Suburban Illinois Jews Embracing GOP
Israel is an issue for Jews, but less so than the issues that affect the lives of all Americans. In the northern suburbs, there is no one position on Israel. There are progressive Jews who never saw a security risk for a faux peace that their Israeli brethren should not take, as they themselves live in an environment where the biggest security issue is how late they can catch the L in downtown Chicago and still feel safe. There are strong Zionists who are viscerally opposed to the progressives. And there are Jews that few put into the equation: the ultra-orthodox, with their strange dress, large families, and strong predisposition to vote Republican.
Jews are beginning to untie their Democratic moorings, because this is now not the party of JFK, but of Jimmy Carter. That is Barack Obama’s unique contribution to the transformation of the Jewish vote.
A month ago in the suburb of Morton Grove, the Republican candidates were prominently represented at the Greater Chicago Jewish Arts Festival. This year, things were different: although there was still hostility from some, the audience was not remotely as hostile as it had been four years ago. Overall, there was a warmer and larger reception for the Republican candidates and their message than at any time anyone can remember.
Most Jews will vote for Obama, but American elections generally have been about the margins. And the difference between 88% and 60% of the Jewish vote certainly can make a difference, especially if that translates to other contests down the ballot.
Glad to see that some of our American brethern are escaping the reservation, it’s about time they start waking up from their liberal brain-washing, three or four generations of being in a coma are enough.
Hang in there Terry, the American Christian Right has Israel’s back.
Terry, I am one American Jew who knew long ago what the Dumpocrapic Party was all about. They hate Israel as much as O-Hole and his traveling bull dyke Hillary does. As for us, we are firm supporters of Israel and trust our government as much as you trust the arabs who want to destroy you.
Jewish support of globo-socialism (i.e., support of Democrats and even RINOism) has always surprised and disappointed me. Sure, the diaspora might explain a tendency towards the globalism part, and Karl Marx the socialism. But Jews inherently like freedom. Hell, they invented it. Going all the way back to the days of Abraham, it was Jews who put the Judeo into Judeo-Christianity – far and away the most successful and most free belief system ever.
Plus, as explained in this essay, ain’t no Jew who’s gonna like a program if its arithmetic doesn’t work, and there’s only one possible result for where the direction of Barack/Harry/Nancy are taking us. Oh, and by the way, when we arrive at financial breakdown, the ensuing chaos will be accompanied by an outbreak of antisemitic hate speech and violence, as people struggle to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. Jew-hatred always seems to show up at bad times. Some say it’s this or that, but deep down we all know why antisemitism exists: jealousy.
“ain’t no Jew who’s gonna like a program if its arithmetic doesn’t work”
The article says different. The article says best case is that instead of 88% only 60% of Jews will vote Democrat. In other words, 60% of Jews will continue voting for programs where the arithmetic doesn’t work.
In some ways Jews remind me of the French. Rather than use their considerable intellects to implement policies that work, they would rather harness their impressive brain power to invent clever rationalizations for bad and stupid policies.
“In some ways Jews remind me of the French. Rather than use their considerable intellects to implement policies that work, they would rather harness their impressive brain power to invent clever rationalizations for bad and stupid policies.”
Hmmmmmm…maybe the intellectual prowess of the French have been overrated??
European Jews believed there was a congruence between socialism and some ideas in Judaism about charity and return of property. Furthermore, Jews believed that only in an egalitarian secular society could they finally escape persecution.
Historically, countries in which the Church was dominant had periods that were not exactly tolerant of Jews. And the snooty wealthy in most countries had no special use for Jews either. (Including America btw; as late as the 1950s, the most upscale country clubs, resorts and exclusive hotels had “No Jews Allowed” policies.)
I think Israel has a lot to teach Jews, about maintaining a territory for the interests of a nation/peoples.
Now Jews in Israel have “No Non-Jews Allowed” clubs and institutions.
The central cognitive dissonance is that most Jews support the Left’s policy of disempowerment of the Euro-Christian nations/peoples within those countries. However when the Left turns that project upon Israel and it’s Jewsish peoples and culture, it is rightly perceived as hostile anti-semitism of the ugliest sort. Most American Jews that support Israel and the American/Western Left havent come to terms with their own ugly bigotry.
One can only hope for diaspora Jews own sake that they wake up to their foolishness, before the Euro-Christians get pissed enough to reassert their own interests and dominion, and treating their 5th Column enemies whom congregate on the Left appropriately as hostile enemies. But Im not holding my breath, Islam and Muslim immigration will bring it to a head, before they see the error of their ways.
well said. How do both Jewish and Non-Jewish liberals display their tolerance bonafides in each and every conversation? They bash the “Christian Right”.
Exactly.
Thanks for this nice article. Yes, that will be one of Barack Obama’s truly lasting legacies – starting a long-term trend of driving the Jewish vote away from the Democratic Party. I agree with Terry, it’s about time liberal Jews awoke from their self-induced brain death. Liberalism and the Democratic Party are not a substitute for religion, and the liberal social welfare state that they have chained themselves to is collapsing into nonsustainability. Stop defending something that isn’t worth defending. On top of that are the issues pertaining to Israel, which is the proverbial nail on the coffin for the left.
Get off the Titanic before it sinks.
Please stop. Progressive American Jews will NEVER vote with us. This is just pie-in-the-sky talk. And if economics is the only reason they would not vote for Dear Leader, what does that say???
I don’t want them. Let them sink with their progressive/regressive left. They and blacks belong on the same sinking ship.
For the last 60 years they have made it abundantly clear they hate me for being a white male, a Catholic, and proud American. They have attacked my religion; they have attacked my country (who have been many of the most anti-American communists and spies) and have used our Constitution and legal system to hasten the ruin of my nation. So you expect me to open up my arms to American Jews (and blacks)? Not a chance.
My only question is how do we unhitch from that ship?
True, “progressive American Jews will never vote with us” (although I’m not that clear on the precise definition of “us,” but will let that pass). But not all are progressive, and the point of the article is that the tide is turning, and many are learning. If you won’t forgive repentant progressives, then why should Jews ever forgive Catholics for “replacement theology” and all the real-life persecution and misery that accompanied it?
And your designation of your enemy seems to lose the adjective “progressive” at some point and just become some sinister “they.” Tell me, how do you explain Milton Friedman, Andrew Breitbart, Dennis Prager, David Mamet, Jonah Goldberg, Michael Medved, David P. ‘Spengler’ Goldman, Charles Krauthammer, the Kristols, Bernard Goldberg, Allan Bloom, Seth Lipsky, David Horowitz, Kay S. Hymowitz, Harry Stein, and that’s just the ones on my bookshelf?
Also Norm Podhoretz: “Podhoretz’s 2009 book Why Are Jews Liberals? questions why American Jews for decades have been dependable Democrats, often supporting the party by margins of better than two-to-one, even in years of Republican landslides.” (Wikipedia)
PS Good place to put in a plug for Jonah Goldberg’s brilliant book which discusses inter alia the tortured relationship between Jews, Communism and Socialism: http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Fascism-American-Mussolini-Politics/dp/0385511841
I’ve been hearing this for 20 years. I’ll believe it when I see it. I’d be shocked, at best, if we see that 89% drop to 85%.
“Us” is the GOP and more precisely conservatives. I thought that was pretty clear.
Progressive American Jews. Not all Jews. Please read what I wrote. Can’t match that reading list except that one of my favorite books and heroes was Ariel Sharon.
“If you won’t forgive repentant progressives, then why should Jews ever forgive Catholics for “replacement theology” and all the real-life persecution and misery that accompanied it?” Sorry not going to get sucked into a non-sequitor. I however do not subscrible to this goofy theory.
Any other comments?
I have to go with “werewife” on this. As a Christian, you are instructed by your Christ himself to “love your enemies,bless those who curse you” and to forgive those who trespass against you if you want forgiveness from God. God will not forgive your sins if you fail to forgive the sins of others when they attempt to put themselves back on the right path. This isn’t my interpretation of the words of the bible, that is exactly what Jesus said in so many words.
As a Christian, your only response to issues of this kind should be along the lines of “What these people have done is harmful (or sinful), their actions have hurt myself and others,but I forgive them as Christ forgives me, and I pray that the Lord will forgive them and set them,and myself,on the path of righteousness in his name.” PERIOD. I’m sorry,but that’s what your religion says. Being a Christian, you shouldn’t really even be dabbling in politics because your treasures are in heaven.Even if your political opponents strip you of all your property and beat you to death for your religious or political beliefs,Christ has vouchsafed your reward in Paradise with his own blood.
I agree John Thomas.
I wholeheartedly embrace the Jewish Neo-Cons, even if we still have disagreements. I am a huge fan of many Jewish Neo-Con commentariat and activists.
They should be warmly embraced.
John Thomas said: “Being a Christian, you shouldn’t even be dabbling in politics because your treasures are in Heaven.” True enough. However, consider two people: One is taxed against his will to provide for the poor. The other gives the same amount of money to charity to provide for the poor in a state where there is no tax for charity. Same amount of money. Even if you assume the taxed person is okay with his money being taxed for charity, no religion, or belief in karma or whatever will reward him for being taxed against his will, yet the one who gave of his own free will earns his reward in Heaven. So what? So, socialist government taxes to benefit the poor steals the money that would otherwise be voluntarily given. Therefore, they are stealing our eternal reward, or karma.
John Thomas said Christians should not be dabbling in politics because our treasure is in heaven. I disagree; Christians should be involved in the world but not be of the world. The problem is in looking to government for moral authority and for your daily bread. Those things come from God only. Unfortunately, I see a number of those on the religious right who look to political leaders for moral authority. Not a good idea.
Christians should live the gospel and tell others about Jesus Christ. But when we have an authoritarian government that seeks to silence religious freedom, and promotes murder of the unborn,then we need to speak out.
Don’t forget Mark Levin. There is a very definite and growing segment of American Jews who are leaving the Democrat Party and joining the conservatives.
The connservative movement needs all the help it can get. It is not helpful to rehash old grudges.We must work together to move the country out of this terrible and dangerous rut.
” they hate me for being a white male, a Catholic, and proud American”
Unlike, say, JFK? No, they hate you because you are a bigoted nitwit.
Nice try Rosen. But the facts betray your absolutely pitiful attempt to respond in an adult manner. I will take your comment with a grain of sand.
And if you cannot get over (yourself) your own prejudice and see what your fellow American Jews have done to America then either your are a complete moron or so deluded with leftist dogma that you cannot think for yourself.
It was Catholic church policy to discriminate against Jews. It was their collective punishment for dioscide. It wasn’t until the recent Pope John Paul that this policy was discontinued. Depending on the era of your upbringing, your position about Jews would be a window into your indoctrination. I remember in another prior article your comment that Soros is a Jew. That showed either total ignorance to reality that Soros’s father was a Catholic convert or a pure underlying anti-Semitism. In any event, your poison comes out in gushes. It seems you only need an excuse to hate Jews (either Christ killers or Secular Liberal Jews). You are in effect one of the reasons that Jews clung to the Democratic party with such zeal.
Let me point out that every Jew that changes his vote from Democrat to Republican represents two votes in effect. First is the lost vote for Obama, second is the new vote for Romney. This should encourage you to go out and get the Liberal Jewish vote. Every converted Liberal makes a great Conservative. Last election already showed an erosion of the Jewish vote from the Democratic party. Estimates are that up to 40% of the Jewish vote went against the Democrats. As the Democratic party polarizes toward the left, more jew feel threatened by their fellow Democrats. Just think that a Jew even a nominal Jew your party bothers are Black Panthers, Moslem Americans and Leftwing loonies. Increasingly black Democratic candidates are openly hostile to Jews. That doesn’t mean that the Republican party is necessarily a good fit for the Jewish voter. We still have to contend with people like you.
What facts are you talking about? Did not American Jews support Kennedy, who last I heard was white, Catholic and patriotic regardless of whether you liked his policies (or lifestyle) or not? YOU can’t answer ME, your response did not contain a single fact to refute me because there are none.
wow, you really need to get over yourself. My choice of grumpy is because I was feeling grumpy. Apparently it never occurred to you that the names of the seven dwarfs are probably the most commonly used handles across the internet. Try A$$hole. It fits you better.
So you hate with the justification of …wait for it…
“Let’s just say that I earned that right”
Ahhh, the justification for every act of evil. At least you are self aware that you have no desire to rise above and make the world a better place.
You know how come I knew that my arrow would hit your mark, because every jewish guy over the age of 60 tells that exact same story…like it’s a big horrific deal. Boo-hoo-hoo Your story of oppression in America is every bit as pitiful as that of Muslim women who come to America’s shores to escape oppression, stonings and genital mutilation and then suddenly expect all of America to collectively get down on our knees and beg for forgiveness when some bully or bigot feels they earned the right to give them a dirty look for wearing a hijab.
Every kid endured bullying of one sort or another – but apparently you think the trauma belongs solely to you – just like the world’s most common handle “grumpy”.
Andy the Gump said, “Depending on the era of your upbringing, your position about Jews would be a window into your indoctrination.”
Let me guess the era of YOUR upbringing. You are 55+ and have a personal tale to tell about how you were GREATLY persecuted in America because: you once went to an event where they rudely excluded you; you happened upon a mortgage that still had the no-jews verbage in it; and a bully once called you out for being jewish.
And all of that terribly painful persecution justifies you in making this comment:
” That doesn’t mean that the Republican party is necessarily a good fit for the Jewish voter. We still have to contend with people like you.”
What exactly is this a comeback to? The idea that progressive converts (of all stripes) are not welcome because they don’t share the same goals? Sheesh. Get a mirror. You are the one being a bigot.
Geesh I’m tired of stupid people trying to use my handle in one way or another. I had to change my handle from Oscar the Grump because of targeted campaign of Moslems on this blog site. Now I have another fool using ‘grumpy” as a handle. Get a life and some imagination. Listen growing up I took some abuse until I was able to hand it back in spades. So what? That doesn’t lessen the facts of what I stated by one bit. You call me prejudiced. Now I don’t see myself that way but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Let’s just say that I earned that right. You haven’t earned the right to use any part of my handle. Go f….. yourself.
Well said, Mr. Rosen!
Now now…. I have many Jewish friends who are staunchly conservative. The ‘Progressive’ Jews are frankly no more ‘Jewish’ than are the thousands of so-called ‘Christians’ on death row for murder. One’s stated religion and one’s thoughtful practice of it are often completely separate things. Jews are very intelligent people, and if nothing in the last 100 years has convinced you otherwise, raw intelligence and political affiliation are mutually exclusive. People choose their political sides for reasons having nothing at all to do with intelligence.
Get off the Titanic before it sinks.
Yeah, it’s one thing to practice tzedakah and tikkun olam, it’s another to be played for a sucker. Maybe that distinction is coming to light among American jews.
At long, long last. However, methinks, not too late.
jl
Be that as it may, the economy IS a disaster, and many (belatedly) realize that this administration is usurping their liberties to an unprecedented degree. But the fact of the matter is that liberal, diaspora Jews do not see their fates inextricably tied to Israel. A dangerous delusion/illusion, wherever they reside.
To help them along, I offer up my Zionist & Conservative blog site, simply for their edification. It is rife with my running commentaries and op-eds, on this very subject – http://adinakutnicki.com/
They will be shocked…if they dare to open their eyes.
Nevertheless, mira cle of miracles…they are abandoning Obama!!
“Most Jews will vote for Obama, but American elections generally have been about the margins. And the difference between 88% and 60% of the Jewish vote certainly can make a difference, especially if that translates to other contests down the ballot.”
As a THINKING voter, I will never understand this. Obama is clearly a failure, his economic policies go well over the border into socialism, and his foreign policy is a joke. Add to that the fact that Obama has embraced just about every radical Muslim Islamist, jihadist, and sharia law-loving fundamentalist there is, all at the expense of Israel, and one would have to wonder why ANYBODY, let alone Jews, would want to vote for Obama?
There is no measure upon which this guy is a success, and yet people will blindly vote for him simply because he’s a Democrat? People who do that either just don’t want to admit that they made a mistake in 2008, or they are socialists themselves and don’t mind having a socialist in the White House. There can be no other reason to blindly follow a man who is pushing this country towards disaster, just as Jimmy Carter did.
Something tells me that all people, including Jews, will come to this same conclusion on election day. If we all put country first, we will ALL clearly come to the conclusion that this nation cannot afford another four years of Obama. I’m sure a lot of people out there feel the same way about it.
Most people, Jew or Gentile, are remarkably uninformed – and Obama is the candidate of the uninformed, the naive, the gullible, in other words, all the useful idiots manipulated by an ill-intentioned leftist minority that hides its real agenda behind lots & lots of BS rhetoric.
My daughter’s newly-18-year-old friends – and not a few of my older ones – give as their reason to vote Democrat their belief that the Republican Party is all about the “social issues,” e.g., banning abortion and birth control, criminalizing homosexual and premarital sex, and just generally “legislating morality.” The economy never even enters into their calculation. It’s not Obama and the Democrats who have been having trouble with their messaging…
Then they are either galactically stupid or monumentally uninformed. I am sure you will, henceforth, tell them the truth and inform them so they are up to speed.
“galactically stupid or monumentally uninformed”
Wow, talk about projection!
I do my level best while remaining polite. Once in a while, it gets through, but I wish it were more often. G-d, I miss Andrew Breitbart.
20 years of indoctrinatoin by Academia and the Media does that to people. Blaming the demonized for not getting the message out is par for the course.
W
So your daughter’s 18 year old friends are willing to accept their own self-induced serfdom on the false premise that Republicans will be “banning abortion and birth control, criminalizing homosexual and premarital sex, and just generally “legislating morality.” ?
The messaging is quite clear, your daughter’s 18 year old friends are imbeciles and are deserving of their impoverish life spent as wards of the State.
As a 50 year old woman who has heard for three decades the same fearmongering ‘social issue’ lie, at this point I think I’ll go with the Democrat flow and make your children pay for all that Democrats tell me I am entitled to receive.
If your daughter’s 18 year old friends are so stupid as to believe the Democrat lies then they deserve their Serfdom.
Life sucks for those young in America; I’m glad I am not them.
Come on now syn, these kids have been indoctrinated.
Simple. Free Stuff is Powerful.
Yeah man, especially the free contraception for 18 year old obtuse idiots.
Why bother if the next generation is so gullible that they’ll so easily accept Serfdom if it means freely screwing one another into oblivion.
The Baby Boomer free love generation embraced the Radical Left’s Sexual Revolution. 18 year olds are 2 generations in on that score. They have been taught that this subversive agenda is really morally superior.
The Baby Boomers were taught differently, and rejected those teachings while embracing subversive ideology. Today’s kids are taught the subversive anti-morality in the institutions.
The prophets viewed tzedakah as a societal, not just an individual, obligation and they demanded that special care be taken of the widow and the orphan while criticizing those who lay on ivory couches with no concern for the needy. The rabbis followed in their footsteps by establishing communal provisions for the poor, viewing the concept of tzedakah not as charity but as obligatory. But Maimonides asserted that teaching the needy a skill or giving one a loan on the road to self sufficiency (also enabling the receiver to become a giver) was the highest form of tzedakah. And the commandment in Leviticus 19:9 to set aside the corners of the field for the poor and the stranger was commnaded so that those in need could glean what was left; in other words their welfare involved work and dignity. Labor rights, too, are part of Torah; paying a worker on time is repeated in different parts of the Torah and asserted in the Talmud. What in modern America has been traditional Truman/Humphrey style liberalism, in other words, is quite reflective of Jewish values. But as noted, the President is taking the country in a direction quite different from that earlier liberal era to a place dreamed of in the philosophies of his mentors: the liberation theology of Rev. Wright and communism of Bill Ayers and CPUSA member Williams.
Regardless of how Jews decide to vote in November, I have never considered Jews to be a minority as most of the Jews I know are very mainstream Americans. I just have never understood their blind faith in the Democratic party. I just hope there are enough “bitter/clingers” in the whole of the USA who are silently grinding their teeth, and bidding the time until we cast our ballot. I’d vote for “Joe the Plumber” before I’d vote for Obummer.
Their hostility to Euro-Christendom explains their devotion to the Left…especially the Multicultural Diversity Promoting Minority Identity Politics New Left.
No. It doesn’t explain it. Because Jews have not benefited from mminority set-asides and other such programs. Multi-culturalism has not worked in this country except to bully the successful into accepting mediocrity and worse as equal.
Multiculturalism has certainly been implemented in this country and the push back of Christianity in the public sphere is part and parcel of that project.
Jews most certainly have benefited from the rollback of Anglo Christian Dominion and the promotion of all “Others” via Diversity Czars in HR Departments and the fear of being sued under a plethora of regulation and law designed to enforce that new zeitgeist.
But alas…
It would be interesting to see how this new found support breaks down on economic lines. As Catholics transformed from one segment of the Democrat block to swing voters I have noted that career path has played a bigger role than abortion politics. Catholic business owners today are likely to be strongly Republican while Catholics who work in teaching and social services tend to still be very much a part of the left wing Democrat machine. When I lived in Chicago I was acquainted with many Jews who owned their own businesses. I suspect the ones who weren’t already Republican leaners have been the first to turn away from Obama.
THIS.
Do Jews in America TODAY really vote outside their demographic so much?
In the past they often did, back when it was said that they earned like Episcopalians but voted like (immigrant or near immigrant) Catholics.
But today they tend to vote like….well, like Episcopalians.
In the halls of academe, where I work, I see no difference in political opinions between Jews and Gentiles. Are urban professional Jews more left-wing than other urban professionals? Do Jewish film and TV producers skew left more than Gentiles? I don’t think so.
Thus, if Jewish Americans really are rethinking their knee-jerk attachment to the Democratic Party, perhaps it indicates a wider rejection of class-warfare leftism among the upper-middle class. We can hope so!
Sorry, dont see it happening.
Most Jews do not vote on economic issues. They vote along sectarian lines, namely their social and cultural hostility towards Euro-Christendom trumps everthing else.
Your bigotry makes you ill equipped to perceive what motivates “most Jews” or for that matter any Jews.
Sorry honey, Im a Judeophile….not a Jew hater.
I have spent half my life in or working with said sector, and I concur. I see very little difference between the political opinions of Jewish and non-Jewish academics, except on issues like Israel. With some Ideological or merely contrarian exceptions, both Jewish and gentile academic tend to express New Class interests and sensibilities, sometimes elaborately rationalized, sometimes (in unguarded private conversation) bluntly expressed.
Academics are human and no human foible is alien to them. But perhaps the single greatest disillusion of my life is the degree to which those who populate the supposed bastions of free inquiry and “follow the truth wherever it may lead” are given to herd mentality and groupthink.
Now consider the disproportionate percentage of Jews that enter stereotypical New Class professions (academia, the law, “helping” professions, the media industry,…) and much will become clear. I am convinced that if you looked at, say, the voting patterns of Jewish small business owners you would see a very different picture – and again, one not very different from their non-Jewish colleagues.
PS: clarification: I am emphatically NOT concurring with “escape velocity”, but with the poster I’m replying to (as best as my iPad will elet me)
Also, having lived in Europe (where many more Jews work in businesses on all scale levels) I can tell you that the “Jew = liberal ” stereotype does not hold true there.
Well, Michael Medved agrees with me.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/why-are-jews-liberals%e2%80%94a-symposium/
This makes much sense to me,in an Occam’s Razor kind of way. To put it more bluntly,in common talk,it is reasonable to say that the slant of one’s politics is influenced by the beliefs of the circle of people with whom one is in constant communication and upon whom one depends for meeting their social needs. Hence, it is more likely that a Jew will be highly socialist and/or liberal in a union-dominated teaching job rather than at a Fortune 500 company,and the same goes for a non-jew. The only physical characteristic to determine politics seems to be sex. Unmarried women will overwhelmingly vote Democrat or support socialist/communist policies. It appears estrogen may be the root of liberalism. That would certainly explain Chris Matthews.
Excepting that we can see that Black American business leaders are largely fully supportive of the Left.
That may be because their social circles trascend their business contacts and are largely angry black people, looking for payback time.
Similarly Jews are angry at Euro-Christians. That trumps common underlying religious heritage, and religiously derived meta-physics and morality. Of course the more religious Jews see it differently, because they run in circles not dominated by fear and hatred, but of obedience to God.
The race may be “polling within sampling error,” but it’s not going to be close. O will be lucky to get 47% of the vote — and that’s if the economy ticks UP between now and then. Some liberal pundit theorized recently that O’s “likability” will save him in November. No it won’t. You may keep someone on the payroll because of it, but you don’t rehire that person. This is a rehiring situation. Most people will feel that four years was more than enough of the “likable” loon.
as a matter of fact, so do I, but let’s remember, that doesn’t mean it’ll turn out to be so.
Likabilty, what likeability??? Obama is an arrogant bully, who pits one class of people against another!!
I think President Obama is in real trouble with the Jewish vote. Probably be a lot of people out there who will say one thing but do another, if you know what I mean. I think this could be the case with many people of all races and religions. The President is not a leader plain and simple.
So you are thinking Bradley effect, amongst Jews and other minority groups.
Do you think maybe the support for Obama amongst Black Americans might drop from 95% to 90%? For Jews it might drop from 80% to 75%?
One of the reasons Jews support Democrats is traditionally they were the party of small business and entrepreneurs. Republicans were the big corporations that competed with them. In general, Jewish people are extremely industrious, and entrepreneurial. They are shopkeepers, merchants, and aren’t the people that run huge mega corporations.
The parties are changing though. The Dems are big government union driven, and the small businessman has been pushed out. They have no where to go, and are starting to come to the Republican party.
Republicans need to prepare themselves for them. Small business people care little about the hard right wing social issues of the day-and only care about profits and having small government. With that mantra, Republicans can win.
You seem to be saying that Jews care little about anything but money…and that is how you are going to attract their vote. But if you push moral standards of behavior and enforce (Euro Christian) social norms…then they will be put off.
LOL!
The Greedy Jew. The way to a Rootless Cosmopolitan Greedy Jews vote is through his pocketbook.
What a hoot!
Well, that pretty much describes the situation the article described, right? The Jews are now worried about the fiscal situation, but remain socially Liberal. FisCons, but not SoCons. Lure them with lucre, but don’t preach to them about morality.
Of course, Jews are not alone in this worship of the false god Mammon. Lots of people want to just go on sinning, but somehow still get moral government. Hey, you social liberals, you are never gonna get good (moral) government, because immoral people do not get moral government. It is an impossibility.
Btw, what the heck kind of Jew goes to temple regularly and is still socially Liberal? How the heck is that even possible? You just leave it all at temple, don’t bring it into the rest of your life?
Marc, I was at a Reform “temple” some weeks ago for a bar mitzvah, right after Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage. The second-string rabbi there gave out with a lengthy talk about how marvelous this was—and how it is necessary to “preserve the timeless truths of the Torah” by tearing up and tossing out those portions of the Torah that she and her cohorts, in their therapy-based wisdom, have decided are no longer valid. It was appalling.
Someone once said that Reform Judaism is the Democratic Party with holidays. Pretty much the case, as far as I can see—they’ve certainly thrown away 99% of actual Judaism.
To be fair there is some truth in what Jeff is saying. The Jewish population is clustered mostly in big cities and those have been run by democrats for many years. They were for the most part very welcomed by the democratic party while republicans tended to be old establishment types. That is changing now as Jeff points out.
Jews are mostly social liberals which means favoring a tolerant egalitarian policy focused on individual rights. As it turns out the left is shifting away from that while libertarian tea party types are gaining more power in the republican camp. In fiscal policy a smaller government less intrusive approach has appeal to Jewish voters as democrats look more like the party of entrenched interests.
Concerning Israel, if you look at the history it is a mixed bag between democrat or republican administrations. There is an overconfidence about Israel among most American Jews but that may be changing as well thanks to programs like Taglit (birthright Israel) which has brought many young American Jews to visit where many of thir parents did not.
Well you made some good points, and the inside joke is that yes Jeff is correct about the vast majority of American Jewry.
Where you are wrong is this assertion that Jews favor a disempowered limited government. They are Big Government Secularists who wish to use the power of the state to dissempower what they fear, Euro-Christians. Force diversity promotion, multiculturalism, push Christianity out of the public sphere, and so on and so forth.
The bottom line is that most Jews are hostiles to Euro Christendom and that is why they vote for the Left which seeks to disempower Euro Christians and Christendom and empower all minorities over them. This is why I find it amusing that the Left has turned its demonization and dissempowerment intellectual and propaganda guns on Israel as a Jewish State. Sauce for the goose.
Many can clearly see the Anti Semitism involved in that project when it is targeting Israel and Jews, however they are fully supportive of that ugly endeavor when its aimed at European Christians in their nation states.
Down with the Jewish racist supremacists of Israel! Social Justice for the oppressed minority Arab Muslims (usually they dont include Christians except in certain propaganda techniques).
What a tangled web.
“The bottom line is that most Jews are hostiles to Euro Christendom and that is why they vote for the Left which seeks to disempower Euro Christians and Christendom and empower all minorities over them. ”
The problem with this argument is that the non-Jewish liberals do the same. I don’t think you can isolate it to being Jewish. Given that ALL liberals profess the promotion of sexual activity as their hightest political goal, it is clear that both groups have abandonded the Bible as sacred.
Most Jews who profess to believe in the Biblical teachings share the same poltical goals as believing Christians due to the fact that it is belief in God that transforms their behavior.
I think you are reading things into my commentary that arent there. I dont isolate Jews as a unique problem. There are many minorities that form the coalition of support for the Left that are hostile to Euro-Christians and Euro-Christian interests. Many of them have real gripes against Euro-Christians though they may differ in specifics (like Jews), but whether they do or not doesnt really matter to the fact that they are politically hostile to Euro-Christians and Euro-Christian interests. They fully support the Left’s disempowerment and discrimination against Euro-Christians, in support of their own preferential treatment, special priveleges…the pushing out of the public sphere of Euro-Christian cultural norms, and the celebration of multicultures in its place.
Fair enough on one level. And I agree with much of what you say. But I am making a slightly different point. Jews and Christians, blacks and other groups share “conservative American values” when they believe in and follow the the Bible. That’s where those values came from. To speak of “Jews” without making the distinction between race and religious convictions is to miss a huge part of the equation. The same is true for liberal Christians as well.
One need not be a Jew a Christian or a monogamous heterosexual to hold the values that we identify as American (stemming from Judeo/Christian beliefs). However if one lists social policies that promote sexual behavior outside of marriage or charity via government theft and redistribution, etc. – then it is clear that they should not lumped in with Christians and Jews who wish to uphold the laws and teachings set forth in the New and Old Testament. They have very little in common.
It’s a fine point, but an important one.
meant to say, “However if one lists social policies ..promoting sex and redistribution.. as their primary voting concern..
oops..key point
The two groups in my circle of influence that I keep running into brick walls with are blacks and Jews. It seems so clear to me how the conservative cause can benefit both groups and holds similar familial and religious values. But pride goes before the fall and many of my friends won’t admit what a disaster the past 3 1/2 years have been let alone assign blame to Obama. Perhaps in the privacy of the voting booth they will do the right thing.
Sara, its more than just 3.5 years of Leftwing political zeitgeist. The Left has been in control of Congress for 40 or 50 years of the last half of the 20th Century, the radicals have marched through the institutions and taken over the Democrat Party, not to mention half a century of Leftwing Activist courts.
Affirmative Action and Diversity promotion only serves to fascilitate the marching through the institutions of people hostile to European Civilization and promotes them to postions of power within our institutions, where they can hurry along the process of Civilizational Destruction. (Including the women and Jews on the Supreme Court)
I’m getting a little tired your continuous slams of Jews and women. This smacks of your twisted point of view, probably Moslem. Hold on to your gaseous contributions until you can truly use them for an escape velocity and leave.
Not willing to face the hard facts about how female archtypical qualities transmitted through our democracies via the ballot box are affecting our nation states, I see. Welfare statism, reverse colonization (reverse force projection, receiving the phallus), and the nuturing state, the state as replacement for the father, the destruction of the nuclear family.
What next calling me an Anti Semite, for being critical of the vast majority of American Jewry which are hostile to Euro-Christians. It’s anti-semitic to notice that most American Jews are hostile to you and yours. Just as it is racist to notice that most Black Americans are hostile to Europeans and wish them to be dissempowered.
Sorry Charlie, Im not scurrying away from such charges anymore. Fire away. Haters gonna hate. I wont be silenced and I will stand up for European Christendom and their Western Civilization. I will criticize all its enemies, foreign and domestic.
heh. Not a muslim. Scratch the surface and see what you find. These racist Stormfront types always expose themselves if you give them enough rope.
“I will stand up for European Christendom and their Western Civilization. I will criticize all its enemies, foreign and domestic.” Escapevelocity
“Absolutely committed to spending the rest of my life as a spokesman for the rights of European Americans.
I don’t call myself a white supremacist. I’m a civil rights activist concerned about European-American rights.” David Duke
“The bottom line is that most Jews are hostiles to Euro Christendom and that is why they vote for the Left which seeks to disempower Euro Christians and Christendom and empower all minorities over them.” Escapevelocity
“Jewish people have put the interests of race over the interests of the American people… Jews are filled with more hatred and rage for our race, for our heritage, for our blood than perhaps you can imagine.” David Duke
Right out of the book.
You see, youve just done the racist-fascist slander so beloved by the Left.
At bottom is the denial of Euro-Christians ANY sense of shared identity and pursuit of their interests in the face of hostiles. It is common amongst Jewish Neo-Cons to retain this hostility to Euro-Christians. Of course they fully support Jewish solidarity especially in maintaining the Jewish State of Israel. Perfectly fine for Jews to pursue self interest and discuss other groups in that context.
Unfortunately for Jews, Euro-Christians have largely bought into this. Wracked by post colonial and holocaust guilt. Which is why we are in such a sad state of affairs these days.
Eventually survival instincts will kick in and Euro-Christians will reassert themselves and their culture and interests in their nation states. And of course they will be condemned by Jews, even Jews who continue to condemn Leftwingers who criticize and demonize Israel and Israeli Jews as Anti-Semites.
And so it goes. Eventually Euro-Christians will have had enough, and wont cower at charges of racism and Anti-Semite, effectively silenced. More and more are willing to stand up and publicly speak out….challenge the minorities in the face of slander and demonization.
Do not forget Josh Mandel. He is a Jewish republican from Cleveland, a marine Iraq war vet and facing a tough run for Ohio senator. A favorite son of the Cleveland Jewish community, his uniform is proudly displayed in the Maltz museum of Jewish heritage in Beachwood, a predominantly Jewish Cleveland suburb.
A friend recently forwarded this statement to me. It is an op-ed from Dale Lindsborg in the Washington Post that quotes from one of Obama’s Meet the Press visits in 2008 in response to a question about the American Flag pin.
Obama’s quote foreshadows his perverted vision for the future of America and Israel. It is unbelievable that we are living this nightmare. Love live America and Israel! I commit myself to fighting for the future of both nations and the ideals that gave birth to them. I hope others will make the same commitment!
***
God Bless America and those who love her
Yes, he told us in advance what he planned to do. Few were listening.
The following is a narrative taken from a 2008 Sunday morning televised “Meet The Press’.
From Sunday’s 07 Sept. 2008 11:48:04 EST, Televised “Meet the Press” THE THEN Senator Obama was asked about his stance on the American Flag.
General Bill Gann’ USAF (ret.) asked Obama to explain WHY he doesn’t follow protocol when the National Anthem is played.
The General stated to Obama that according to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171…
During rendition of the national anthem, when the flag is displayed, all present (except those in uniform) are expected to stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Or, at the very least, “Stand and Face It”.
NOW GET THIS !!
‘Senator Obama replied:
“As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking sides”. “There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression..” “The anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all that sort of thing.”
(ARE YOU READY FOR THIS???)
Obama continued: “The National Anthem should be ‘swapped’ for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song ‘I’d Like To Teach the World To Sing’. If that were our anthem, then, I might salute it. In my opinion, we should consider reinventing our National Anthem as well as ‘redesign’ our Flag to better offer our enemies hope and love. It’s my intention, if elected, to disarm America to the level of acceptance to our Middle East Brethren. If we, as a Nation of warring people, conduct ourselves like the nations of Islam, where peace prevails – - – perhaps a state or period of mutual accord could exist between our governments ……”
When I become President, I will seek a pact of agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity, and a freedom from disquieting oppressive thoughts. We as a Nation, have placed upon the nations of Islam, an unfair injustice which is WHY my wife disrespects the Flag and she and I have attended several flag burning ceremonies in the past”.
“Of course now, I have found myself about to become the President of the United States and I have put my hatred aside. I will use my power to bring CHANGE to this Nation, and offer the people a new path. My wife and I look forward to becoming our Country’s First black Family. Indeed,CHANGE is about to overwhelm the United States of America ”
Yes, you read it right.
I, for one, am speechless!!!
Dale Lindsborg , Washington Post
SAVE AMERICA BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE ! !
.
Post a link for this.
It never happened, apparently. Go to Snopes.com and type National Anthem Stance, or something like that.
We don’t need to buy into internet drivel to make our points. The president is a demonstrably proveable failure. We aren’t jingoists.
As for some of the comments about Jews finally caring when it comes down to money; frankly, that would make them LESS different than just about EVERY democrat I know. It should be apparent to you that this country would have to go through economic pain before most people even gave a damn about the direction that we were headed. Jews are no more and no less average on that account.
The not-so-keen observer thinks that economic freedom can be put into a box apart from other concerns. It cannot. And when economic freedom is threatened, it’s vulnerabilities are indicative of even broader issues tied to personal freedom. Whether it is economic freedom, abortion on demand, government medical coverage (or not), national sovereignty… there are any number of hot-button issues which will snap the concerned party into wakefulness. “The Economy” just happens to be a very effective surrogate for all the others, right now.
Thank you. I did check this out, which I should have before I posted. Apparently, the part about the flag pin was correct, but the parts about the anthem and “disarming” America were not. You are right about not replicating internet drivel. Mea culpa.
I apologize to all, including Obama, and promise it won’t happen again. Lesson learned.
The problem is, with a person such as our president almost ANYTHING is believable. Like 90% of this board, I’m sure you’ll compound your passion and your intellect into formidability. Press on, my friend!
Abe, this is very good news about Jewish support falling to 60%. I keep telling everyone that Obama’s win in 2008 was by a very small margin – 51.5%. And he ONLY achieved that narrow win by drawing in 88% of Jewish votes and 93% of black. So, if he topples lower than those astronomical percentages, he’s toast. That’s why the Jewish support falling down to 60% is such a huge deal. It’s also why black pastors telling their congregations to not vote for Obama because he endorsed gay marriage is also critical. Oh, he’ll still get Jewish and black votes in November but his problem is that it’s not enough to simply get them, he has to get the majority of them. Anything less those huge percentages cited above and the Community Organizer is in serious trouble. It’s all in the math, guys.
Even when I graduated from high school in 1968 in Galesburg, IL, Illinois was no longer a “great state”. Chicago had long been the home of crooked “machine” politics, but even Springfield and “down-state” Illinois was getting to be, in the old saying, “as crooked as a dog’s hind leg”. I joined the Navy and LEFT Illinois behind, never to return.
Go back and count the number of Illinois governors who have gone to prison since 1950; it’s not QUITE enough to fill a wing of the state pen, but far too many.
And as a Jew myself, I’ve long been an aberration as a big-L Libertarian, but it turns out that I’m not the only man in our synagogue to be Life Members of both the Hadassah Associates AND the National Rifle Association.
“the ultra-orthodox, with their strange dress, large families, and strong predisposition to vote Republican…”
This wording is condescending, narrow and beneath the talents of the article’s author – particularly when speaking of a savvy and sophisticated group (‘ultra’, ‘strange dress’, ‘large families’ and ‘pre-disposition’ – implying not a carefully considered decision – notwithstanding), that have been politically highly informed and staunch supporters of the Republican party and conservatism in general.
And I’m saying this with no dog in this particular fight.
The Democratic Party has become a neo-communist party. My Congressman is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. That would have meant shunning by Democrats as recently as the Carter administration. The communists have basically taken over the party. These was completed when Obama fired the DNC staff and moved the party to Chicago and replaced the staff with his 2008 campaign staff.
The Chicago area has a lot of immigrants from Russia and Eastern European countries such as Poland. They know what it is like to live under the Communists.
I read somewhere that if it looks as if Obama will win in November, it becomes more likely that the Israelis will attack Iran. This is because if Obama wins, they see even less support from the United States than they are getting now, making them close to helpless against Iran.
One potential problem: Jewish Republicans have a strong tendency to move to Israel. The good news is that the Labor Party in Israel is no longer guaranteed to win. The bad news is that the American Jewish vote is more embarrassing than ever (at least as of 2008).
So the Jewish community has woken up to the fact that they have helped create a mess of forgive the pun biblical proportions and now they wish to bail on the sinking democrat ship of their own creation. Are you sure the Republican party needs you?
They all must live in Jerusalem then. I have lived in Israel for a year now, and every single American Jew I have met in this city have been hyper progressive, red diaper types from the upper east coast, tourists and citizens. Very recently I had a 50 something woman from New York tell me two terms of George W. Bush finally forced her hand to peform Aliyah, but she admitted she does not attend a synagogue, so I assume it is simply a cultural thing.
Ooops. That comment was aimed at #21, Joseph Hertzlinger.
Last time I was there near every member of my tour group was like that. Almost caricatures of what you consider a typical liberal. By the end of the tour most of them had changed.
The key event seemed to be the optional side trip to Bethlehem and West Bank. They did not find what they expected. What they expected was apparently a sort of impoverished slum camp with doe eyed children picking through garbage for food and Israeli soldiers everywhere kicking puppies for fun. The other thing that seemed to impress them was going to the Golan and seeing a hostile border and what it takes to defend that.
What I learned from them was how insular and limited in experience the “red diaper” types are. If half of what they believed was true I would actually join them. You cannot change minds by argument with these folks but sometimes reality will do that for them.
I’m glad some of them get their eyes opened, the state of Israel is not perfect but considering the alternatives around them I know who I support.
“The concepts of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) are moral obligations of the individual, not obligations imposed on other individuals by you via the state.”
Fixed it to say what was really going wrong.
Yeah; that way of doing charity does not work… and even when it does something right / helps someone… I doubt you’d get credit with G for helping steal someone else’s stuff to give away.
I am hoping to see more Jewish folks turn away from the Democratic party. As it is I’ve stopped voicing support of Israel a while ago because a vast majority of jews support liberalism. And the funny thing is, liberals HATE Israel! Not many high profile jews seem willing to defend Israel when celebrities attack it’s right to exist or call it an apartheid state.
As it is I’m burned out, I fell the US is beyond hope, and couldn’t care less about Israel. If jews want to help try and reverse the damage they’ve done by support Democrats and the left wing agenda for decades, fine, but right now I’m to fatigued to keep defending Israel online from left wing anti Semites when Jews throw their money at the anti semities.
Remember it was Hillary Clinton the anti semites ran to when Israel tried to stops those boats that could have been carrying weapons to Israel’s enemies, yet I still see many Jews support Obama. I just give up on Israel for now.
This is to Blotto.
What exactly do you have to be proud of for being a Catholic??
You’re seriously going to ignore the nasty past and current uncovered
nasty realities? You sound like you belong with the Sandusky Paterno crew.
Don’t forget about all the catholic Nazis and the only one being excommunicated
was Goebbels for marrying a Protestant! You are an embarrassment to the Republican party (and to good Catholics like myself)as much as a d. duke is an embarrassment. Loser!
Ah…..the “good Catholic” version of the self hating “good Jew.”
Priceless.
Ah the classic “inferiority complex” masked by a “superiority complex”.
Priceless.
Advise to you EV, stop acting like you are so great because you are far from it.
pointing, pointing but never looking at oneself is sick.
Too much guilt and self criticism leads to disfunctional human beings, stunted and unsuccessful.
Same applies on the macro-societal level. As we can see, Europeans are dhimmifying themselves and their posterity, because they are unable to assert their interests and cultural norms and values. There children wont be thanking them for it.
It’s not about perfection and self aggrandizement, Israel is far from perfect, but it does concern itself with the promotion of Jewish interests and well being, unapologetically. A healthy society.
Imagine a coalition government between the French Front National and the Centrist Conservative UMP (Sarkozy’s Party)….that is what Israel’s government looks like. The outrage and hand wringing would be non-stop if France or any European government so formed….Israel however is given a free pass by many American Jews on that score, whilst they would be up in arms if France followed the Israeli’s lead.
Religio-Ethno State for me….but not for thee.
As for me, I have many faults. The ability to communicate clearly, accurately, and concisely, being one of them…but I try. Not trying leads to failure by default.
BTW, I dont demand perfection from Israel or Israeli Jews, or condemn them when they fail to achieve it, or actively pursue their own interests instead of pursuing pipe dreams of utopian visions.
BTW, I could regale you with a myriad of things Catholics have to be proud of….even if you are so hatefilled as to deny them by questioning that they have any.
Maybe I could just refer you to an book to get you started on the journey from hate filled ignorance to appreciation…Thomas
Woods’ How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.
You ignore the past ugliness and nasty current reality of the Jewish Supremacist Zionist.
You sound like a Leftwinger.
nope long time repub. people like you are ruining it for us with your david duke sounding blather.
you over extrapolate, which is tiresome. you need to find balance between your
hateful finger pointing and introspection so that you may be able to communicate better.
Maybe Jews need some introspection and come to terms with the reality that not everyone who is pro-Euro-Christian and critical of Jews is a David Duke boogeyman.
Unfortunately many Jews think that we are ruining it for us and wish we would disappear, just like many David Duke types think that Jews are ruining it for us and wish Jews would disappear.
My point is that introspection is a 2 way street.
There is no question that my communication style is often off putting, but that comes from having fingers pointed at me repeatedly and called a racist and anti-semite, misogynist, sexist, and so on and so forth. Euro-Christian Males are people too, and have a right to exist, as well as their naiton-states AS European Christian states.
That doesnt mean that minorities have to be treated poorly and we cant have a fairly pluralistic and open free society.
But alas…
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” — Hillel
I hope there’s also an element of realization among Illinois Jews that gun control doesn’t help, isn’t necessary, and that without a shall-issue concealed carry law just a single flight to the suburbs won’t buy them enduring crime-free neighborhoods.
Illinois residents need to be able to defend themselves from muggers if the population is not to be turned into a new set of “wandering Jews” — fleeing one deteriorating neighborhood after another, generation after generation, as they vainly attempt to “trade land for peace” right here in the U.S.A.
The current administration is the most anti-semtic and racist since dhimmi carter’s. If memory serves, only about 45% of Jewish voters cast ballots for carter in 1980. Many Jews couldn’t bring themselves to vote Republican and went for John Anderson instead. This time could be different. The Jewish vote could be critical in Florida and perhaps Ohio and Pennsylvania as well.
THE PAST IS THE FUTURE, so the enlightened left mutters occasionally.
Now we have the New Tammany Deal, and The Buck Stops Elsewhere. Apparently the masses are becoming vaguely aware that actions have consequences.
just for the record
McCain’s did better in Jewish neighborhoods then anywhere else in the country.
McCain’s best neighborhood in the whole country was Borough Park (the only area with 50,000 people where he got 90% of the vote)
McCain’s best ED was in Lakewood NJ 885-3-1.
wow, you really need to get over yourself. My choice of grumpy is because I was feeling grumpy. Apparently it never occurred to you that the names of the seven dwarfs are probably the most commonly used handles across the internet. Try A$$hole. It fits you better.
So you hate with the justification of …wait for it…
“Let’s just say that I earned that right”
Ahhh, the justification for every act of evil. At least you are self aware that you have no desire to rise above and make the world a better place.
You know how come I knew that my arrow would hit your mark, because every jewish guy over the age of 60 tells that exact same story…like it’s a big f’n deal. Boo-hoo-hoo Your story of oppression in America is every bit as pitiful as that of Muslim women who come to America’s shores to escape oppression, stonings and genital mutilation and then suddenly expect all of America to collectively get down on our knees and beg for forgiveness when some bully or bigot feels they earned the right to give them a dirty look for wearing a hijab.
Every kid endured bullying of one sort or another – but apparently you think the trauma belongs solely to you – just like the world’s most common handle “grumpy”.
The Daily Herald article mentions a Gallup Poll of the entire USA that shows Jewish voters supporting Obama by 64%-29%.
There seems to be no evidence of suburban Chicago Jews being out of step with the national numbers.
If the Republican Party is happy with 29% support things are worse than I thought.
The problem isnt with the GOP, but with Jewish Americans…in the same vein as with Black Americans.
It isnt that the GOP is happy with that.
Just finished William Shirer’s 20th Century Memoirs (from 1930 to 1988). He also wrote Berlin Diary, the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and the Collapse of the Third (French) Republic. My conclusion: know your enemy and take him out early; otherwise, he’ll destroy you. Knowing who the enemy is today gets blurry but Mr. Miller is pretty clear-sighted.