McCain:Trying to Score with Jewish Voters

Presidential hopeful Senator McCain, threw his hat into the Israeli peace process while speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He stated that any peace process must be handled step-by-step. He smartly pointed out:“I’m not sure frankly how you, how you deal with Hamas. If they’re dedicated to your extinction it’s hard to sit down and negotiate with somebody that says we’re going to destroy you." It's good to know that on some level McCain seems to grasp some of the big hurdles the peace process poses. Although he scored points with the group, he didn't quite measure up to the tough talking Rudy Guiliani:“They respect (McCain) and they appreciate him, but I have to imagine, it’s not, it’s not like love in the room in the same way that it would be for Guiliani” said Ami Eden, a journalist with a Jewish wire service.

GOP Going After The Jewish Vote

The NYT has an article on the GOP courting the Jewish vote at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington. Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson were all present to put forth their views on Iraq,the Palestinians, Russia and more. Not surprisingly Rudy Giuliani was the crowd favorite with the famous story he recalls of throwing Arafat out of a 1995 Lincoln Center concert.

First Jewish President: Bloomberg?

Now that Mayor Bloomberg has changed his party affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated the buzz is already starting. The move for the mayor is certainly interesting politically and has many talking about his bid for president. Bloomberg is denying any interest at this point in the oval office. It would be interesting to see 2 mayors: Bloomberg and Giuliani battle it out along with a NY senator, Hillary clinton but perhaps that's too much NY for most people? Being Jewish would do little to help the mayor according to the Guardian:``People thought every Jew in America would run out and vote for Lieberman,'' said Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, interreligious affairs director for the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group based in New York. ``But Jews are fairly sophisticated voters. They don't vote along the lines of, 'I'll vote for the Jew because I am one.' They tend to vote issues. They tend to vote politics.'' Honestly, I think the last thing we need in this country is a Jewish president. There is enough antisemitism out there, a Jewish president wouldn't help that.