More in ‘Sarah Palin’

Last week’s construction announcement in Israel has rippled through a political system halfway across the world. While most Republicans and many Democrats have criticized the administration, some have backed it and turned their criticism toward Israel. Anyway, the Obama administration has its uses for that criticism, too: it may just help buttress its credibility in ...

• There is oodles of U.S.-Israel news, which I’ll deal with in a bigger round-up tomorrow. For now: Netanyahu defended Israel’s track record on peace, saying no further concessions were necessary now; the White House reiterated that it is totally committed to Israeli security. This is still a diplomatic crisis, though. [Haaretz/Laura Rozen]
• Okay, one ...

In last week’s Jewish Week, James Besser expressed concern that the rise of the right-wing Tea Party movement within the Republican Party could cause the GOP real problems with minority voters—including, and maybe especially, Jews—once the Tea Partiers moved beyond taxes and health care and into social issues. A number of political scientists agreed. One ...

As Purim approaches, a new poll found that the political figure whom the most Jewish Israelis want to dress up as is—drum roll, please—Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman! Over 40 percent of respondents picked the Yisrael Beiteinu leader. This is basically the equivalent of when like literally everyone was Sarah Palin—also a polarizing, somewhat cartoonish right-winger—for ...

If you’re interested in America’s political future, last week was a great time to read the writing on the wall.
Or, more accurately, the writing on the hand: addressing the Tea Party movement’s national conference, Sarah Palin—paragon of stately elegance, former vice-presidential candidate, present television commentator, future unknown—jotted down the key points of her speech on ...

Today in Tablet Magazine, Bridget Kevane, who yesterday profiled late Argentinian dissident Jacobo Timerman, talks to his son, Héctor—now Argentina’s ambassador to the United States. Tu B’ Shevat begins at sundown. If you want to know more about this tree-hugging holiday, check out our FAQ. Want to make an appropriate Tu B’Shevat meal? Take your ...

Of the many sins of modern journalism, there are few I hate more than the wretched stunt of asymmetrical historical comparisons.
No doubt you’ve seen this black magic practiced before, and most likely, you’ve found it odious. But if you’ve never stopped to ponder the mechanics of this feeble act of conjuring, here’s a primer into ...

Can’t get enough of hating on Jennifer Rubin’s controversial Commentary essay, “Why Jews Hate Palin”? The Atlantic’s Website has a nice compendium of angry reactions to Rubin’s article, grouped under one of three problems that they accuse the essay of having:
• No Evidence That Jews, in Particular, Hate Palin
• Conflates Jews and Liberals
• Recycles Every ...

Jennifer Rubin’s essay in Commentary (via Ben Smith) is titled, “Why Jews Hate Palin”. She provides a number of answers: the former Alaska governor’s staunch position against permitting abortion; false reports of her association with Patrick Buchanan; the sheer fact that Jews are mostly Democrats. There is more specific cultural correlation between Jews and Palin-haters, ...

Noam Neusner, a former speechwriter and Jewish liason for President George W. Bush, has a theory (in the Forward) for why Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, two possible 2012 Republican presidential candidates, have opposed a West Bank settlement freeze more vociferously and more loudly than even many of their Republican rivals:
their focus on settlements could ...