Thursday, November 6, 2008

Question of the Day...

According to the Jerusalem Post, 78% of Jews voted for Barack Obama in this election. The question is why would Jews vote for someone so closely affiliated with Islamic states?
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9 comments:

The New Albanian said...

In cases of seeming cognitive dissonance, i.e., when your preconceived beliefs don't seem to match your "facts," then the obvious step is to examine your premises.

If Obama is not "closely affiliated with Islamic states," then the support of 78% of "Jews" -- conveniently ignoring the different varieties of Judaism -- makes far more sense.

But hey -- we know more than them there Jews anyway, don't we?

November 6, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Daniel Short said...

The facts are that Obama has at least two Iranians on his staff, Valerie Jarret and Trita Parsi. He also plans to meet with terrorist leaders and give them the legitemacy they are seeking. He was quoted as saying "The Bush Administration's failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world." Add to it his twenty years of black liberation theology and you have a dangerous cocktail for Jews. But, I guess with friends like Barack, who needs enemies?

November 6, 2008 at 3:07 PM
John Manzo said...

Neither Valerie Jarret and Trita Parsi are terrorists or part of any terrorist sponsoring group. They are very much advocates of the United States and Iran working towards normalizing relationships as well as Iran and Israel having a normalized relationship.

Additionally, in the last eight years the United States has broken a series of treaties around the world with many of them being treaties with the nations of western Europe. As you may have noted, our relationships with many of the western European countries is greatly strained and as they are less dependent on the United States for security, and as the United States has been rather cavalier with treaties, and as they have a great need for oil supplies, it is a foregone conclusion that within a relatively short period of time western Europe is going to be purchasing oil from Iran. It is very much in the interest of the United States, and ultimately Iran, to have at least a reasonable relationship.

As for theology, the presumption that the main theological viewpoint of Trinity United Church of Christ is black liberation theology is way, way off the mark. Jeremiah Wright preached there for decades with a large number of sermons on television. Even here. We've repeatedly seen clips from a couple of sermons. People have watched hours and hours of Jeremiah Wright's sermons and have come up with clips from a handful of sermons. These clips in relationship to hundreds of sermons, offer precious little in terms of 'black liberation theology.' Having personally heard Wright on several occasions, the person who quoted more than any other person was some radical named Jesus.

However, you do point out an incredibly dangerous theology trend. The quote, "The Bush Administration's failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world," speaks of this lack of peace being harmful to both Israel and the Arab world. If one reads the theology of many in the Evangelical movement, they are opposed to this kind of peace prospect because they see the hope of the 'end times' in a conflict in that part of the world. As a result, they parade themselves to be 'pro-Israel' and advocate against peace in that region. To put it bluntly, their theological worldview actually WANTS war.

Considering all of this, it is amazing that Obama only got 78% of the Jewish vote.

November 6, 2008 at 3:49 PM
The New Albanian said...

Gee, John -- that's actually sensible.

Maybe you belong to the "wrong" church If you'd just been paying proper attention when you were five years old ...

November 6, 2008 at 7:15 PM
Daniel Short said...

Guys, seriously, no one in Iran leadership wants normal relations with Israel. Black liberation theology was taught there and was a main focus as was giving citizenship awards to the likes of Farakhan. Roger, I adore your memory of my early youth and its effect on my adulthood.

November 6, 2008 at 8:07 PM
Jeff Gillenwater said...

I guess I'm just surprised that the New Albanian and John are right wing evangelicals.

I mean, they do have fairly regular conversations with you, don't they?

November 7, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Daniel Short said...

Right wing, yes. Evangelical, I suppose. Jeff, I even had a pint at Roger's place. Times they are a changing.

November 7, 2008 at 12:15 PM
The New Albanian said...

Daniel and I had a nice chat, and HB remains my doctor.

I'm Ted Kennedy to a whole slew of Orrin's Hatch.

November 7, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Jeff Gillenwater said...

Another fine example of better living through alcohol. It's a strategy I intend to explore in greater detail over the coming months.

November 7, 2008 at 1:22 PM

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