Will Jewish votes for Dems speed the mainstreaming of anti-Semitic voices?
by Sam Schulman There was an innocent time when Democrats and Republicans vied for Jewish votes. The Democrats always won the contest, and the more mean-spirited among Republicans used to be vexed – as was, reputedly, James Baker, in the era of Bush I, who was reported as wondering why his administration should do anything for Israel when “they won’t vote for us anyway.” That time is long past. Nowadays, we have a President who does the right thing as he sees it – and he has a clearer and more disinterested vision of the rights and wrongs in the Middle East than any President since Truman. On the other hand, the Democrats take the Jewish vote for granted — while to the standard of the Democratic Party flock a new generation of people who are not only indifferent to the Jewish support for their party –but they are, nearly openly, anti-Semitic in their posture towards Israel. In this situation, Jews who vote for Democratic candidates are merely speeding the process whereby the Democrat
