Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Bagels and Ballots – Friday

Extremely Extreme: Florida’s 8th congressional district is home to one of the country’s more distinctive contests, as we’ve reported here: liberal Jewish Democrat Alan Grayson vying against conservative Christian Republican Daniel Webster. To Webster’s already solid conservative Christian bona fides — he works to restrict abortion, fought for the state to force-feed Terry Schiavo and homeschooled his own children — Alternet reports that Alan Grayson’s FL Republican Opponent Tied To “Biblical Stoning” Movement, AKA Christian Reconstructionism. The district already seems to be leaning Webster’s way, but maybe now he’ll capture the elusive biblical stoner vote as well.

Boxing Back: Despite the wide interest in Carly Fiorina’s challenge to longtime California Senator Barbara Boxer, polling throughout September consistently showed Boxer ahead. According to Real Clear Politics, though, it’s more a sign that Fiorina’s numbers are falling than that the incumbent is gaining more support.

Seeking A New Villain: Apparently the commentators who see Hitler around every 21st-century corner haven’t heard of Godwin’s Law, a corollary of which is that once a certain person or situation is compared to Hitler and the Nazis, the comparer has lost the debate. Hear that, Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck & Co.? You may want to remove Der Fuhrer from talk about today’s mosque-building controversies. Or from routine jawboning about election season in the world’s foremost democracy. Or about anything else — unless your intention is to cede the point. In this Sunday’s Washington Post, Dana Milbank has more to say about Beck’s determination to get history completely wrong. (But at least this gives us an opportunity to point you toward Lewis Black on the topic, for some belly laughs on an unfunny subject.)

Who’s In Obama’s Corner? The president’s stalwart fans are psyched to hear him roaring back in his famous — yet almost forgotten — campaign mode. He’s trying to rally the base, close the enthusiasm gap and even fire up some new voters. That comes against the backdrop of a muddy picture of who backs Obama anymore. National Journal said this week that Young People And Minorities Are All The President Has Left. Well, Jews make up 2 to 3% of America’s population, so we’re certainly a minority. But the New York Jewish Week recently asked, Are Jews Becoming Republicans? Here at MitzVote, we’re eager to see, after the Nov. 2 elections, how the tribe ends up casting its ballots.

A message from our CEO & publisher 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.

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

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.