The Hill.com reports that in an effort to build on President Bush’s growing popularity among Jews, Republicans in New York this week are aggressively courting Jewish voters from Brooklyn to midtown Manhattan.
Stressing the president’s support for Israel and the U.S. war on terrorism, which Republicans liken to the Jewish state’s fight for survival, GOP leaders are seeking to convince millions of longtime Democrats to reconsider their loyalties.“We want you as part of this party,” Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) told a roomful of Orthodox Jews yesterday at the Waldorf Astoria. The senator, a pious Christian, said Jews “represent a set of views and values that are beautiful” and called for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, a goal of many Israel supporters that is opposed by Muslims across the Arab world.Republicans say the Orthodox community offers a ripe culture medium for the party, noting that these religious Jews’ traditional views on family life, education, abortion and gay marriage jibe with those of Christian conservatives. Yesterday, GOP Sens. Rick Santorum (Pa.), Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Susan Collins (Maine) were slated to visit the Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services Center in Boro Park, a Hassidic, ultra-Orthodox enclave in Brooklyn.
