Many of you likely saw the vice
presidential debate last Thursday night. It was not the run-away
Republican win that the first presidential debate had been, but Ryan
carried the day with a respectable performance: With one exception, every
poll I saw declared him the winner. A CNN poll of people who had watched,
done right after the debate, showed 48% declaring Republican
contender Representative Paul Ryan the winner, and 44% Vice President Joe
Biden.
You can see details
here:
~~~~~~~~~~
First is a gross misrepresentation
(a lie, more candidly) proffered by Biden. When asked about the fact that
the Obama administration had claimed that reaction to an anti-Muslim film (and
not terrorism) had generated the violence in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in
the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, he claimed that Obama
was simply relying on the intelligence information he was given.
When the intelligence changed, said Biden, and it finally became
clear that terrorism was responsible, the president said so.
What I do not understand is
how Biden managed to say this with a straight face.
The attack took place on
September 11. I had, and shared, information early on
that the American intelligence community knew within 24 hours that it was
terrorism:
And yet, a full two weeks
later, when the president addressed the UN, he blatantly and shamelessly
advanced that feeble excuse about the cause being the film.
Not only was Biden not
straight about this, he also tendered denials about the failure
of the US Administration to respond to a request for additional
security in Benghazi.
See more on this
here:
Rupert Murdoch, News Corp
Chair, in a tweet today, said, "Biden throws CIA under the bus."
This is very troublesome
stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~
But there was something else that
was troublesome about the debate. Consistently, Biden laughed
inappropriately, mugged, and sneered when Ryan was talking. The arrogance
and rudeness were startling. With this condescending behavior, he
presumably sought to convey the message that his position was superior. But it
backfired on him badly. His behavior -- which included numerous
interruptions of Ryan -- couldn't be missed by anyone watching; there was
nothing subtle about it. And it would seem that many did not like it
at all.
You can see comments about it
here:
~~~~~~~~~~
If you have not seen the debate,
you can access it here. What I'm talking about regarding demeanor must be seen;
it cannot be reflected in a transcript.
~~~~~~~~~~
On Friday, Caroline Glick wrote a
fine piece that I would like to draw from here. Her focus is the
irrational insistence of a considerable percentage of the American Jewish
community on supporting Obama. I say "irrational" because, to a
very considerable degree, Obama does not represent the values Jews
espouse.
While quoting her here
(with emphasis added), I would like to suggest that some of
her arguments also apply to some who are not Jews, but
who think of themselves as "liberal."
Glick asks, Does Obama really
advance American Jewish [or, I will add, liberal] values?
"What are those values
anyway? Well, there's civil liberties. American Jews like
these. But Obama doesn't.
"Take freedom of
speech. Obama is the most hostile president to freedom of speech in recent
memory. He has advocated implementing the so-called "fairness doctrine"
for radio to stifle the free speech of his political opponents on talk
radio.
" He has sought to undermine the
freedom of the Internet through federal regulations and intimidation
of Internet companies such as Google.
"He has made repeated and
outspoken attempts to intimidate individuals, groups and businesses
including Google to bar freedom of speech as it relates to criticism of
Islam. He has purged the lexicon of the federal government of all
terms necessary to describe jihad, Islamic radicalism and
terrorism...
"Then there are women's
rights. American Jews like those.
"True, Obama has distinguished
himself as the greatest ally of abortion-on-demand ever. He even
supported infanticide of babies who survived abortions when he served in
the Illinois legislature. But we women are a bit
more than reproductive machines. We also work and raise
families..."
"Aside from that, there are
females who live outside of the US.
"American Jews have long been
outspoken champions of women's rights around the world. But
here Obama's record is arguably worse than any president in US
history.
"Obama has abandoned the
women most at risk of gender-based discrimination, rape and murder -- the women
and girls of the Muslim world. Whereas the Bush administration liberated the
women and girls of Afghanistan from the maniacally misogynist Taliban regime,
the Obama administration is negotiating with the Taliban and setting the
conditions for its return to power. If the signature
image of the Bush administration's war in Afghanistan was that of women
voting, the signature image of Obama's war in Afghanistan is
the photo of 14-year old Malala Yousafzai. This week Yousafzai
was shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan for her defense of the right of
girls to go to school."
Concludes Glick:
"...The most disturbing aspect of the American Jewish community's devotion to
Obama and the Democrats is that it indicates that the vast majority of
American Jews have abandoned their faculties for independent thought
and judgment in favor of conformism and slavish partisanship. They have rendered
themselves unreachable."
~~~~~~~~~~
Here at home, early
polls are indicating that in the election -- which, the prime minister has
announced, will be held on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 -- the right wing
parties, including Likud, Yisrael Beitenu, Shas, a merged Habayit
Hayehudi-National Union and United Torah Judaism would
collectively garner more than sufficient mandates to form a
coalition. The figure is in the neighborhood
of 68.
But it's early in
the game and a major factor is what the center-left parties will be doing.
A front page headline in the JPost on Friday indicated that if there
were a block of a number of different political figures joined together in one
party, it could pull down more mandates than Likud (thus becoming the party
that would be asked to form a coalition). But I consider this nothing but
very hypothetical speculation. I consider it highly unlikely that
Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid, Shaul Mofaz and Gabi Ashkenazi will come together
in one party.
~~~~~~~~~~
And there is another
aspect of this projection that is more than unlikely; it is, in my view,
reprehensible and distressful. That is, the inclusion of former Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert in this line-up.
Olmert, who has been
found guilty in court of fraud and breach of trust, has not yet said he would
agree to run. I am aghast there are members of Kadima imploring him
to make a political come-back. There are still bribery charges
against him outstanding, and the court has yet to decide on the issue of moral
turpitude (which would automatically disqualify him). Heaven help us
if we cannot do better than this. While I, certainly, have no part in
Kadima, I confess to a sense of shame when writing
this.
~~~~~~~~~~
One last political note
here for those following these events.
Two very passionate
religious Zionist young men, Jeremy Gimpel (left below) and Ari Abramowitz,
have been promoting Israel for some time. (See http://thelandofIsrael.com ) Some months ago, they announced their
intention to run for the Knesset on the Habayit Hayehudi list,
and campaigned diligently for people to become members of that party in
order to vote for them in the party's primary.
Credit:
jhvonline.com
Now Abramowitz has
announced that he is pulling out, to further the chances of Gimpel to get
into the Knesset. Meanwhile, Gimpel is throwing his not inconsiderable
support behind Zevulun Orlev as party head; Orlev has held this position in
the past. The party election will be held on November 6, the same day as
the US election. It's a three-way race, with current party
head Rabbi Dr. Daniel Hershkowitz and new-comer, Naftali
Bennett, former aide to Netanyahu and successful businessman, also in the
running.
~~~~~~~~~~
©
Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be
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proper attribution.
See my website at
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