Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. You think we're posting this picture just to drive traffic to Seraphic Secret, but Kelly was politically Conservative and a supporter of Israel.
We know: it’s crazy paranoid to assume that a man who was mentored for over 20-years by a rabid Jew-hater just might have a few, um, issues, with Jews and Israel.
But hey, Seraphic Secret did not go to an Ivy League college, nor did we attend graduate school where common sense is, North Korean style, washed right out of impressionable young minds in favor of Deconstruction, see: Marxism, and multiculturalism, code indicating that all cultures are equally valid except for Western Judeo/Christian culture which is corrupt, imperialist and thoroughly evil.
Yup, Barack Obama adored the Jew-hating racist Jeremiah Wright to such a degree that Wright officiated at the Obama wedding and baptized the Obama children.
American Jews overwhelmingly chose to ignore these subtle hints of anti-Semitism, instead pointing to all the wonderful Jews who worked in the Obama campaign.
Which is kind of like cheering the Judenrat.
My wife Karen, a skilled psychologist, bluntly terms this behavior cognitive dissonance: supporting two contradictory notions at the same time, thus using perverse logic—illogic—to reconcile the irreconcilable.
Hence, Seraphic Secret, shooting from the hip and in bold Saul Bass titles labeled the 78% of American Jews who voted for Obama: Stupid Jews.
But the light has begun to dawn.
Even stupid American Jews—as opposed to really stupid American Jews—have begun to notice that Barack Obama is hostile to the Jewish State.
And a recent poll from the non-partisan Secure America Now reveals that only 2 in 5 American Jewish voters would vote to Re-Elect Obama.
This could give Obama lots of trouble in Florida, a crucial electoral state.
Here’s my request to my liberal Jewish friends and relatives:
Don’t vote for Obama.
Puh-leese.
It would be best to vote for the Republican nominee—heck, it’d be better to vote for a door knob—but we realize this is close to heresy.
So, just stay home. Don’t vote. Kick back in your La-Z-Boy recliner and screen a few John Wayne flicks. We suggest Stagecoach or The Searchers. If John Wayne is not to your taste, how about some Cary Grant movies: The Awful Truth is screwball comedy a its finest, and hey, feast your eyes on Cary Grant and Grace Kelly—will blog about Kelly’s support of Israel sometime soon—in the delightful Hitchcock romp, To Catch a Thief.
While American Jewish voters, like the rest of the country, believe that economics is the most important issue facing the nation, they also believe that for the American Jewish community the single most important issue for the Jewish community is Israel.
In a poll conducted by Democrat Pat Caddell and Republican John McLaughlin for the non-partisan organization Secure America Now http://www.secureamericanow.org/ , American Jewish voters expressed admiration for many of President Obama’s personal qualities (honesty, leadership, intelligence…) they also expressed deep concern about the state of Israel/US relations and policies being championed by the Obama Administration.
- 93% are concerned about Israel being threatened by Arab nations and Iran that want to destroy Israel.
- 81% are against Israel being forced to return to its pre-1967 borders.
- 81% agree with the Administration as they oppose the UN recognizing a Palestinian State
- 76% are concerned about Islamic terrorism committed in the US by American born Muslims
- 73% believe Jerusalem should remain the united capital of Israel and only 8% support that the US should force Israel to give away parts of Jerusalem.
- 88% believes that a prerequisite for Palestinian Statehood is their recognition of Israel as a Jewish State.
- And by a a 54-21 majority they feel that the Arab Spring has made the world more dangerous for Israel.
That this divide may have political consequences can be seen in the answers to the following: Despite a job approval rating of 63% for President Obama, only two in five Jewish voters (43% ) say they would vote to re-elect President Obama. The plurality (48%) would consider someone else and 9% are undecided.
Mr. Caddell commented on the results:” These most loyal of Democrat voters are very concerned about the future of Israel and the tense relations between the Obama Administration and the State of Israel.”
John McLaughlin added “This poll adds to the growing evidence that right behind concerns about the economy are concerns about security, and among Jewish Americans voters growing concerns for the future of our ally Israel.”
For more details on the poll visit: http://secureamericanow.org/
This poll of 600 likely Jewish voters has an accuracy of +/- 4.0% at a 95% confidence interval.
