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September 18, 2008 | 6:21 pm

Republican Jews behind negative Obama poll *

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Remember the Republican Jewish Coalition? (Yes, they really exist.) They’ve been pushing real hard for their guy, John McCain, and working against his rival, Barack Obama.

This much is, obviously, to be expected. But Ben Smith at Politico reports that the RJC was also behind a poll that asked Jewish voters their feelings about anti-Obama semi-truths.

Matt Brooks, RJC’s executive director, told Smith that the poll was administered to “understand why Barack Obama continues to have a problem among Jewish voters.”

A large chunk of Smith’s story is after the jump:

The poll asked voters their response to negative statements about Obama, including reported praise for him from a leader of the Palestinian terror group Hamas and a friendship early in his career with a pro-Palestinian university professor. Some Jewish Democrats who received the poll – including a New Republic writer who lives in Michigan – were outraged by the poll, describing it in interviews as “ugly” and disturbing. A group that supports Obama, the Jewish Council for Education and Research even staged a protest outside the Manhattan call center from which the calls originated Tuesday.

“If the RJC is responsible for these calls, which are designed to frighten Jews and sow mistrust, they have forfeited their place at the Jewish table,” said the co-executive director of the group, Mik Moore. “It is incumbent upon the McCain campaign to speak out forcefully against this and ongoing efforts by his supporters to scare Jews into supporting his candidacy.”

Brooks, however, denied that the poll was meant to influence Jewish voters, and said it was a traditional poll meant to gauge the opinions of Jewish voters.

“What we did is test, in standard polling methodology, a number of factual issues that have been reported on in the press and are policy positions to see how they’re resonating in the Jewish community,” said Brooks. “The notion that this is a ‘push poll’ is offensive to us.”

Brooks said the RJC, whose board includes advisors and fundraisers for Senator John McCain, had placed 750 calls to Jewish voters in five states: Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He accused the protesters of “intimidation.”

Mark Blumenthal, editor of the website Pollster.com, said the form of the poll, and its length of 15 minutes, made it more likely to be a traditional “message testing” survey than a “push poll,” in which brief calls are made to deliver a message and the caller typically has no interest in the results. He added, however, that in some cases a pollster might anticipate—and welcome—the possibility that negative questions would draw media attention and, indirectly, amplify the pointed statements.

Certainly, they have drawn attention: After first reporting on two voters who were polled, Politico was contacted by a half-dozen more, and many Jewish Obama backers are livid at the survey.

“The fact that the Republican Jewish Coalition is targeting Jewish Americans with these disgraceful and deceitful tactics fits in perfectly with the dishonorable campaign that John McCain has chosen to run. Peddling lies and hateful distortions to scare Jewish voters is reprehensible and deeply disrespectful to Jewish Americans,” said Florida Congressman Robert Wexler, an Obama supporter.

The poll may not itself have been aimed at delivering a single message, but it does point to the group’s possible lines of attack on Obama in the heated battle for Jewish votes. John McCain’s hawkish, pro-Israel credentials, and nervousness in the Jewish community over both Obama’s promise of diplomacy with Iran and the false rumors that he is a Muslim and hostile to Israel had produced polls over the summer that showed Obama winning about two thirds of the Jewish vote. That’s a substantial margin, but a narrower one than Al Gore and John Kerry took, and a worrisome issue for the Democrats, particularly in Florida.

Read the rest of the article here.

* Update: The Journal just uploaded the following video from JTA:

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This is ridiculous. The National Jewish Democratic Committee can run amok with innuendo masquerading as sober fact-finding, and the Republican Jewish Coalition forfeit their place at the Jewish table? It might work if it wasn’t so cynical and transparent. They don’t call them the Children of Israel for nothing. Grow up, fools.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 9/18/08 at 7:56 pm

Case in point, BP?

Comment by Brad A. Greenberg on 9/18/08 at 8:00 pm

Case in point. Exactly what I was thinking of.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 9/18/08 at 8:21 pm

Obama did have a friendship with a pro-Palestinian university professor. His name is Rashid Khalidi and he and his wife Mona had worked at Yasser Arafat’s press agency in Lebanon. The LA Times and NY Times have written about Khalidi. The guy is infamous for his anti-Israel hate speech. Obama, Khalidi and a third buddy, Bill Ayers were teaching at the Univ. of Chicago. Khalidi helped Obama’s Senate campaign and Obama and Ayers (who were co-chairs of the Woods Fund) raised $75,000 for Khalidi’s Palestinian organization. Obama sent money to Khalidi right after Obama’s pastor Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan blamed U.S.-Israel ties for the 9-11 attacks. Obama then wrote in a Hyde Park newspaper asking Americans to “understand” and have empathy for the attackers. Khalidi is now at Columbia Univ. He helped facilitate Ahmadinejad’s speech on that campus in 2007.  When Khalidi got kicked out of NY public schools, Ayers defended him. Also, in his interview with J. Goldberg of the Atlantic, Obama stated that Israel was a “constant sore” that infects U.S. foreign policy. A few days before, Khalidi had written that Israel was a “running sore.”

Comment by Ruth on 9/18/08 at 9:21 pm

blood sucking parasites who should be expelled from the USA

Comment by dr on 9/18/08 at 11:17 pm

Ruth’s quotation from the Atlantic Obama interview conveniently omitted the very next sentence which goes on to state: “The lack of a resolution to this problem provides an excuse for anti-American militant jihadists to engage in inexcusable actions, and so we have a national-security interest in solving this, and I also believe that Israel has a security interest in solving this because I believe that the status quo is unsustainable.”

Comment by Ellis Kirschenbaum on 9/18/08 at 11:42 pm

@Ruth - So what if Obama had a friendship with a pro-palestinian professor? Isn’t that what Obama is talking about - to have peace talks? It just goes to show that he can break barriers and still be loyal to his country.

Comment by maxx on 9/19/08 at 2:42 am

Oh come on, ‘friendship’

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57231
In 2001, the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi’s wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002.
* * *
Obama served on the Wood’s Fund board alongside William C. Ayers, a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

Ayers, who still serves on the Woods Fund board, contributed $200 to Obama’s senatorial campaign fund and has served on panels with Obama at numerous public speaking engagements. Ayers admitted to involvement in the bombings of U.S. governmental buildings in the 1970s.  He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The $40,000 grant from Obama’s Woods Fund to the AAAN constituted about a fifth of the Arab group’s reported grants for 2001, according to tax filings obtained by WND.  The $35,000 Woods Fund grant in 2002 also constituted about one-fifth of AAAN’s reported grants for that year.
* * *
Rashid Khalidi at times has denied working directly for the PLO but Palestinian diplomatic sources in Ramallah told WND he indeed worked on behalf of WAFA. Khalidi also advised the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference in 1991.

During documented speeches and public events, Khalidi has called Israel an “apartheid system in creation” and a destructive “racist” state.

During documented speeches and public events, Khalidi has called Israel an “apartheid system in creation” and a destructive “racist” state. 

He has multiple times expressed support for Palestinian terror, calling suicide bombings response to “Israeli aggression.” He dedicated his 1986 book, “Under Siege,” to “those who gave their lives ... in defense of the cause of Palestine and independence of Lebanon.” Critics assailed the book as excusing Palestinian terrorism.

While the Woods Fund’s contribution to Khalidi’s AAAN might be perceived as a one-time run in with Obama, the presidential hopeful and Khalidi evidence a deeper relationship.
* * *
Asked about Obama’s role funding the AAAN, Khalidi claimed he had “never heard of the Woods Fund until it popped up on a bunch of blogs a few months ago.” 

He terminated the call when petitioned further about his links with Obama. 

Contacted by phone, Mona Khalidi refused to answer WND’s questions about the AAAN’s involvement with Obama.

Obama’s campaign headquarters did not reply to a list of WND questions sent by e-mail to the senator’s press office.
* * *
Obama served on the board with Ayers, who was a Weathermen leader and has written about his involvement with the group’s bombings of the New York City Police headquarters in 1970, the Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972.

“I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough,” Ayers told the New York Times in an interview released on Sept. 11, 2001

etc. etc. etc.

Obama clearly left these facts out of his speech before AIPAC. However many in the room knew them already, accounting for his tepid applause there.

Remember - A liberal is someone too broadminded to take his own side. Jews have to decide what their overriding values are. Many of them agree with Gandhi that the Jews should boldly advance to a glorious death and REALLY make the Gentiles feel guilty. That would show ‘em!

