I am an exchange student in Israel, and I've found it interesting see the Israeli take on American politics. I was watching the news this evening, and I saw a story on "the Jewish vote" in America. I have frequently felt that all the praising of Israel that candidates sometimes get into is sometimes just a little bit too ass-kissing. So I was intrigued to see how it was portrayed in the Israeli media...
The news story covered a few things. First of all, the VP debate. They played the clips of Sarah Palin rambling a bit about how much she loved Israel, and Joe Biden concurring. Surprisingly, they gave equal air time to clips of Tina Fay as Palin talking about Israel. Sarah Palin is not regarded very highly here. The news anchors just laughed at it - not just the SNL clip, but the real one as well. The anchor seemed to find it midly amusing how obviously sucking up it was.
The news story also included video of Sarah Silverman's "The Great Schlep" campaign and a conservative response video, as well as another funny video. And of course, an explain about those retired Florida jewish voters and and their role in the American presidential election. Overall, the anchors just seemed to laugh about it.
But the funniest response I got was from a friend here when I asked her about her opinon. Did she find the politician's enthusiastic support of Israel patronizing? She said, "they're just making noise."
So, so true. But all jokes aside, despite what the politicians may say to woo this group or the other, we know what's what. So a quick reminder here: remember to register to vote, and get volunteering. Take this as a special plea from someone who desperately wishes she could volunteer, but must request for others to do it on her behalf while she is out of the country...