Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 25, 2007 Page: 4 of 24
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4 I October 25,2007 I Washington Watch
GOP candidates make their case
at Republican Jewish conference
TEXAS JEWISH POST $ SINCE 1947
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Each
leading GOP presidential candi-
date has run away from the Bush
legacy to some degree. But this
week they made their case before
one of the president's most loyal
constituencies: Republican Jews.
The Republican Jewish Coali-
tion hosted a forum Tuesday in
Washington for presidential hope-
fuls. Six of the party's nine candi-
dates were invited. Five attended:
former New York City Mayor Rudy
Giuliani, former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney, former U.S.
Sen. Fred Thompson and current
U.S. Sens. John McCain (Ariz.)
and Sam Brownback (Kan.).
Giuliani, front-runner in na-
tional polls and among Jewish
fundraisers, told the audience that
he was the likeliest Republican
candidate to win the election: "I
give us the best chance of winning
back the House and the Senate."
Giuliani said Republicans
would not fare well without "pur-
ple states," those between Demo-
cratic blue and Republican red.
Brownback's longstanding re-
jection of legalized abortion and
opposition to gay marriage places
him opposite to much of the U.S.
Jewish community, but he earned
applause at the RJC event with
comments about family values.
"The place to raise a child is with a
mom and a dad," he said.
McCain criticized the presi-
dent's handling of the Iraq war
and relations with Russia. Romney
also drew distinctions with Bush
on Middle East peace policy
The RJC event comes at a time
when the president's approval
ratings are perpetually hovering
around 30 percent and many Re-
publican constituencies, lawmak-
ers and candidates are walking
away from the Bush White House.
Still, many leading Republican
Jews remain fiercely loyal to the
president and hawkish elements of
his foreign policy agenda.
This summer Matt Brooks, the
RJC's executive director, and two
of its other board members — Ari
Fleischer, Bush's former White
House spokesman, and Sheldon
Adelson, a casino mogul —joined
in establishing FreedomsWatch,
dedicated to preserving what like-
ly has become the president's most
unpopular legacy, the Iraq oc-
cupation. Most of its funders are
well known as the RJC's principal
backers, including Mel Sembler, a
former ambassador to Rome, and
Richard Fox, an RJC founder.
McCain was especially critical
of Bush's policy in Iraq, although
he said the current "surge" policy
adding troops on the ground is
garnering results. He said winning
in Iraq was critical not just for U.S.
interests but for Israel: "The trans-
forming struggle of the 21st cen-
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LEAVE A LEGACY
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Photo: Courtesy of RJC
Mitt Romney speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition's forum for GOP candi-
dates, Tuesday, Oct. 16.
tury is our struggle against radical
Islamic extremism."
Romney expressed skepticism
about Bush administration plans
to convene a peace conference next
month in Annapolis, Md. Condo-
leezza Rice, the secretary of state,
says the aim of the conference is
Palestinian statehood.
"How could you possibly have
a peace conference at this stage?"
he asked, noting that the Palestin-
ian Authority leadership had yet
to wrest control of the Gaza Strip
from Hamas terrorists. "Who
would you talk to?"
On several fronts the RJC con-
tinues to stake out right-of-center
positions.
Giuliani distinguished sharply
between himself and Sen. Hillary
Clinton (D-N.Y.), accusing her of
wanting to "negotiate" with Iran.
Both candidates favor keeping
military options on the table. He
noted his order in 1995 ejecting
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
from a Lincoln Center concert.
He also took a subtle dig at his
leading competitor in the race,
Romney. Giuliani said that when
he ejected Arafat, "I didn't call for
a team of lawyers," referring to a
recent Romney answer on Iraq.
In his RJC address, Romney
was aggressive on Iran, saying the
military option was still very much
on the table. He said he would not
use ground forces, but would con-
sider "blockade, bombardment
and surgical military strikes."
Thompson also emphasized the
Iranian threat. "Terror masters in
Tehran and Damascus make only
the most minor distinction be-
tween the United States of Amer-
ica and Israel," he said. "They say
that America is the Great Satan,
and Israel is the Little Satan, and
both must be destroyed."
Giuliani said the time was not
ripe to discuss Palestinian state-
hood. He said Palestinians must
recognize Israel and dismantle
terrorist groups: "If they do those
two things and they mean it, and
time demonstrates that they mean
it, then of course we negotiate."
Giuliani mentioned the Iraq
war only once in passing.
Like McCain, Romney has
backed the engagement in Iraq but
been sharply critical of how it has
been carried out.
Brownback backed a pro-settler
initiative to extend Israeli sover-
eignty to the West Bank, directly
undercutting Bush's attempt at a
two-state solution to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict.
Republican Jews also have
emerged as one of the few con-
stituencies willing to touch Bush's
determination to roll back parts
of the popular State Children's
Health Insurance Program.
SCHIP has wall-to-wall Jewish
community backing, but Noam
Neusner, Bush's former Jewish li-
aison, defended the president's po-
sition in the Forward and Michael
David Epstein, a senior RJC activ-
ist, did the same on JTA.
Brooks said such loyalty is nat-
ural for a president second to none
in his backing for Israel. "Bush
has earned it," he said. "Here's a
president who in very challeng-
ing times, especially on core issues
like Israel, was there for us."
Among other instances, Bush
gave Israel slack in putting down a
flare-up in the Palestinian intifada
in spring 2002 and in striking back
against Hezbollah in Lebanon in
summer 2006. In April 2004, he
recognized some Israeli settle-
ments as a reality on the ground
and repudiated a right of Palestin-
ian refugees to return to Israel.
Brooks told JTA that a major
goal of the forum was to remind
"the Jewish community that it will
have some important choices to
make as we start to address a post-
Bush environment."
TJP V61-43, 10-25-07.indd Sec12:4
10/23/07 11:36:24 PM
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Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 25, 2007, newspaper, October 25, 2007; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth188162/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .