Tim Blair

(ralph wiggum voice)
Thats funny....because he said fence, and the story was about fencing.

Ironically enough, Arab Americans are one of the few ethnic minorities to traditionally support the Republicans...

I've seen this article in a couple of incarnations today . . . what's missing is a sense that the US Jewish population percentage is single digits. Whether they all vote Democratic or not cannot impress me.

I hate isolated, pointless statistics. Bah.

Dazed:

While the Jewish population is a tiny percentage of American voters:

1. They seem to tend to vote. Thus, unlike, say, 18-24 year olds, they represent a real bloc. (Like the elderly, thus, what AARP likes tends to make a difference.)
2. They are wealthy, and they contribute money. Thus, being more Democratic means additional money flowing into Dem coffers. If a significant percentage were to swing behind Dubya, and contribute that way, the Dems would be in BIG trouble.

lies, damned lies and statistics: they could have very easily said that after Bush's dismal showing with the jewish vote in 00, 04 appears to show Bush making up quite a bit of ground with that particular group.

of course, jews, i'll speak for them, being one, are freaking political loons - if Yassir Arafat ran for the US Presidency, jews would probably split their vote for him as long as there was a D after his name.

Just like Australia, where Jewish people tend to overwhelming vote for the ALP.

(Michael Danby is the only jewish MP)

According to the Jewish Agency for Israel
there are 5.7 million Jews in US.

Six million Jews in 280 million
Americans. Even if they all voted the same ticket it would not be a decisive factor.

In Australia, and in America, the tiny Jewish vote punches above it weight by supporting the parties most likely to damage them.

The threat of withdrawing the Jewish vote block looms larger in the Party mind than in reality. It reins these guys in when they start to howl at the moon.

Not planned that way, just panned out like that. It won't work forever, but then the Jews have been running on contingency plans for about three thousand years now.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the conservative parties in the Anglosphere are unlikely to ever damage Jewish interests. The real focus needs to be on the socialists and radicals.

"Joe Lieberman, the only Jewish candidate, would defeat Republican Bush by the largest margin, 71 percent to 24%, the poll found."

Thankfully there's enough non-Jews to counterbalance this lop-sided demographic result. This is the wrong time to elect a Jewish president.

Quentin,

Most of Sydney's Jewish people live in the electorate of Wentworth. This is a safe Conservative seat. I suspect the same is the case in Melbourne and Brisbane. The fact is that Jewish people tend to live in wealthy areas. In the bigger cities this mean that they live in Conservative electorates. So the Jewish vote in Oz is not really important.

Arty - now is not the time to vote for a jewish President who sounds like Elmer Fudd with a cold. What a schmuck (liberman, not fudd).

Hi.

In Australia, it doesn't matter that Jews send to vote, because attendance at a polling place on election days (or submission of a lame excuse for not doing so) is compulsory anyway.

Quentin,

Not sure if you intentionally forget about Ian Cohen. He is Jewish.

http://www.nsw.greens.org.au/ian/aboutian.htm

alphacoward -

Oversight. Was thinking only of Federal MPs

The fact is that Jewish people tend to live in wealthy areas. In the bigger cities this mean that they live in Conservative electorates.

I'm pretty sure that the most jewish seat in Melbourne is Melbourne Ports. (Danby's seat)

Mind you, Danby's quite a reasonable guy. I remember his letter to the Australia after the Iraq war saying essentially that the time for arguing over the justification was past and it was time to get together to support the people of Iraq.

His party chose not to listen to him.

From smh "a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/30/1064819935260.html?from=storyrh">here

"... A 1991 survey of the Melbourne Jewish community conducted by John Goldlust found that 24.5 per cent favoured the ALP and 63.5 per cent the Coalition. Equally, a 1995 survey of Jewish leaders in Australia, conducted by Professor Bernard Rechter for the Australian Institute of Jewish Affairs, found that 26 per cent would vote ALP and 64 per cent Liberal...."

"...The only parliamentary seat significantly affected by a Jewish vote is the inner city area of Melbourne Ports: according to demographics; an estimated 15-20 per cent of voters in Melbourne Ports are Jews.

Many swinging Jewish voters support the sitting Labor MP, Michael Danby, because he is Jewish and passionately pro-Israel. For this reason, they also are unlikely to change their vote simply because some other Labor MPs express contrary views. The appearance of a few perceived hostile backbenchers is likely to confirm, not undermine, their decision to support Danby...."

So we were both right.

(Can't understand why Danby stays in a party with terrorist apologists Julia Irwin and Tanya Pilbersek