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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Sarah Palin - pro-Israel by default? During the fierce rivalry between Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama over the Democratic nomination, at times it seemed the latter was the only Democratic candidate who could turn the bulk of Jewish voters away from the Democratic Party. A near perfect score on Israeli-related issues from AIPAC, coupled with unquestionable evidence of a being circled by Jewish lifelong friends, close aides and party operatives, were hardly enough to ease the unfortunate suspicion that had regrettably been the burden of a middle name with a Muslim sound or the more serious allegations regarding Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright. But then Sen. John McCain invited the Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, to be his running mate, and made it perfectly clear to the lifelong Democratic Jews who had second thought about Obama: Their true home is nowhere but in the Democratic Party. True enough, McCain has become a turn-on to many Jewish voters who are liberal on internal affairs but hawkish on foreign policy, who after eight years of George W. Bush in power, considered McCain to be exactly the Republican they could stomach: not tied to religious right and religiously driven, understanding the fine line crossing faith from policy, with an impressive record in the Senate that suggests that even if he can be a hard-liner on security, he's far from extreme on the dividing internal issues. But this is exactly what makes Sarah Palin such a turn-off to the same group. Palin is progressive on nothing but naming her children. She is strongly pro-life and opposes abortion even in the case of rape; she vetoed a bill denying benefits to gays as unconstitutional; she endorses teaching creationism alongside evolution in schools; and she supports teaching intelligent design in public schools. To top it all off, on security and foreign policy, a big concern for Jewish voters and strength of McCain with them, she's completely clueless. It's not that she's got a bad record on Israel - she's got no record at all. ADMITTEDLY, WHEN it comes to foreign policy Palin's attraction becomes a trickier matter. You can expect she enjoys some liking among Jews who generally assume that if you are conservative on internal affairs, it will translate into being conservative on external issues. Even if thus far she didn't have to bother herself with the threats to the existence of the Jewish state, when she ascends to national prominence, she'd follow her conservative instinct and will have Israel's interests close to heart. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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