"US Senator John McCain a favorite of Iowa Jews
"When Arizona Senator John McCain took the stage the night before the first-in-the-nation caucuses to be held here Thursday night, he thanked several fellow senators who had joined him on stage to show their support. But then he also mentioned another senator -- Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut -- who wasn't present because he was campaigning for him in New Hampshire.
Iowa's statistically small but politically active Republican Jewish constituency has been pleased by McCain's relationship with Lieberman.
A Jewish leader in Iowa, explaining Jewish support for McCain, though he also referred to support for other candidates, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani:
"The fact that Lieberman affiliated with [McCain] brought him up with a certain quadrant of the Jewish community."
McCain had never been expected to win Iowa, but his numbers crept up following strong debate performances and endorsements by a string of newspapers, including the influential local Des Moines Register. He came in fourth with narrow loss to third place challenger Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, who had pumped money into TV ads unlike McCain. It was close enough to boost a campaign once entirely written off.
McCain's popularity is building in New Hampshire.... McCain hopes his competitor's slide will follow him to the Granite State.... McCain needed support from groups such as Jews, who are more open to entertaining alternatives to Huckabee and Romney.
The Jewish leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity:
"The candidates that are speaking a religious language are alienating to the Jewish population. [The issue of the separation of church and state is] the number one [issue for the Jewish community]. A society that's [focused on] religiosity tends to overlook minorities, and we're a minority."
The complete arrogance of these guys is unbelievable, isn't it, readers?
McCain also said he supported the notion that America is a "Christian nation" in an interview that raised Jewish ire, but has made religion less a focus of the campaign, and has in the past inflamed the evangelical community so supportive of Huckabee by calling some of their leaders "agents of intolerance" and other slights.
Giuliani, a Catholic, has been the least focused of the top tier candidates on religion. He is likely to get more support from Jewish Republicans than other Iowa constituencies, however, as they tend to be more moderate.
Bud Hockenberg, a long-time Jewish Republican activist in Iowa, would not discuss which Republican candidate was most favored by Jews ahead of the caucuses, noting that just about all of the competitors had backers.
He said, though, that Jewish voters were looking for candidates who are staunch supporters of Israel, had robust national defense priorities and were committing to fighting Islamic extremism. He estimated Jewish Republicans at about 30% of the Iowa Jewish community, consistent with the number nationally.
Hockenberg said that he personally would be strongly supporting whoever won the Republican nomination."
"That the Jerusalem Post would run such a story indicates that Israel believes that McCain (possibly running with Lieberman as his VP) is the best US presidential candidate for Israel." -- Mike Rivero of What Really HappenedAnd their control over our politics and political debate leaves me agape with no words.
