Not That They Can Vote, But Israelis Are For Obama Too
Israel has joined the rest of the world and is now supporting Obama. I say that based on the conversations I had over the past week with all kinds of people, across the political spectrum here in Jerusalem.
Two reasons. The first is Palin. Israelis think she's a moron. One put it to me this way. "Look, we have crazy rightwingers too. Many. But the rightwingers who get involved in politics are not stupid. They are articulate and wrong. She seems stupid and that we don't elect here. Mc Cain chose her and that made Israelis think that he is not qualified to be your President."
Another said: "Jews have access to Democrats. Rightwing Republicans don't know Jews. They think we are from the Bible. With Obama and Biden, we have people who know us and know Israel."
More important is that Israelis are terrified that America is going down the tubes. "We are tied to you whether we like it or not. If America fails, we fail. Obama can rejuvenate you and that means all your allies are rejuvenated too. If you go down, so do we. McCain will lead America to be a second rate nation with China and the EU on top. Not good for us or for you."
So that's it. The one country in the world where the populace supported McCain has switched sides. Let's just make Israel the 51st state now, before November. It has 7 million people. That is a good five electoral votes we can use.
I disagree they don't elect stupid -- Olmert is a stone-cold smoking dumbass.
September 21, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, your many comments here demonstrate upu to be a racist of the most primitive kind. Next?
September 21, 2008 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, the Israelis are right about one thing, Palin is certainly an idiot, a shrewd one, but still an idiot. And, when a presidential candidate picks an idiot as a VP, that candidate qualifies as either an idiot or a traitor - take your pick. (Nixon chose Spiro Agnew, Big Bush chose Quayle - two more idiotic or traitorous presidents)
September 21, 2008 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
in case you didn't know, MJ, name-calling is a sign of a weak ideological position. If that's all you have in the arsenal, you've already lost the argument by going there. I'll challenge you to offer up any evidence that i'm racist.
I have proposed an internationally imposed solution in the Middle East. If you think that's a far-right perspective, perhaps you should consider your own trajectory in the underlying spectrum.
September 21, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Total nonsense, as usual, by MJ. Israelis don't care about the abortion issue, they don't care about cultural issues in the US, they don't care who gets appointed to the Supreme Court, they want the US to have a strong foreign policy that stands up to rogue countries like Iran. Most Israelis fear that Obama won't do that, and that is based on things he says. Most Israelis want McCain. PERIOD. (I am an Israeli and I talk to Israelis....even the Leftist Israelis I know want McCain).
September 21, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do I know you are an Israeli who talks to Israelis.
Using a nom de internet, you can define yourself anyway you choose.
I however am there and can tell you the truth, as I experience it.
Israelis like Obama.
September 21, 2008 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do we all know who YOU are talking to? You are a hyperpoliticized Obama partisan. All your postings are political propaganda designed to redfine reality, in order to persuade people to vote for him. That is legitimate, but your readers should be aware of that. Israelis loved Richard Nixon, whom I am sure you despised, so Israelis don't think the way you do. They couldn't care less about Palin's Christian views (did you mind that Jimmy Carter was a born-again when you supported him?), the don't care what a candidates views on homosexual marriage, gun control or any of the other myriads of issues you "progressives" get hysterical about. The Israelis I talk to (and these are people out in the country, not the "elite" you hang around in Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv during your visits) view Obama as a dangerous appeaser.
September 22, 2008 3:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
How do we all know who YOU are talking to? You are a hyperpoliticized Obama partisan. All your postings are political propaganda designed to redfine reality, in order to persuade people to vote for him. That is legitimate, but your readers should be aware of that. Israelis loved Richard Nixon, whom I am sure you despised, so Israelis don't think the way you do. They couldn't care less about Palin's Christian views are, (did you mind that Jimmy Carter was a born-again when you supported him?), the don't care what a candidates views on homosexual marriage, gun control or any of the other myriads of issues you "progressives" get hysterical about are either. The Israelis I talk to (and these are people out in the country, not the "elite" you hang around in Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv during your visits) view Obama as a dangerous appeaser.
September 22, 2008 3:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
I apologize about the multiple postings.
September 22, 2008 4:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
How do we all know who YOU are talking to? You are a hyperpoliticized Obama partisan. All your postings are political propaganda designed to redfine reality, in order to persuade people to vote for him. That is legitimate, but your readers should be aware of that. Israelis loved Richard Nixon, whom I am sure you despised, so Israelis don't think the way you do. They couldn't care less about Palin's Christian views (did you mind that Jimmy Carter was a born-again when you supported him?), the don't care what a candidates views on homosexual marriage, gun control or any of the other myriads of issues you "progressives" get hysterical about are. The Israelis I talk to (and these are people out in the country, not the "elite" you hang around in Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv during your visits) view Obama as a dangerous appeaser.
September 22, 2008 4:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
DKos chatter about your post:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/21/191247/197/262/605872
September 21, 2008 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
THANKS!
September 21, 2008 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
September 21, 2008 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
September 21, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama and Biden are puppets of the Jewish lobby.
Vote for McCain and Palin who will put American first, not Israel first.
September 21, 2008 11:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama and Biden are puppets of the Jewish lobby.
Vote for McCain and Palin who will put American first, not Israel first.
September 21, 2008 11:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama and Biden are puppets of the Jewish lobby.
Vote for McCain and Palin who will put American first, not Israel first.
September 22, 2008 12:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama and Biden are puppets of the Jewish lobby.
Vote for McCain and Palin who will put American first, not Israel first.
September 22, 2008 1:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
tnathan,
da Jews did it!
September 22, 2008 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
You mean, McCain Palin will Put Americans who also happen to be creationist Alaskans who also happen to be oil lobbyists, don't you?
September 22, 2008 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do we all know who YOU are talking to? You are a hyperpoliticized Obama partisan. All your postings are political propaganda designed to redfine reality, in order to persuade people to vote for him. That is legitimate, but your readers should be aware of that. Israelis loved Richard Nixon, whom I am sure you despised, so Israelis don't think the way you do. They couldn't care less about Palin's Christian views (did you mind that Jimmy Carter was a born-again when you supported him?), the don't care what a candidates views on homosexual marriage, gun control or any of the other myriads of issues you "progressives" get hysterical about. The Israelis I talk to (and these are people out in the country, not the "elite" you hang around in Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv during your visits) view Obama as a dangerous appeaser.
September 22, 2008 3:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, Israelis "loved" Richard Nixon. Please. You know nothing about Israel.
They deeply appreciated the '73 airlift which Kissinger authorized. And rightly so.
No, they didn't "love" him. When he visited in June 1974, the streets were empty except for anti-Nixon demonstrators.
You know as much about Israel as you do about posting single entries at TPMCafe.
September 22, 2008 6:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have lived in Israel sincd 1986. I was not here when Nixon visited but it was apparent to everyone that he was visiting in order to escape Watergate. I am sure you recall that Yitzhak Rabin was the Ambassador in Washington in 1972 and he openly endorsed Nixon for re-election which drew flack for him intervening in another country's affairs. Israelis liked Nixon's supposedly tough anti-Soviet stance, since of course, the USSR had been the big supporter of Nasser and the Arabs.
I hate to be the one to break it to you but not all Jews are "progressives" like you seem to think. Had you written, "some Israelis like Obama", or "maybe most Israelis like Obama", I wouldn't have cared but you said "ISRAEL HAS JOINED THE REST OF THE WORLD AND NOW SUPPORTS OBAMA". That is a totally ridiculous statement. HOW DO YOU KNOW? HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU ACTAULLY TALK TO IN ORDER TO EXTRAPOLATE THAT 'ISRAEL' SUPPORTS OBAMA? You don't speak for me...I don't support him. Have you conducted a poll? No, you talked to a few of your "progressive" friends around the pool in your hotel. Most Israelis are not even "progressives", they support the Right or Center, not the Left. These people don't like Obama, for the reasons I explained.
Anyway, why should American people vote the way the rest of the world tells them? For that matter, why should "ISRAEL SUPPORTS OBAMA" make a difference to them? Israel doesn't elect the President of the US, Americans do.
You and I know that Obama will get at least 2/3 of the Jewish vote, so I don't know why you even wrote this nonsensicle piece. I presume you are trying to get wavering American Jews to vote for Obama by saying that "see, the Israelis want him, so you should vote for him too".
It is not my intention to do multiple posts, I think there is a problem with this site because I have noticed others have done multiple posts, presumably by accident.
September 22, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have scanned some Israeli newspapers and they support your theory:
Israelis, like the multitudes in Germany a day later, were swept up and away by the Obama visit. The Sderot municipality, which has played host to a laundry list of foreign dignitaries including Senator McCain, for the first time hung the Stars and Stripes alongside the Israeli flag from lampposts on the city's gateway boulevard in Obama's honor.
...
Pinkas added, "People still don't don't know anything about him, let's be honest, but he said more in 24 hours here than [foreign minister] Tzippi Livni.''
"What can you do? The man is charismatic,'' said Gadi Wolsfeld, an expert on political communications at Hebrew University.
"Nearly everyone who met Barack Obama —in the hotel, at the Foreign Ministry, at the President’s Residence, in Sderot—was convinced: He is going to be the next president of the United States. His charismatic personality and chumminess fit the Israelis like a glove, and were reminiscent of the love affair between the Israelis and Bill Clinton,'' wrote by Itamar Eichner in the daily Yediot Ahronot.
September 23, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have scanned some Israeli newspapers and they support your theory:
Israelis, like the multitudes in Germany a day later, were swept up and away by the Obama visit. The Sderot municipality, which has played host to a laundry list of foreign dignitaries including Senator McCain, for the first time hung the Stars and Stripes alongside the Israeli flag from lampposts on the city's gateway boulevard in Obama's honor.
...
Pinkas added, "People still don't don't know anything about him, let's be honest, but he said more in 24 hours here than [foreign minister] Tzippi Livni.''
"What can you do? The man is charismatic,'' said Gadi Wolsfeld, an expert on political communications at Hebrew University.
"Nearly everyone who met Barack Obama —in the hotel, at the Foreign Ministry, at the President’s Residence, in Sderot—was convinced: He is going to be the next president of the United States. His charismatic personality and chumminess fit the Israelis like a glove, and were reminiscent of the love affair between the Israelis and Bill Clinton,'' wrote by Itamar Eichner in the daily Yediot Ahronot.
September 23, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have scanned some Israeli newspapers and they support your theory:
Israelis, like the multitudes in Germany a day later, were swept up and away by the Obama visit. The Sderot municipality, which has played host to a laundry list of foreign dignitaries including Senator McCain, for the first time hung the Stars and Stripes alongside the Israeli flag from lampposts on the city's gateway boulevard in Obama's honor.
...
Pinkas added, "People still don't don't know anything about him, let's be honest, but he said more in 24 hours here than [foreign minister] Tzippi Livni.''
"What can you do? The man is charismatic,'' said Gadi Wolsfeld, an expert on political communications at Hebrew University.
"Nearly everyone who met Barack Obama —in the hotel, at the Foreign Ministry, at the President’s Residence, in Sderot—was convinced: He is going to be the next president of the United States. His charismatic personality and chumminess fit the Israelis like a glove, and were reminiscent of the love affair between the Israelis and Bill Clinton,'' wrote by Itamar Eichner in the daily Yediot Ahronot.
September 23, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink