(Indianapolis, IN) - Absolutely laughable. That's the only way to describe the forum held yesterday in New Hampshire by the Republican Jewish Coalition. Imagine a group of Jews - in New Hampshire of all places - listening to right-wing Christian fanatics like Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes lecturing them on moral values. And me without a tape in the VCR.
Some of the more interesting points from Gary Bauer's official website
- because, in case you hadn't heard, he's apparently running for president..of
the United States - (www.bauer2k.com):
"Permit voluntary prayer in public schools. Protect religious freedoms
and pass federal legislation to permit state facilities to post the Ten
Commandments." Wow. There's a lot there for Jews to get into.
The Family Research Council, which Bauer headed for several years before
stepping down to pursue his quixotic run for the presidency, also has an
interesting website (www.frc.org).
"The Family Research Council believes that the imposition of a high wall
of separation of church and state by the Supreme Court during the past
fifty years has ironically weakened the freedoms of local communities and
school systems to
accommodate public expressions of religious faith. We therefore seek
ways to limit the Court’s involvement in these matters and to empower cooperative
arrangements between church and state according to local custom and wishes."
Finally, a Presidential candidate who wants to bring down that damned wall separating church and state. The Republican Jewish Coalition must have been thrilled.
Let's not leave out the quirky Alan Keyes - because he tends to get arrested when left out (as he did in 1996 when he was kept out of a debate in Manchester, NH). All you need to know about Keyes can be found on the very first line of his website issues section (www.keyes2000.org): "The doctrine of 'separation of church and state' is a misinterpretation of the Constitution." I'm sure the 42 Justices of the Supreme Court since this matter was resolved will be gratified to know that. Keyes goes on to make an even bigger fool of himself: "We not only need prayer in schools, we need schools that are in the hands of people who pray." Hell, I went to Fort Wayne Community Schools...I thought we already had that.
All of this leaves me wondering what in the world a gathering of Jews
was doing listening to these two guys. These men - and, in reality,
the Republican party - stand against everything that Jewish parents have
fought for in the past 30 years. Perhaps it is easy for New York
Jews (note: not a football team) to lean Republican because they tend to
be conservative on government spending and regulation issues - and because
they don't see what Republicans do in areas that do not have large, influential
Jewish communities. But how do they ignore it when Alan Keyes gets
up and says "the constitution does not guarantee a wall of separation and
I will end it if I'm president"?
AND THE DANNY GOES TO:
From today's Political Insider: "Like his claims that he invented the
Internet, Gore made a suggestion yesterday that it was his 1978 investigation
of toxic waste sites that uncovered the chemical contamination of Love
Canal. 'If anybody got the misimpression that I claimed to do what citizens
in Love Canal did, I apologize,' Gore said."
Well...here's what Gore said at the town hall meeting yesterday as reported by CNN. You decide how much of a "misimpression" it was: "I called for a congressional investigation and a hearing. I looked around the country for other sites like that. I found a little place in upstate New York called Love Canal. Had the first hearing on that issue...I did that."
C'mon, Albert. There's no "I" in "team." But there are TWO in "ridiculous."