As Jewish groups push Congress to increase sanctions on Iran — and President Obama pushes back hard in the opposite direction — one lawmaker standing at the crossroads of this clash exemplifies the challenge the Jewish groups face. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida is a member of the House of Representatives; not the Senate, where…
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said she was “disappointed” in fellow Florida Jewish Democrat Alan Grayson’s likening of the Tea Party to the Ku Klux Klan. “Obviously I am disappointed in the use of that imagery,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement to Politico. “Both sides need to…
U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice charged teens at BBYO’s International Convention to “get impatient with the way things are so you can dream of the ways things can be.” Rice, the U.S. envoy to the world body, addressed some 1,700 Jewish teens, staff and community leaders on Feb. 15. The teens dispersed to 34 service sites…
On the floor of the Democratic National Convention, former Ohio governor Ted Strickland, chair of the party’s platform committee, proposed the tardy insertion of language affirming that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, with a declaration that “President Obama recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.” The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Representative Debbie…
Ever since the complete firestorm surrounding GOP senatorial Candidate Todd Akin’s comments on “legitimate rape” the GOP has kept mum on “red-meat” social issues. The word “abortion” was barely mentioned all week in prime-time convention speeches, for instance, many of which were by women and delivered well. And even though the party’s platform contained a…
Paul Ryan’s arrival on the Republican presidential ticket is changing the subject among Florida Jews — and that could be good news for President Obama. For months, Republicans have worked to win Jews in the key swing state with their critique of Obama’s perceived less-than-robust support of Israel. But Mitt Romney’s selection of Ryan turns…
Mazel tov, Benjamin “King Bibi” Netanyahu. You’re officially the most influential Jew in the world, according to the Jerusalem Post’s just-released ranking of the world’s 50 most significant Semites. And good on you, (Jon Stewart #7). The Post thinks you’ve got more juice than Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (#9) and Eric Cantor (#19) —and all…
In 2008, comedian Sarah Silverman recorded a Web video urging young Jews to go to Florida and persuade their grandparents to vote for Obama. If Obama lost, Silverman warned, she would “blame the Jews.” Silverman was joking, sort of. But she was also responding to rumors, then rampant among older Florida Jews, that Obama was…
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