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October 27, 2000/28 Tammuz 5760, Vol. 53, No.5
Letters to the EditorOctober 27, 2000
Experience countsEditor:M. Herbert Nathan made some comments in a letter to the editor (Jewish News, Oct. 20) that must be challenged. He says Gov. George W. Bush is "lacking experience" in foreign affairs. The sum total of Bill Clinton's international expertise (when he ran for president) harked back to his student days at Oxford, when he denounced his own country. As for Vice President Al Gore, he has never been entrusted with a serious foreign policy mission. It is comforting to note Gov. Bush will have Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle by his side, men of proven ability who knew how to wind down the Cold War and then win the Gulf War. Secondly, on President Bush and Israel the record is simple: Bush sent U.S. servicemen with Patriot missiles to protect Israel during the conflict; began regional normalization with the Madrid Conference; and successfully sought repeal of the U.N. "Zionism is racism" resolution. Thirdly, it is a bit of a stretch to praise the Clinton-Gore abstention on the recent U.N. vote. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak certainly disagreed. The vote failed to appease Yasser Arafat's insatiable appetite, and this U.S. mistake tragically cost Israeli lives. Fourthly, both Bush and Cheney have a background in the petroleum industry so they understand the need to find alternative sources of oil to end our dependency on unstable Middle Eastern countries. Gore has no coherent energy policy. Lastly, eight years ago, Clinton and Gore promised to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Their failure to act has been termed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to be a "bizarre situation" and has emboldened the Palestinians in their current demands. When it comes to experience, the Republican team of Bush and Cheney is without peer. They have successfully run large organizations. This cannot be said of either Gore or Lieberman. The former has had no role in shaping major policies. The latter might be a nice guy or a borscht-belt comic - but is this the gravitas we need to lead the free world? Henry Kissinger has made his choice known too - Bush and Cheney. Michael Rubinoff, Ph.D. Phoenix The writer is a former deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Bush administration. Survey flawedEditor:A survey of where Jews live in the Valley and what services they might need or desire has been proposed (Jewish News, Oct. 6.) But what if the survey finds that a substantial number of Jews, perhaps a majority, live in the Southeast Valley? And the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix has already committed to building a community campus elsewhere? Also, it is proposed that the survey employ "random digit dialing" to Jews on the federation mailing list. That list does not include the thousands of Jews who are not on the federation's rolls even though they may be subscribers to Jewish News, members of the Jewish war veterans, members of synagogues, etc. I should think that such a survey would also have a limited use and not be worth the $100,000 to $150,000 cost. Better the federation should attempt to get the names of Jews who are affiliated with Jewish organizations but are not on the federation list and are not solicited annually because the federation has no method to include them. This would be more beneficial to the community than a flawed survey. Irv Fellner Mesa Slanted coverageEditor:I truly wonder if it can be deemed fair journalism to title an article 20 days before the election, "Jews see stake in presidential vote" (Jewish News, Oct. 20), and quote only liberal or Democratic sources? The article quotes Matt Dorf of Rabinowitz Media Strategies, from a talk he gave at the Jewish Community Relations Council in Phoenix. While the article mentions some Jewish clients of Rabinowitz Media and of Dorf, it does not mention that Rabinowitz Media is an exclusively Democratic agency, not non-partisan, not even bipartisan. The one "Republican" quoted in the article is labeled a "moderate" and one who was originally inclined toward Gore-Lieberman. A fair journalist might have contacted a professional Republican Jewish spokesperson to balance Dorf. For when Dorf says, "The Jewish agenda is better represented and safeguarded by the Democratic ticket," there are several legitimate responses from the other side. One could counter with examples of how the Republican ticket and its policies toward Israel and education reform, to take two examples, are in the better interest of the Jewish agenda. One could question why the Gore-Lieberman ticket sees a need to coddle Al Sharpton, why Joe Lieberman can get away with saying he has "respect" for and "wants to meet with Louis Farrakhan," why the Gore-Lieberman ticket has hired Hezbollah apologist James Zogby as its ethnic affairs advisor. One could point out that the Clinton-Gore administration has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Yasser Arafat with zero accountability. One could ask why the Clinton-Gore administration, in direct opposition to the 1995 congressional mandate, has refused to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. One could point out Governor Bush's statements that he would do so regardless of peace process timetables. One could point out that the Democratic platform says nothing about Jerusalem while the GOP platform says Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital. Room prevents response to the other partisan attacks Dorf made and the one-sided salvo on behalf of Gore-Lieberman this article shot, but they are many. Articles not on the op-ed page, one would think, would not bespeak such one-sided Democratic Party spin. Seth Leibsohn Washington, D.C. In response, Matt Dorf provided the following description of Rabinowitz Strategies clients: one-third are Jewish groups; one-third are progressive foreign policy groups; one-third are election-related. While most of them are Democratic, a number are non-partisan. Seth Leibsohn is the policy director at the Jewish Policy Center, a Republican think-tank based in Washington, D.C. |
