… pronounced “Volfies,” of course… the classic Miami deli for Jewish senior citizens?
This article by Richard Baehr gives a great survey of the Battle of the Alte Kockers (usually translated politely as Yiddish for “oldsters” but literally “old shitters,” at least according to this drop dead funny new book.) Leading the way for the Bush forces in South Fla. is Jewish Democrat Ed Koch who, at 80, is definitely an “old shitter” himself and should be able to talk turkey (“emmes“) with the Wolfie’s crowd. If Bush wins, he owes Koch big time.
UPDATE: Is this man a stealth operative for Bush in South Fla?
My Jewish grandparents used to take us to the Wolfieís in Hallandale, Florida. It was delicious! The best cheeseburgers. Bowls of pickles all delicious, along the counter. (Or was that some New York City place?) The old days.
So Wolfowitz now has his own burgeoning chain restaurants! The bastard neocons are in league with deli meats too. Someone tell Buchanan and Nader.
Neocon delis selling Black Forest hams… an obvious covert fascist link…
It’s the grown ups (as led by President Bush and helped by Mayor Koch) against the children (led by former President Carter and Michael Moore).
Go adults, GO!
– Many of the Democrats who cling tenaciously to their Democratic Party roots express fear of right wing Christians, as if somehow, the posting of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse—
I am missing something – they’re from the OT. What’s the problem?
We partially based on Judeo-Christian beliefs, after all.
Speaking of which, seems the Palestinian Authority has endorsed Kerry. Somebody slip that tidbit to Koch . . .
Thanks for the trip down memory lane (re Wolfies). I grew up in Miami when South Beach was populated by predominately Jewish senior citizens who in many cases chose to cohabitate to share social security. Wolfie’s on Collin’s Avenue was the best place to go after proms and other soirees. Reminds me of a joke, the punch line is: “So!!..ya single?” (single pronounced like the g in long island. Hope Hizzoner can turn that vote because Kerry will be no friend of Israels. When Yassir Arafat endorses you, the Jewish community should take notice.
Hey landsmen, give up the socialist dream already. It was never a heimish home to begin with. You were always the people, the one people, that all the other internationalists never quite accepted. And now the lefty anti-semiten make no bones about it.
It’s time, way overtime, to vote YOUR interests, not the interests of “oppressed people” everywhere; the same oppressed people who would – and do! – gladly cut THE JEW’S throat when given the chance.
WAKE UP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!!!
P.S. And FDR was no friend either!
The AP’s Nedra Pickler writes a pro-Kerry gusher that should exceed even Mr. Shrum’s high expectations.
Kerry courts Jews with Hebrew campaign stickers and stories of touring Israel
Excerpt:
Kerry on Monday told voters in West Palm Beach that he will do a better job than Bush of “holding those Arab countries accountable for funding terrorism.”
“We’ll do a better job of protecting the state of Israel than they are today,” Kerry said. Supporters held signs distributed by the campaign that said “Jewish Americans for Kerry” and wore stickers and T-shirts that said “Kerry-Edwards” in Hebrew.
After courting Jewish voters with a little Hebrew, Kerry tossed out some French to communicate with Haitian immigrants at a rally later in Orlando. Kerry speaks fluent French, but usually avoids doing so in public.
(emphasis added)
mrp: Nedra Pickler and the AP have been in Kerry’s pocket since the Iowa caucuses (as I am sure you well know)–my question to Ms. Pickler would be, “would Haitian immigrants really understand French?” My understanding is their patois is loosely based on French. thanks for the link!
“alte kockers” is probably “old shitters”. “Alte” is, of course, old (“altbier”, from which we get the English word “ale”, is beer made in the old style, prior to storing beer in caves or lagers), while “kock”, by whatever spelling, is shit. Our English word “poppycock” is from the Dutch “pappekak”, which means “soft dung”, according to Paul West’s The Secret Lives of Words (pp. 213-214). I believe that the derivation of “poppycock” also makes an appearance in Steven Fry’s novel The Liar.
If Bush wins, he owes Koch big time.
If Bush wins, we all owe Koch big time…
I think I may take a break from the 7 hour Sox Yankees game to watch Ed Koch on the Daily Show tonight (Comedy Central, for those lucky enough to have it on your cable or satellite).
Sox have managed to get two guys called out stealing second that replays showed were safe. The curse is hanging on…
One point:
Kerry and Edwards have spent two weekends in a row in Florida black churches, and they’re organizing Jews for Kerry-Edwards rallies – all this within 30 days before the election. These core constituencies should be locked up by now, with Kerry and Edwards trolling along the Gulf Coast and the Orlando area for independents and wavering Republicans. Instead, we have Shrum and Co. calling in Reverend Al Sharpton and the used-to-be-black-go-to-guy, Jesse Jackson, to shore up support within the church-going community.
The Dem campaign is on the defense in Florida.
My 78-year-old Jewish mother (who lives in Boynton Beach) wouldn’t vote for a Republican under any circumstances, for reasons that I don’t understand, but which I suspect are rooted in the weltanschuaang of the 1930s Bronx. My brother, sister and I will all be voting for Bush, as will my wife and her brother and sister (but not her parents, either). My mother tried to tell me that my late father would be horrified (“rolling in his grave”) at his children voting for the Republicans, but I told her that I couldn’t imagine him, a respected doctor, ever voting for an ambulance chasing scumbag like Edwards.
Honestly, I have tried to figure out why so many Jews, especially assimilated and reform Jews, are wedded to the Democratic Party, and the only thing that makes sense to me is abortion. For some reason, many Jews think sexual liberation – the ability to have sex without consequences, which is what abortion rights are all about – is more important than the survival of Israel and the Jewish people. Go figure.
Wolfies, though – what memories that brings back, of visiting my grandparents in Miami Beach 40 years ago! What great pastrami, the best outside of NYC.
I would say Bush is going to need the help in Florida. Realclearpolitics just took Fla. away from Bush and put it in the uncertain column. Bush still has a narrow lead in EVs. I would think that the closer the election the more states each guy would have tied up, but not so. I was so hoping Bush would get a lcear victory in Florida and spare us a replay of 2000.
Of course the fact that Kerry is scaring the old folks does not help. The man has no sense of right and wrong than a house cat.
It Never Changes…
BREAKING NEWSó Excited by the Palestinian Authority’s endorsement of his candidacy today, a crazed US Senator declared Intifada against the US Secret Service…
–Of course the fact that Kerry is scaring the old folks does not help. The man has no sense of right and wrong than a house cat.–
Shades of Lawton Chiles. They did it during the 96 election.
A Country Lawyer,
I think you’ve got it exactly right. In my (very informal) poll at a large metropolitan Jewish Community Center I attend daily, the guarantee of abortion rights seems to be the factor driving women (at least) into the Kerry camp. I think my generation of Jews is far more concerned with the entitlements of their own assimilated lives than with Israel. This is worrisome on a number of levels, of course, not the least of which is the failure to see that the “big picture” is more important than one’s own personal comfort. Oy.
I think I have part of it figured out, through what my otherwise highly intelligent Jewish lawyer (prosecuter, no less) friend WON’T say…that he agrees with GWB and dislikes JFK2, but will vote Dem anyway, because, he believes, I’m sure, that long-term, that is the party that will best protect minorities. I keep telling him that he’s substituting an axiom for cold clear boots-on-ground lucidity. He says “How do YOU know?” And I have no Norwegian pogroms to throw back at him. Oh well, we’re a much younger people, maybe in time we too will have enough history to see the wisdom in not listening to a patriot like Joe Lieberman issue a clear warning to the state of Israel about “Vichy” John Kerry. Politics ain’t beanbag, but then beanbag ain’t politics.
Wolfies closed last year. I have some good memories of the place but last I visited it looked terrible. Rascal House was their competition and is going strong 4 miles north of Wolfies at about 180th street on Miami Beach. My all time favorite is Katz’s in NYC.
Another great and funny guide to the language is the classic dictionary Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten (now in a new updated edition):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609806920/qid=1098185437/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-8633334-7479227
Many definitions include one or two jokes to explain the meanings.
Alte Kocker:
Two Alte Kockers sat in silence on their favorite park bench for hours, lost in thought.
Finally, one gave a long and languid “Oy!”
The other replied, “You’re telling ME?”
(Imagine Jackie Mason) …guy goes into this little shop, and sees salt everywhere, bags and boxes on the shelves, on the counter, tons of it stacked against the walls. Says to the proprietor, “Wow, you must be quite a salt salesman!” Proprietor shakes head sadly, says “No, only average, but you should see the guy I BUY from!”
After visiting with the Jewish relatives this past weekend I’d have to say that Bush has his work cut out for him. The hardcore Republicans (fiscal conservatives) are either not voting or switching to Kerry. Granted, this is mostly NJ and NY but still. I don’t see Bush making too many inroads here.
–The hardcore Republicans (fiscal conservatives) are either not voting or switching to Kerry.–
So they’re betting the farm that fiscal sanity will return, eh?
RR shut down the government and got away w/it.
They don’t remember what happened in the 90s when the gov’t was shut down.
Maybe you should remind them how well that went over. Pubbies folded, Bubba won. Mean-spirited yada, yada, yada.
From the update…
I get the feeling Lieberman is sitting on the fence right now.
I’m writing him a letter thanking him for his comments, and saying that I wish he’d won the nomination.
If he would only join Zell….