So glad to see the rabbi's doing well! Our youngest just started wearing a sweater outfit that your folks gave us when our eldest was born, and I meant to ask you how the senior Avrechs are doing. (Do they do e-mail?)

Official Seraphic Secret Poll:

McCain 98 %

Meshuggahs 2%

-margin of Meshuggahs: 2%

Is there anything unique about the demographics of this co-op? All Orthodox, maybe? Or all retired Rabbis? U.S. Army veterans?

I'm hoping you're going to say "no."

Alter:

E-mail is not the best way to communicate. I suggest a phone call. They'd love to hear from you, I'm sure.

Jake:

JIASF*

*Jake is always so funny.

David:

A majority of the co-op is Orthodox. Most are Hungarian Jews who survived various concentration camps, or hid during the World War II.

My father is the Rabbi in the co-op shul, which is a whole other story because my father is of Jewish-Polish ancestry and Hungarians have their own very specific ideas about Jewish, um, stuff.

I believe my father is the only retired U.S. veteran in the building but I could be wrong. I'll have to check.

In short: the demographic profile is quite typical for old time Jewish Democrats who are still voting for Adlai Stevenson, John Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson, etc.

They have not recieved the memo about the take-over of the Democrats by radical leftists and of course they have no idea that the party is a comfortable home for Jew haters.

Until now.

I think most Jews were very down-in-the-mouth when Stevenson lost in '52 and '56. Lots of people have memories of their Jewish parents and grandparents, (in my case), shaking their heads and decrying America's rejection of a true "intellectual."

Ah, how fooled we all were.

Stevenson had a quick wit, but like Obama, there wasn't much else there.

It turns out he was far from a scholar or an intellectual.

He died alone in his bedroom clutching a well-worn copy of the social register.

Eisenhower comes up looking better and better every time a historian, even very liberal ones, re-examine his presidency.

Jake:

Read Hollywood star Evelyn Keyes' autobiography, "Scarlett's Younger Sister." She spent time with Stevenson and was completely disillusioned. Stevenson was a nasty creep to his wife and hit on most every Hollywood star he met. He comes across, in several Hollywood memoirs, as a an educated low life.

Robert,

I almost always learn something very interesting when I visit here.

Nu, have people been lying to the polls?

Of course, I'll be saying a prayer that McCain does win, but I've mentally resigned myself to an Obama presidency. Not that I won't vote, but since I'm from Massachusetts, voting for McCain is like trying to stop a wave with a sandcastle. I'm not going to watch the results, though, since I don't need the agita. I'll just go to bed on Tuesday and get the bad / good news the next morning. But let's hope!

OT, Robert, but just thought of you yesterday at the bookstore, when I picked up Mark Viera's new book "Hollywood Dreams Made Real: Irving Thalberg and the Rise of MGM." Fabulous pictures, as you can imagine. Grab it, if you haven't yet.

Was your father a chaplain?

I remember when I was in YU he headed the Rabbinic alumni.

One ironic thing about Stevenson is that he accidentally shot and killed a cousin. Except for Teddy Kennedy, I can't imagine any politician nowadays doing that and still being a viable candidate for President.

My maternal grandparents were Republicans. Apparently my grandfather never trusted FDR. As a childe, my mother was quite embarrassed by her parents at the time. Now, she says, history's vindicated her father.

Gary:

Very happy that Seraphic Secret is helpful. We try.

Batya:

The pollsters were wrong in the final primary race between Clinton and Obama, always favoring Obama by much wider margins than the final tally revealed.

I'm not a pollster. Have no idea. But I can tell you this: all the Jews in my father's building are registered Dems and are counted in the polls as Obama voters.

Christopher:

I live in CA which is solid Obama territory, but Karen and I enthusiastically vote for McCain-Palin. We never surrender.

I've heard great things about the Thalberg book and will order it, thanks so much.

Soccer Dad:

Yes, my father was a Chaplain.

Hey, I never imagined that a politician could worship in a racist, Jew & America hating church for over 20 years and still be a viable presidential candidate, but it looks like this man will be our next president.

Go figure.

I'm so heartened to hear this!

I argued on my blog that this might just be the case (in a little piece called "thegreatschlepp is gonna fail", in reference to Sarah Silverman's initiative.

If anyone's interested, it's at the bottom of a very long piece positing that McCain is running the very first 21st century campaign. It's here, if you're interested: (you might have to cut and paste the url into your browser):

http://web.me.com/chris_nicholson/Site/desmondiswatching/Entries/2008/10/10_McCain’s_Strategy_Unfolds_Before_Our_Eyes_&_thegreatschlepp_is_gonna_backfire.html

Thanks.

Chris in Toronto:

Thanks so much for the excellent link. Very compelling essay.

Thanks for this wonderful news! I have a daughter in Israel now and am thrilled that our Greatest Generation is stepping forward to support a man who supports Israel.

I'll be voting McCain here in NJ. I'd stand in line all day to do this if I have to.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Pre-election polls in Israel showed McCain getting up to 75 per cent. In the first exit poll of actual voters, Israeli Americans, McCain got 76 per cent. The main issue here is the Iranian nukes and we know that McCain will have our back when we attack them. No one trusts Obama. Last week Haaretz ran a story quoting Sarkozy as saying Obama is utterly clueless on Iran. Not a surprise.

As usual Seraphic Secret has made me smile. Thanks!

Cara:

Offspring #2 and her husband live in NJ and they to will be voting for McCain.

Am Yisroel Chai.

Idov:

Well, it stands to reason that Jews in Israel vote for McCain. They know a warrior when they see one, and in contrast they know an appeaser when they see one.

Alice:

Delighted to make you smile:-)

your father is looking good

Lion:

Baruch HaShem.

Brilliant! Greetings from the Netherlands, where this morning, on the state radio, they told us 86% of Dutch youth want Obama to win. Only 6% wanted McCain. Thank heavens, they can't vote. Yet.

If you haven't heard from the news, the early voting places here in Miami were a fiasco. I gave up waiting in the lines and voted via absentee ballot. I hope things are easier over on your Dad's side of town tomorrow than they expect them to be on this side of town. A discussion from a local Chabad showed that most were voing for McCain. It's reassuring to hear the same over at your Dad's. Sounds like there is hope for Florida yet.

If you haven't heard from the news, the early voting places here in Miami were a fiasco. I gave up waiting in the lines and voted via absentee ballot. I hope things are easier over on your Dad's side of town tomorrow than they expect them to be on this side of town. A discussion from a local Chabad showed that most were voing for McCain. It's reassuring to hear the same over at your Dad's. Sounds like there is hope for Florida yet.

> Hey, I never imagined that a politician could worship in a racist, Jew & America hating church for over 20 years and still be a viable presidential candidate

He's black. The race card trumps everything but perhaps five of a kind.

Obama is a Racist, AntiAmerican, AntiSemite Communist with no executive experience at all.

Today we see if five of a kind beats the race card in modern policard games.