News

Voting While Unconscious

By Nathan Guttman September 27, 2010

The rise to power of Barack Obama has been a vexing issue for many Republicans in the past two years. How did he ever get elected?

Well, it turns out the answer is simple: by hypnotizing the Jews.

Or at least that is what one group of conservative doctors thinks. The group, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is based in Arizona, opposes Obama’s healthcare plan and is strongly against abortions. It also published an article in 2008 wondering if Obama is “a brilliant orator, or a hypnotist?” The answer, according to the paper published on the group’s website, is that Obama has used in his speeches “covert hypnosis intended only for licensed therapists on consenting patients.” And those most affected by Obama’s covert hypnosis were Jewish voters. Or else, the paper asks, how could you explain the fact that “many Jews are supporting a candidate who is endorsed by Hamas, Farrakhan, Khalidi and Iran”?

AAPS, which was established as an alternative to the American Medical Association, has been around for years and has drawn sporadic attention due to its provocative views, which include a claim that HIV does not cause AIDS. But on September 24 Kentucky’s Courier-Journal revealed that among the members of the group of conservative doctors is a local ophthalmologist, also known as Republican Senate candidate Dr. Rand Paul.

Paul’s Democratic rival, Jack Conway, was quick to seize on the opportunity with campaign ads and with a conference call highlighting Rand Paul’s statements regarding the Jewish community. Jonathan Miller, Kentucky’s Jewish secretary of finance, listed what he saw as a series of offensive actions by Paul which include frequent use of comparisons with Hitler, accepting campaign donations from known white supremacists, and the new reports of his AAPS membership. “It is disturbing to see Dr. Paul associate himself with such an organization,” Miller said in a conference call today organized by the Conway campaign.

According to a recent poll, Conway has managed to close in on Paul, who enjoys now only a 2% lead.

Both candidates have been trying to reach out to voters in Kentucky’s tiny Jewish community, which according to estimates includes fewer than 12,000 members, or 0.3% of the state’s population.

Paul, the libertarian who is backed by the Tea Party movement, has recently met with representatives of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and promised them he “is more reasonable” than his father on issues they are concerned about. Paul’s father, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, is considered to be one of the most vocal critics of Israel on Capitol Hill.

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO