Democracy Has Prevailed.

April 7, 2008

Yesterday at the UJF Forum

There was a quickly scheduled forum yesterday at the JCC in Squirrel Hill.

Here's the press release announcing the event:

Two prominent Jewish United States Congressmen - one representing the Clinton campaign, the other representing the Obama campaign - will speak at a presidential primary forum on Sunday, April 6, 2 p.m. at the Katz Auditorium of the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill.

Sponsored by the Community and Public Affairs Council of the United Jewish Federation, the forum will feature U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-NY, representing U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., representing U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

U.S. Sen. John McCain's campaign was invited but had not confirmed whether it would participate by press time.

The forum will provide an opportunity for the community to hear about the candidates' positions on issues of interest to the Jewish community.

Engel is serving his tenth term in the House of Representatives. His district includes the Bronx, Westchester County and Rockland County, New York. He sponsored a key resolution recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. He also authored the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which authorizes penalties and restrictions on U.S. relations with Syria for its occupation of Lebanon and for its relationship with terrorist groups.

Wexler is serving his sixth term in the House. His district comprises portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties. He has been named one of the "50 Most Effective Legislators in Congress" by the influential magazine Congressional Quarterly and was named to the Forward 50 list as one of the most influential leaders in the American Jewish community.

Michael Bartley of QED was the moderator. He did a good job.

For the record, there was no one from the McCain campaign there, though the crowd was told that they'd be very interested in participating in an event like this in the future. Given that there was just 4 days notice it was probably just a scheduling thing.

Speaking before the forum began, Congressman Mike Doyle (still an uncommitted super delegate) outlined some of his general positions on the whole "Clinton/Obama" thing. He said that either one would make a great president and both are staunch friends of Israel. Victory will depend on who'll turn out the most votes and that way before the Denver convention, one when one will see that there's no path to winning, that person will drop out and unify the party. He pointed out that he's not going to be telling anyone to drop out, though.

The two speakers, Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Fl) and Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) were each empassioned advocates for their candidates. Each extremely respectful of the other's choice and, as Engel pointed out in his opening statement, apologised to each other for having to debate this. Turns out they're great friends.

Wexler gave his opening remarks first. He's a supporter of Senator Obama and his defense was, if anything, a little more forceful than the quieter Engel who supports Senator Clinton. There was a great deal of overlap in each presentation with little mud thrown. Each spoke about their candidates committment to Israel, terrorism in the Middle East, how they would never support a candidate they'd be uncomfortable with, etc. Engel pushed the "Reverend Wright" button a few times (the sermons were "troubling" though the blame lay with Wright and not Obama) and pointed out how Clinton was "fully vetted." Wexler (respecfully) countered that it was only two weeks ago that we learned the "sniper" story - so it's incorrect to say that there's nothing new to learn about her.

The crowd asked about Tony Rezko, Reverend Wright, the vote for the Iraq war (both Congressman admit that by voting for the resolution they made the biggest mistake of their political lives), and then Revered Wright.

At one of the later (though brief) discussions of Reverend Wright's sermons, Wexler dropped something a very subtle bomb. Came out of no where and I had to dig around a little to see its importance. Speaking to a largely Jewish audience (and speaking for himself, he was very careful to point out at that point, not the Obama campaign) he said that the Anti-Defamation League has issed a report about the United Methodist Church's divestment in Israel. Here's the ADL's press release. It begins:
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on the United Methodist Church (UMC) to repudiate a "distorted and mendacious" report on Israel produced by one of its divisions that refers to Jews as "monsters" and compares Israeli actions to the Nazis.

The 225-page report, titled "The Israel Palestine Mission Study" comes at a time when there is a movement within the United Methodist Church to support resolutions to divest from companies doing business with Israel. The UMC is holding its quadrennial national conference in April 2008, and several draft anti-Israel divestment resolutions are being put forward for consideration. The study was produced and published by the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church General Board of Global Ministries.
He then asked, rhetorically of course, why Methodists weren't being asked to denounce the church.

Why would this be an issue at a candidate's forum at the Pittsburgh Jewish Community Center sponsored by the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh?

Senator Clinton is a Methodist.

The forum had few surprises, though. The biggest surprise what wasn't being discussed: What would have to occur for each candidate to win. How the superdelegates would have to vote, how their decisions would be made, what they'd be based on and so on. It was as if there were two more or less equally capable candidates presented to the crowd who were more or less equally capable of winning the nomination.

Sorry, but that's just not the case.

UPDATE: When I walked in, I noticed a guy typing away at a laptop. I didn't recognize him at all so I figured it must be someone squeezing out a few minutes work in a thesis/dissertation/novel. Little did I know that I wasn't the only blogger there. Ladies and Gentlemen, Flightsoffancypants.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

John K. says: Did anyone mention the latest Sen. Clinton lie on health care. Or did the facts just get in the way of her efforts to get votes?

Anonymous said...

On a related note:

Mark Penn Resigns from the Clinton Campaign

Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief presidential campaign strategist is quitting his post amid criticism of his public relations firm's contacts with the Colombian government over a pending free-trade deal, Clinton's campaign announced.

Anonymous said...

John K. Says: When Sen Clinton, or any other lefty for that matter, lies on the campaign trial why do they always tell a lie that demeans America and makes it look like a pitiful country? Ala the recent Hillary lie about the pizza lady. Sort of shows how the left thinks of America and its people.

Anonymous said...

Apparently, Senator Clinton did get the facts incorrect about her health care story, but the story appears to have been fundamentally correct and cannot truthfully be called a "lie".

It appears that the young woman went to a hospital that denied her treatment. Then she went to another hospital which did not deny her treatment. Senator Clinton left out the second hospital from her public account.

I have noticed that John K. appears to be knee-jerk anti-Democrat, so I suppose I should not be surprised that he did not fully vet this story before leaping to label a Democrat a liar.

--Kim

P.S.-- I remain a fervent supporter of Senator Obama, but I couldn't let an obvious attempt to falsely attack Senator Clinton stand. I sincerely wish that Senator Clinton's supporters would behave in the same manner toward the candidate I prefer, Senator Obama.

Anonymous said...

John is our resident clown. He is only here to amuse us.

Bram Reichbaum said...

Ditto what Kim said.

Anonymous said...

John is our resident clown. He is only here to amuse us.

And of course we know, no Republican would ever make up a story like that

The degree to which Reagan is out of touch with reality was best demonstrated in his concentration camp story. This was not simply a slip of the tongue, a Bushian confusion of December with September. When the Premier of Israel visited Reagan at the White House, the President went on and on for three quarters of an hour explaining why he was pro-Jewish: it was because, being in the Signal Corps in World War II, he visited Buchenwald shortly after the Nazi defeat and helped to take films of that camp. Reagan repeated this story the following day to an Israeli ambassador. But the truth was 180-degrees different; Reagan was not in Europe; he never saw a concentration camp; he spent the entire war in the safety of Hollywood, making films for the armed forces.

Anonymous said...

Reagan...spent the entire war in the safety of Hollywood

John K. has spent the entire Iraq war in elementary school.

Anonymous said...

At my blog , be sure to catch my political cartoon on Wexler's subtle effort to make the United Methodist Church Clinton's Rev. Wright. (Compare the cross with the UMC's cross and flame insignia.) The mission study that the ADL condemned is a doozy. I covered it further here and here . The UMC has also pushed its flagrant bias on the conflict upon younger Methodists through a children's bok .

Keep tuning in, because I'll be covering divestment developments at the United Methodist quadrennial churchwide assembly opening this week.

Anonymous said...

That's "book," not "bok."