Update: Our good friend Jake Novak, Senior Producer at Fox News, reports that Pat Caddell, who conducted the poll, will appear 10:15 am EASTERN time tomorrow. Live on Varney & Co.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
18 Comments
Postfix test! (Fingers crossed)
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Trip:
Seems to be working. Thanks so much.
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That is the only explanation for liberal Jewish support of Obama that I can fathom – liberalism is their religion.
A funny line from one of my favorite shows, House, stood out for me – and considering I am trying to remember it in the audience of an accomplished screenwriter I will try not to butcher it too badly.
House – as a background – is a brilliant but anti social MD. His bedside manner is atrocious – in fact, he has none. Completely tactless.
But during one or 2 seasons when he was seriously involved with the hospital administrator – a Jewish woman I would characterize in character as a secular Jew – House gets to meet his potential mother in law.
She is atrocious in her own way but I have rambled on enough bringing you up to the line.
Mother In Law: “So, if you and Lisa get married are you going to convert to Judaism?
House (with his ever present tact): “No, I’m an atheist”
Mother in Law (without skipping a beat) – “That’s OK, so are a lot of us! But it is all about community!”
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Bill:
Insider info: the creator, exec producer of “House,” David Shore is my friend Raphael Shore’s brother.
From Wikipedia:
“Raphael Shore is an Canadian-Israeli film writer, producer, and rabbi. He is the founder of The Clarion Fund, a non-profit organization that seeks to advance the idea that the United States faces a threat of radical Islam.
Shore wrote and produced the documentary films Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West, The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America, and IRANIUM.”
Raphael has held several fundraisers at David’s, um, house.
Good people.
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Let me, as someone whom the Left would call an American Christian Zionist, explain why I support Israel. There are several good reasons:
1) Israeli’s support of freedom and liberty appeals to me as an American. Individuals are free to belong to a group (observant vs secular, for instance), but they aren’t required to belong to a certain class. Such is not the case in many of Israel’s neighboring countries — woman are not equal to men. Peasants are not equal to royal families, and Shiites are not viewed as equals by the Sunnis.
2) Israel is hard-working. Israel has contributed so many things to modern technology it boggles the mind. In the Middle East, Israel has the most vibrant socio-economic community. They literally build communities where other people don’t want to live and they thrive! Look at Israel’s neighboring countries and tell me where anyone has created anything approaching Israel’s success.
3) Jews are keenly humanitarian. Not only do they accept immigrants from all over the world, but they also deal with their enemies in the most humane way. Witness how the IDF worked in Operation Cast Lead. They called cell phones in Gaza and warned civilians of an impending incursion. This also gave Hamas (“the bad guys”) plenty of warning, but it was done to save civilian lives. Tell me what Hamas has ever done to save Israeli civilians? In short, Jews celebrate life and the radical Islamists celebrate death.
4) The Jews deserve Israel. As a Christian, I read the Bible (OK, not as often as I should, but I have read most of it). The Bible says the G-d gave the Jews the Holy Land. This was several thousand years ago… and in case you don’t take the Bible as scholarly fact, then look at the archeology. Jews have live there since before the time of Jesus. We have the proof.
In 1948, there was a plan to settle both Arabs (what we now call Palestinians, only that particular name used to reference Jews) and Jews. The Arabs refused TransJordan as a homeland. They went to war and lost. They fought several more wars and they’ve lost each one. G-d willing they will always win the war for Israel — it’s their home!!
5) As a final reason, I’m a Christian. My savior, Jesus Christ, was a Jew — you know, when he was here in earthly form. If he was a Jew, how could I be against Jews? I don’t think of Christianity as being anti-Jew. I don’t think Jesus was teaching “don’t be a Jew, follow me instead”. I see Christianity as an off-shoot of Judaism. Much like the Protestants split from the Catholics — we’re both still Christians, we just follow different rituals to try and reach the same result. I see Christians and Jews in a similar vein.
I don’t see the same thing in radical Islam — again, they teach death as something desirable. What religion teaches that you should die to go to Heaven and find 72 virgins… really? Their idea of Heaven is akin to a cheap porno plot?? To me, it’s almost immoral, but I was raised in a “live and let live” atmosphere (that is, everyone follow their own beliefs and be respectful of others’ beliefs). Unfortunately, for too many Arab/Persians, their philosophy is much different. They want to wipe out not only Israel, but all Jews (and eventually Christians, etc.) Not only is this an unacceptable premise, it requires a direct and firm response from all freedom-loving civilizations. Now, before it’s too late.
