remarks was only able to get
Obama's answers, not the actual questions from the audience.

For the most part, Obama sought to reassure the audience — on Israel, Iran,
his church, his pastor, his foreign policy advisers, his religion. At the
same time, he picked a few spots to push back against some of his critics in
the Jewish community (see the stuff about the folly of equating pro-Likud
with pro-Israel and the ability of Israelis to conducts a robust debate over
security/diplomatic strategy).

snip

WE NEED 'TIKKUN OLAM' IN WASHINGTON: "We need to change how Washington works because politics shouldn't just be about scoring political points, it should also be about solving problems. We need to change our priorities to make healthcare more affordable. To have an energy policy that not only creates
jobs and secures our planet but also stops sending billions of dollars to
dictators and effectively leads us to fund both sides of the war on
terrorism. We need a change in our foreign policy to allows to end the war
in Iraq responsibly and lead the world against the common threats of the
21st century, terrorism and nuclear proliferation, genocide, poverty and
hopelessness in the world. These changes are founded in a view of the world
that I believe is deeply imbedded in the Jewish tradition. That all of us
have a responsibility to do our part to repair the world. That we can take
care of one another and build strong communities grounded in faith and
family. That repairing the world is a task that each of us is called upon to
take up every single day. That is the spirit that I expect to take with me
to the White House."

PM me if you'd like to see the article in it's entirety.

[Doctor_J]

2. Republicans, including and especially the media, are sub-human filth

to whom the truth means absolutely nothing.

In this case it is not going to work. Obama is going to beat McCain like a rented mule in November. My hope is that he and the Dem Congress over the next 4 years do everything possible to rid the country permanently of the cancer that is the GOP.

[MethuenProgressive]

3. Odd title, considering he's talking about Obama *and* Clinton being attacked.

?