| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bush takes a stand overseas on Jewish commentPresident confronts Malaysian leader in private meeting
By Bill Schneider
NEW YORK (CNN) -- When President Bush met with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Bangkok, he managed to turn an awkward moment into the political Play of the Week. On October 16, at an Islamic summit in Malaysia, Mahathir made some explosive remarks about Jews. "The Europeans killed six million Jews out of twelve million, but today these Jews rule the world by proxy, "Mahathir said. "They get others to fight and die for them." Several world leaders immediately denounced those remarks. "Dividing the world into Jewish and non-Jewish groupings is historical indefensible and wrong," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said. