Republican Debate/Hillary/School Board Elections on LI

A few thoughts with respect to the Republican debate that was held last week. First, it does not appear that too many minds will be changed based on what they saw during the debate. Second, what I wrote with respect to second and third tier candidates in the Democratic debate applies to the Republicans as well. The sooner they get rid of these second and third candidates from the debates, the better off the process will be. Thirdly, as pointed out by the RealClearPolitics blog, the most important line uttered by any candidate was by Guiliani who said (in response to a question about Clinton returning to the White House) "It would mean that we were back on defense against terrorism, given Senator Clinton's recent positions. And the reality is, in the 1990s, we were on defense in dealing with Islamic fundamentalist terrorism.
When you had this debate last week and all the Democrats were up here, I never remember the words "Islamic fundamentalist terrorism" being spoken by any of them." That is evidence, once again that Guiliani gets what we are up against.

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As if we needed more evidence that Clinton is not a candidate that gets it, she is apparently ready to embrace an effort to de-authorize the war in Iraq. This is a ridiculous position for a supposedly serious candidate to take. It is one thing for a candidate like Edwards to urge the Democrats to not vote for a clean spending bill. After all, his candidacy is a long-shot and he needs to appeal to the lunatic left. But for a candidate that hopes to appeal to moderates like Clinton, taking a position like de-authorizing the war during the surge seems to defy common sense.

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A few words on the school board elections to be held in the Five Towns on May 15th. In the election, the Orthodox will attempt to maintain their majority. While I don't take great interest in local elections, this particular election has piqued my curiousity for a few reasons. Firstly, one of the candidates, Pam Greenbaum has sued a well known blogger (Orthomom) for a number of disparaging comments about her which appeared on the Orthomom blog. The purpose of the suit is to unmask "Orthomom". As you don't have to be a lawyer to realize the suit has no merit and is insulting in its stupidity, it is hopeful that it will be thrown out soon. It is amazing that an elected official would try to use the courts to deny a citizen's First Amendment rights of free speech. Secondly, the recent ads that have been placed by the public school faction are blatantly anti-orthodox and are largely unfair. (How the editors of the Nassau Herald allowed them to be printed is a question which the Orthodox community should look into.) It is one thing to run a campaign based on facts and public policy positions, quite another to base your campaign solely on the hatred of a religious group. Thirdly (and no doubt stemming from the hate that I discussed in my second point), the campaign posters for the private school candidates were stolen during the night from in front of people's homes in my neighborhood. This is evidence of a campaign that based on all of the wrong ideas and motives. The election of May 15th is important and for those living in the Five Town area, please do not forget to vote.

EDG

Israeli Political Situation

As interesting as American politics gets, it can never match the craziness of Israeli style politics. To sum up the events of the past three days, the Winograd Commission ripped Olmert and Peretz for their conduct of the war, Olmert insisted he would not resign, the chairman of Kadimah resigned, Foreign Minister Livni called on Olmert to resign, Olmert is getting ready to fire Livni, 4 no-confidence measures have been introduced in Knesset, and Netanyahu awaits his chance to become Prime Minister again. It is the conduct of Livni that I find most amazing. By calling on Olmert to resign she is hoping that by Olmert stepping aside, she would win the Kadimah primary to be held within 2 months and become Prime Minister through the back door. I can think of no precedent for a number 2 person calling on the head of government to resign so they could take over. It is the equivalent of Cheney calling on Bush to resign over the conduct of the Iraq war so that Cheney could become President. A more honest approach by Livni would have had her resigning her position and calling for new elections so that Israelis may decide who their new Prime Minister is through the democratic process of elections. It is clear that Kadimah fears new elections as Olmert has a 3% approval rating (it may be lower now after the report's findings). Hopefully, one of the days, Israel will fix its political system to eliminate the influence of small parties and end coalitions which bring together disparate parties.

Last week's debate/Pollard

A few observations with respect to last Thursday's debates:
1. Barack Obama's uneven performance has to give pause to even his most hard core supporters. His failure to name Israel as a key ally of the United States (he needed Bria Williams's help on that one) and his ridiculous answer to the question regarding his statement that "nobody is suffering more than the Palestinians" are worrisome developments and only adds to my suspicions that Obama's mideast policies would represent a clean break from Bush's pro-Israel tendencies. Furthermore, his failure to state in the first instance that he would retaliate as a response to a terror attack against this country is more evidence that Obama is seeking to return us to the Carter era. He is not yet ready for prime time. (Interestingly enough, post-debate we have seen the first national poll showing Obama in the lead.)
2. While I have no problem with second tier candidates being allowed into the debates, both parties should put their foot down with respect to third tier candidates. The fact that Sen Mike Gravel and Rep. Kucinich were allowed to participate in the debate lends a circus atmosphere to what should be a serious event. Gravel's statement that allowing troops to remain in Iraq should be made a felony and Kucinich's drive to impeach Cheney are not the marks of individuals seriously seeking higher office, but rather individuals seriously seeking attention. The Democrats should bar both individuals from future debates.

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While I support the release of Jonathan Pollard from jail, the recent ads depicting Pollard's image along with those of Israeli POW/MIAs is an outrage. Pollard is not a MIA or a POW but a convicted felon. While he has been in jail way too long, those who depict Pollard as a POW/MIA belittle the plight of the Israeli soldiers and damage the credibility of the free Pollard movement.

EDG