There. That’s my highly-biased take on the subject.
Btw, Robert… thanks. You know I have a thing for Myrna Loy, but Grace Kelly is a VERY close second!!
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Hmmm… formatting isn’t quite what I expected, so I went to Edit, but all I got was a dialog box with the message “Loading…”. After a few minutes I gave up.
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I’ve found – for one thing – you have to have about 2-3 line breaks so the formatter will allow an extra – I am still learning too
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Guys:
Try again, Terry “Trip” Trippany, our admin, has been working on the glitch and I’m pretty sure it’s fixed.
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Prophet Joe:
Your elegant and articulate post leaves me feeling, for the first time in a long time, optimistic about our future. Thanks so much for your support and your friendship.
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“from the comments (at Volokh) it is taken for granted by liberals that such support (for Israel) relates to the rapture and the end of times and has nothing to do with right and wrong”
I’ve heard this assertion frequently, particularly with regard to Evangelical support for Israel. While some Evangelicals may support Israel primarily for theological reasons, I think a far more important causal factor is that most Evangelicals are members of social groups which are outside the opinion force field which is centered on academia and is amplified and retransmitted by institutions such as NPR and the NYT. Most Evangelicals surely don’t care what the NYT and the Harvard professors think about *anything*, Israel being just one case in point.
So since they are relatively resistant to “progressive” propaganda, Evangelicals and other devout Christians are free to exercise their natural instincts of fellow-feeling for an embattled democracy.
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David:
Excellent point. The Evangelicals, Mormons, Catholics—and Orthodox Jews—I know resist the doctrines of the left that permeate our culture. In a sense they are rebelling against Orwellian newspeak. Heroic.
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Joining Kissinger in the ranks of deluded Jews, Rahm, in an example of convergent devolution, reached the same point without attending The Right Reverend and Estimable Wright’s church.
In any case, the fabric on that dress is extraordinarily beautiful. Just amazing, what clothing can do.
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Barzilai:
Grace Kelly’s wardrobe for To Catch a Thief was created by the legendary Edith Head. Grace had what we call in Hollywood, a problem bosom AKA flat-chested. Head created a womanly cleavage for Kelly through the skilled layering of fabric, plus designing a subtle built-in bra that made something out of, um, nothing.
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LOL Robert!
Growing up, my older sister used to lightheartedly tease my little sister saying, “Buried treasure … sunken chest!!”
Until my little sister grew up and turned the tables.
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That is poetic justice!
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I hope Jews (and Gentiles) stay home instead of voting for Obama but I’m not getting my hopes up. Over at Volokh there was a post about conservative Republican support for Israel despite any hope of electoral gains from Jews. From the comments there it is taken for granted by liberals that such support relates to the rapture and the end of times and has nothing to do with right and wrong. Maybe, just maybe, conservatives see Israel’s neighbors as they really are.
I recently watched The Devil’s Arithmetic and I don’t know if you wrote Dustin Hoffman’s introduction for the dvd but one sentence stood out for me.
“Violence is often used as a way to entertain our children as fantasy without consequence, but the brutality and the inhumanity of the Holocaust were real, not fantasy, and they affect us today, and they will affect us tomorrow as well.”
Today we have a president that looked up to Wright and Farrakahn while he plays footsie with countries that regularly labels Jews as subhuman on their national tv networks. But because Sarah Palin supports Israel these minor details can be sublimated into support for Obama. Tomorrow is here and a lot of the political class can’t or don’t want to see it.
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Johnny:
I did not write Dustin’s excellent intro to The Devil’s Arithmetic.
The only Jews I know who suspect that Christian support for Jews and Israel stems from an apocalyptic theology are secular Jews who have replaced Torah Judaism with leftism.
But, of course, they also proclaim Islam as a religion of peace.
Orthodox Jews, secure in their beliefs and observance, understand that Christian Zionism stems from moral goodness.
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Well, as a Catholic I don’t believe in the Rapture; I support Israel for the very simple reason that not having a country wasn’t healthy for Jews, or for the people they had to live among. I don’t think the blame is entirely on the Gentile side, indeed I can think of lots of things to criticize about the history of the Jewish diaspora, but none of them would’ve happened at all, had the Romans (some of whom were my ancestors) not driven the Jews from Judea in the first place, and had the Christian Europeans not chosen to maintain the pagan policies toward Jews, like forbidding them to own land.
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