Comment by Ben Plonie on 9/19/08 at 6:19 am

From Wikipedia

[edit] Allegations of PLO connections
Khalidi has been accused of having ties to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, based on his work for Wafa in the late 1980s, and later serving as an advisor to the Palestinian delegation during the Madrid Conference of 1991.[15][16] Khalidi denied the allegation that he served as a PLO spokesman.[17] Khalidi explained that he often spoke to journalists in Beirut, and was usually cited, without attribution, as a well-informed Palestinian source. He also said that he was unaware of any misidentification as a PLO spokesman.[15]

The claim received renewed attention in 2008 when it was raised due to a reported friendship between Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Khalidi’s family when Khalidi taught at the University of Chicago. Articles by Aaron Klein and John Bachelor, writers respectively for World Net Daily and Human Events, were referenced by rival political campaigns and reprinted in wider-circulation media.[16][18][19][17]


[edit] Obama relationship
Khalidi’s relationship to Obama has come under increasing interest due to the U.S. Presidential race of 2008.[20] Obama made one of the presentations in praise of Khalidi at a 2003 farewell dinner on the occasion of Khalidi leaving the Los Angeles Area.[20] The dinner was a celebration of the Los Angeles area Palestinian community. Obama’s remarks alluded to the numerous dinners that he had at the home of the Khalidis.[20]


[edit] NYC teacher training program
In 2005 Khalidi’s participation in a New York City teacher training program was ended by the city’s Schools Chancellor.[21] The Chancellor, Joel I. Klein, issued a statement that “Considering his past statements, Rashid Khalidi should not have been included in a program that provided professional development for [Department of Education] teachers and he won’t be participating in the future.”[22] Following the decision, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger spoke out on Khalidi’s behalf, writing: “The department’s decision to dismiss Professor Khalidi from the program was wrong and violates First Amendment principles… The decision was based solely on his purported political views and was made without any consultation and apparently without any review of the facts.”[21]

Comment by Dee Leck on 9/20/08 at 12:46 pm

World Net Daily? The mouthpiece of such non-partisan, unbiased individuals as Richard Mellon Scaife? The home to such Jew lovers as Ann Coulter & Buchannan? Hell, why stop there, Lady Goebbels? Why don’t you just quote “Der Steurmer” and have an end to it? I got news for you Rifkah. Their bullshit doesn’t camouflage their racism or anti-semitism anymore than it obfuscates your intolerance and that of the rest of the ignoramuses in the shtetl toward African Americans(or Ethiopian Jews for that matter). Hmm. I guess that makes you an anti-semite as well. Big shock there. That is afterall, your stock-in-trade, Victor. Promoting your own infantile jealousies and resentments and that of the rest of the village idiots, toward other Jews as a legitimate expression of concern for the welfare of Israelis. Tell me Victor. Did you start cracking up before they threw you out of Israel or after? Well, no matter. Maybe you ought to place your own name at the top of your “Masada S.H.I.T List”. That goes for any other other senile member of the tribe who thinks he or she is gonna hide their disgusting, rabbinically sanctioned, shtetl-ingrained xenophobia behind a reeking flatulant cloud of polemics, lies, and sophistry. Do us all a favor. Give the rest of us a courtesy flush, wipe your ass, light a match, and save your energies for that hip surgery.

But I digress.

“...In 2001, the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi’s wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002.”

And with this little ditty your implying what, Tampon-Boy? That the $40,000 dollars went to terrorists in the Mid-East? Any proof, nitwit? No stupid. I mean besides the insinuations of know-nothing, right wing ideologues. wink I guess the possibilty that it actually went toward helping the dis-advantaged amongst the arab community in Chicago has no basis in logic. Gee. I wonder if Arab Americans question the integrity and even-handedness of every politician that takes money from AIPAC?

“...Obama served on the Wood’s Fund board alongside William C. Ayers, a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

And from this missive we should infer what? That Obama’s affinity toward the beyond-the-pale politics of a has-been 60’s radical was the essential reason for participating in the Woods Fund? Yeah. Upstairs they’re talking about helping the needy. Downstairs, Obama and Billy are making fertilizer bombs. Please Rebbitzen. The man was a community organizer on the South Side. Membership in such groups would be part of his responsibilities toward succoring the social welfare of his constituency.

