And Your Point Is…?

That the law was a mistake? That Congress won’t help because its run by Democrats?

Another post aimed at inciting anti Democratic party sentiment? (Presumably because the Dems control congress). While I’m certain that congress has had to prioritize what they have done this session, The posters neglect to mention that the Bill in question passed with overwhelming support in both the House and Senate (89-3) ie, a majority of the elected Republicans voted in favor; and of course, it was actually signed into law by President Bush.

 

But of course, such full disclosure of information might invalidate the deceitful point, which is an RJC trademark. 

 

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR04040:@@@X

 

http://www.jdsupra.com/documents/9d34a328-ae7e-4e77-a81b-01e627d065b0.pdf

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Product_Safety_Improvement_Act

RJCWatch Commends CA GOP for Taking On Anti-Semitic Tea Party

By Josh Pasek

The Huffington Post reports that California GOP chairman Ron Nehring took a strong stance against the April 15 TEA Party that took place in San Mateo County, CA [1].  He rightly noted that offensive images such as these “should be condemned across the board” [2].  We at RJCWatch commend this strong statement and hope that it helps to temper down the racist undertones against Jews, Black, and others that emerged from some fringe attendees [3].

RJC Misquotes Democrats

By Josh Pasek

The Republican Jewish Coalition has released a new set of ads repeating claims that we have debunked in this blog and pulling selected sections of quotes where Democrats praised particular actions by McCain [1].  The Forward, however, takes many of these claims apart, noting that the quote used were all taken out of context and that some (including supposed praise by the head of the NJDC), could not be found [2].  What does it say when the RJC needs to resort to misquotes to make their point?

RJC Conducts Unethical Polling

The Republican Jewish Coalition sunk to a new low yesterday when they paid for a poll of Jewish voters in swing states insinuating that Obama supported and has support from radical Palestinian groups including Hamas [1].  The RJC declined to have their name publicly associated with the poll, but media outlets discovered the source nonetheless [2][3].  The RJC used the poll for two purposes — message testing and push polling.  They were able to find out what misleading statements worked and spread rumors [4].  It should be noted that Central Marketing Research is not a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (at least was not in 2007 [5]) and thus has not abided by the agreement not to engage in misleading and push polling [6].  If McCain is really doing as well as the RJC claims among Jewish voters, it should be a surprise that they would need to sink so low.

Joe Biden vs. Sarah Palin?

By Josh Pasek

The RJC was quick to call Joe Biden, a man with one of the most extensive pro-Israel records in the US Senate, a “risky choice” with regard to Israel.  Biden gave this interview last year to Shalom TV.  And, with the lone exception of the RJC, Biden has been considered outstanding on Jewish and Israel issues even by those who disagree with him on the specifics.  Where did the RJC get their ammunition?  They found a smattering of votes over Biden’s full 35-year record where bills included both a vote relating to Israel and an alternative objectionable piece of legislation.  An example, the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment which was designed to put Democrats in an awkward position by simultaneously denouncing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (a good thing) and insisting that a US military presence in Iraq was necessary to counter Iranian ambitions (not at all clear).

Governor Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has no record whatsoever. While the RJC was quick to laud the choice, she was not deemed “risky” at all.  This is despite the fact that her name does not appearin a search of the AIPAC website, that she was willing to associate with Pat Buchanan, a noted anti-semite, and that her biggest Jewish credential was signing a bill (written by others) for Israel’s 60th Anniversary.  Indeed, her first AIPAC meeting came after she was added to the Republican ticket and AIPAC refrained from significant comment.

Is there more risk in the yiddish-speaking long-time supporter of Israel or the completely unknown quantity?  The RJC just can’t have it both ways.

RJC Goes McCarthy

By Josh Pasek

Many of us like to think that we have moved on since the 1950s when political moderates and progressives were indiscriminately “outed” as Communists and Communist Sympathizers.  While it is no secret that many in the political world will use any attack that sticks, we did think that this half-century old boogie-man would haunt us no longer.  Instead, however, the Republican Jewish Coalition decided to repost an article pronouncing Obama as socialism’s new Manchurian candidate [1].  What do they use as evidence?  A speech to the NAACP when he used the term “economic justice.”  They explain that the term is “a euphamism for socialism” [2].

The concept of Economic Justice however is no fringe idea.  The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains, “there is actually an important literature in economics that addresses normative issues in social and economic justice” and suggests that it is “virtually impossible to avoid mingling [economic theory] with value judgments” [3].  If this is socialism, we worry for all the economics departments out there.

By Matt Rozsa

The Republican Jewish Coalition has made a career out of claiming that the conservative movement is a more hospitable home for Jews than its liberal counterpart. Unfortunately for them, their own flagship media outlet, Fox News, has set that particular lie back even further.

On July 1st, Fox News responded to an article critical of them in The New York Times by attacking the two reporters who wrote the piece. While such conduct is hardly unusual of the right-wing network, it becomes even shadier than usual when one looks at the way they attached these reporters – and in particular, a reporter named Jacques
Steinberg, who happens to be Jewish.

While discussing these two men on Fox & Friends, the network chose to share photographs of the reporters, each of them conveniently Photoshopped to accentuate those physical attributes Fox’s producers clearly thought would send the most negative image to the audience (they did this, by the way, without indicating that the pictures they were showing had been altered in any way).
Here’s the picture they showed of Steven Reddicliffe:

And here’s the one of Jacques Steinberg:

Isn’t it interesting that the characteristics they chose to exaggerate on the Jewish reporter are the same ones frequently exaggerated by anti-Semitic caricaturists the world over? For more examples of this, go to the dailykos’s blog.

Neutral Sources

By Josh Pasek

Many of the documents linked to by the RJC come complete with newspaper images and links.  These are effective political tools because they offer the aura of legitimacy for what is being said in the article.  Yet the articles are almost universally opinion pieces (or op-eds).  This means that their actual text is simply the perspective of a single individual.  Further, the text of these articles is often written by members of the RJC board.  While we are all for referring to news articles, the links that the RJC provides are not checked for accurate information by the newspaper, so everything in them is at the word of the author.  With the RJC’s history, it may not be too good an idea to simply accept their members’ view of the facts.

New Yorker’s Adelson profile paints grim portrait of RJC-style plutocracy

by Daniel Sieradski

Offering a rare glimpse at the grim realities of 21st century plutocracy, The New Yorker has profiled billionaire casino magnate and top RJC contributor Sheldon Adelson in a lurid epic that should give pause to any Jew who values the precept of Jewish self-determination.

The revelations are staggering. Some highlights:

RJC Presents Loaded Challenges to Barack Obama – Part II

The second question posed to Obama by the RJC was as follows:
One of your top advisors, Tony McPeak, placed blame on Miami and NY Jews for the failure of the Middle East peace process yet he remains in this role. Why?
As pointed out in an earlier article, there is no reason to believe that consultants who have made inappropriate comments about the Jewish community cannot make positive contributions to dialogue on subjects not relevant to the State of Israel. As this is the case with the Republican Jewish Coalition’s decision to host Christopher Hitchens (and the Republicans would presumably argue that this is the case as well with McCain’s national finance co-chairman, Fred Malek), this must also be the case with Tony McPeak, who was chosen by Obama as a co-chairman.
The controversy surrounding McPeak involves a history of comments considered to be less-than-friendly toward the State of Israel. These include allegations that domestic Jewish support for Israel prevents the United States from adopting a more even-handed approach to policy in that region (a charge tracing as far back as George Marshall), as well as assertions as far back as 1976 that Israel should withdraw from territories it conquered in the Six-Day War of 1967. McPeak’s humanitarian record is even shady on subjects that have nothing to do with Jewish rights, such as his support for the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.
While McPeak’s views are hardly admirable, however, there are three factors worth noting:
1. McPeak’s role with the Obama campaign, as co-chairman, does not necessarily give him power to make decisions on matters pertaining to the Jewish State. Indeed, there are dozens of foreign policy advisors working for Obama, with a wide range of views toward Israel.
2. Barack Obama’s voting record in the Senate has been indisputably very strong in its support for Israel, from defending the controversial decision to bomb Lebanon in 2006 to frequently expressing what he has called in campaign speeches the “sacrosanct” relationship between the US and that nation. He has also spoken at AIPAC, America’s largest pro-Israel lobby, on several occasions, with speeches that unequivocally expressed solidarity with Israel.
3. Many of Obama’s strongest supporters are Jewish. Indeed, his Senate campaign in Illinois was greatly assisted by the Chicago Jewish community (where Obama has traditionally been held in great favor), and his presidential candidacy has been bolstered by the support of millions of Jews throughout the country. The Anti-Defamation League has disagreed with the various attempts to insinuate anti-Semitism on the part of Senator Obama (although it has criticized McCain for his “divisive” comments on religion in the past). One of Obama’s most vocal Jewish supporters, Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida, even went so far as to write in The Jerusalem Post that “the facts are clear: Senator Obama is a strong friend of the American Jewish Community and Israel, and will make ensuring Israel’s security a high priority of his presidency.” Wexler is a prominent advocate for Israel in the House of Representatives.