Hey all, I justed wanted to add something since I was pretty drunk when I wrote
that post last night. All of it stands, but I wanted to clarify what I meant when I said Jews believe in justice and charity. What I had intended to convey is that we're not one-issue voters. Some Jews, as other commenters noted, might be. I don't know. But living in Palm Beach County as I do, I can say with certainty that Jews here concern themselves with matters like the environment, health care, the tax system, equal rights, etc. before Israel gets considered. Obviously this is not true of every Jew, but there's a reason why 70% of us vote consistently Democratic, and perhaps another 20% consistently GOP.
The WaPo article made one sorta good point. The first is that this might sway just a few Jews to vote Bush and this could win Florida. I call bullshit. Again, we're not single-issue voters, and there has never been a significant difference in Republican and Democratic policy on this score. Jews are not going to step back, look at this, and say, "Finally, a President who stands up for Israel." Whatev's. Even the older voters know what the score is, and they all, and I mean all hate the Drug Bill.
Another commenter above makes a great point, which is the level of apprehension amongst Jews with all this God talk from Bush and the Right's embrace of "The Passion." No one in my family, nor anyone I know around here, even saw the movie. I would be curious to know how it did in Palm Beach County at large. My point about it is this: Jews don't prosthelytize. In fact, our religion has a strong proscription against it and rabbis are trained to discourage potential converts. IOW, we look at evengelicals like they're from another planet. Why can't Bush and his people just let us all alone?