Right must woo Jewish vote

Submitted by L (United States), May 23, 2006 at 10:50

With a Jewish husband whose family fled the Soviet Union, I've observed opinion in the New York City "Jewish community." These observations have led me to believe this regarding party affiliation: The only potential addition to the Republican party may be within the Jewish community. Presently it's disappointing where that vote usually goes. Pandering and tokenism are awful, but the 2008 GOP candidate would be wise to pick a Jewish candidate for vice president. Middle America is still conservative, especially if someone like Clinton is the candidate. The cities, however, that far too often squash the surrounding Republican vote in states like New York, could contribute to an historic New York GOP victory. (Upstate New York in such places as Orange County is still predominantly Republican.)

The right isn't going to gain anything more from hispanics or Arabs or anyone else at this time. They need to look elsewhere. Call it pandering if you must. Perhaps it's better said that it's about time we had a Jewish vice president or president. But much more important than that, the consequences of these future elections are literally a matter of life and death for our children if not for us. McCain or Giuliani could win with a Jewish vice presidential candidate. Being pro-Israel only doesn't seem to be enough. The candidate must be Jewish. Could you imagine if a cross-party pick was made (an obvious reference to Lieberman). The landslide would shake the world.

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