Blogs

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

A recent Political Insider item on University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato’s new book, “The Year of Obama: How Barack Obama Won the White House,” produced a flurry of email.

Why, readers asked, does Sabato put the Jewish vote for Obama at 83 percent while earlier newspaper accounts had it at 78 percent?

Monday, April 27th, 2009

It seems that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is worried that the U.S. can’t be trusted.

“In the past 29 years, different U.S. administrations have opposed the people of Iran,” he said on Sunday. In fact succeeding American presidents have gone out of their way to say their beef is with the rulers of Iran, not the citizens.

More telling, though, is the rest of his quote:

Monday, April 27th, 2009

You have to give this to major Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League: they’re persistent.  A bunch of them have been lobbying for a major new hate crimes bill for more than a decade, and even though it has passed numerous votes in both Houses of Congress the measure never quite makes it into law.

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Periodically during his six-month battle to win a Minnesota Senate race a recount showed he lost by 312 votes, former Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican, has suggested voters should just do the whole thing over again.

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, possibly the most quoted political scientist on Planet Earth and maybe beyond,  has published a new book on the 2008 election, which he sees as one of a rare species:  transformational elections that change the landscape of American politics for years to come.

Friday, April 24th, 2009

I know I’m sounding like a broken record on this, but where is the Jewish outrage  over the sanctioned use of torture — “harsh interrogation techniques” is the favored term in the media – by U.S. intelligence and military forces in the war on terror?

Friday, April 24th, 2009

James Besser in Washington

I’m sort of wondering why so many Jewish groups have been AWOL as the Obama administration defends itself from furious attacks from conservatives upset because the Department of Homeland Security is worried about far-right extremism, along with extremism from other segments.

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

James Besser in Washington

Pro-Israel leaders were working hard this week to spin the story that there’s no real likelihood of a clash between the Obama administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is still formulating his new government’s approach to peace process issues.

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009