“...Ayers, who still serves on the Woods Fund board, contributed $200 to Obama’s senatorial campaign fund and has served on panels with Obama at numerous public speaking engagements. Ayers admitted to involvement in the bombings of U.S. governmental buildings in the 1970s.  He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.”

WOW! A whole $200.00 dollars. Boy. Nothing spells influence peddling like 200 big ones. grin It seems to me that Mr. Ayers is more concerned about whitewashing his past by conflating his own image with that of Obama’s than the other way around.

“...The $40,000 grant from Obama’s Woods Fund to the AAAN constituted about a fifth of the Arab group’s reported grants for 2001, according to tax filings obtained by WND. The $35,000 Woods Fund grant in 2002 also constituted about one-fifth of AAAN’s reported grants for that year.”

Lets do the math, shall we? Lets see, $40,000 x 5 = $200,000 dollars. Yes. I can see this is a well funded organization with tentacles that reach to the highest levels of gov’t. You know, like AIPAC. wink

“..Asked about Obama’s role funding the AAAN, Khalidi claimed he had “never heard of the Woods Fund until it popped up on a bunch of blogs a few months ago.”

Obama didn’t fund the AAAN. He contributed to the Woods Fund as he probably saw it as beeing beneficial toward the people he represents. If the Woods Fund, during the course of its operations donates funds to other constituencies besides that of Obama’s, that doesn’t mean that the interests of the various parties coincide. It means that they’re drinking from the same trough. Being a racist kahanist sack-of-sh*t, you ought to be familiar with this situation, as I’m sure you often find yourself sitting next to some Jew-hating white supremacist on your ideological bus.

“...Obama’s campaign headquarters did not reply to a list of WND questions sent by e-mail to the senator’s press office.”

Probably becuase WorldNetDaily is not considered to be a credible member of the 4th estate. It’s a glorified blog thats trying to promote itself as a legitamate news outlet. Hell, even in the blogosphere, its position would be akin to a grain of pepper in a pile of gnat sh*t. The Obama campaign probably saw no benefit to themselves in answering the email, but ultimately it probably just wasn’t worth the time.

“...Obama clearly left these facts out of his speech before AIPAC. However many in the room knew them already, accounting for his tepid applause there.”

The overt antipathy and hostilty of AIPAC toward Obama is well known, not least of all by the candidate. His speech to AIPAC was gratuitous, and as AIPAC barely represents the interests of 25% of the Jewish community, their veiws about Obama or his speech are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

“..A conservative is a man who sits and thinks, mostly sits.”

Woodrow Wilson

The siiting part I understand, but it must be hard to sit & think when your brains are in your a**

Comment by Shoded Yam on 9/20/08 at 2:42 pm

Both Khalidi and his wife deny or stonewall questions about their ties to Obama which are a matter of public record. Khalidi denies being a Palestinian activist and functionary, but there it is again. Obama supporters try to present him as a clean character and pro-Israel in some sense, but his past associations belie that and his current campaign is crawling with antizionists and antisemites, Khalidi or no Khalidi.

All this jazz about Worldnet Daily and AIPAC is irrelevant. If AIPAC is truly hostile to Obama, then I suppose it was foolish of him to go into the lion’s den, especially considering the embarrasing flip-flop the great ‘change-agent’ was forced to make THE VERY NEXT DAY to mollify his true masters. The only real answer to ‘according to publically available information Obama worked with funded an anti Israel activist and worked with and is buddies with an anti American terrorist couple’ is 1) No he didn’t, or 2) He used to, but doesn’t anymore. Neither of those are worth much in the face of the facts, but it is a point of discussion.

(What happened to ‘civil’ and naughty words, teacher?)

Anyway, my comment was in response to ‘So what if Obama had a friendship with a pro-palestinian professor?’. This is ‘so what’. Anyone who would not vote for someone like should take it into account, that’s what.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 9/20/08 at 9:39 pm

I believe that Obama skirts around all his associations saying guys I lived near, or around the same event, but in fact I believe they are his friends.  He gets around it this way when I believe he is in fact close associates.  I fear he is truly against Israel, which in turn makes me fear what will happen to Israel under his watch.  Really look up his associates and don’t think anyone is influencing you.  Check yourself.  He has been really close to a very anti-semitic bunch.

Kathy

Comment by Kathy Coogle on 10/27/08 at 1:38 am

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