The American Spectator

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p> POLITICAL TABLES br> Re: Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder's Love is Blind, Deaf, and Dumb : /p> p>Wow! Jackie and Raoul really let us Jews have it -- to the point where it the article reads more like a caricature than the real thing. However, have the two of them take heart, there are lots of Jewish Republicans, just take a look at this super website. br> -- Lana Fayman br> San Diego, California /p>

I think it worth mentioning that Messrs. Felder & Mason omitted two very substantial reasons for Jews being loyal to the Democratic Party, aside from some of the shopworn arguments they offered. Reasons which are directly relevant to today's Republican Party. Specifically the quality and quantity of its outreach.

When Jews first came here, like all other minorities, it was the Democrat ward healers that gave them a place at a political table. Not a meaningful place mind you, but a place in exchange for votes at election time. What, if I may ask, did the Republicans offer the Jews? Trading illusory favors they had no right to bestow, the Democrats got the Jewish votes. Starting low and slow, Jews have steadily climbed the ladder to political power in the ensuing five decades. Coming from Europe where Jews more often than not had no votes at all, no rights, no power, and no prospects for any of the above, not to mention human survival. To them, the Democrat's pathetic largess must have seemed like manna incarnate. I hasten to remind that many of that generation are still alive today, and in possession of excellent memories. Having fought their way to the apex of the Democrat hierarchy, why on earth would Jews be interested in swapping that position for lower seniority rungs of Republican power?

It also needs to be pointed out that the majority of Jews arrived more recently than most other minorities who have undergone conversion to Republican supporters. Like the Irish, English, Germans etc. The definition of a Republican as a Democrat that has been mugged, is only true over time. A long time. Republicans need to recognize that an effort to bring the Jewish voter into our tent will take time and much patience. Anger and resentment will not work.

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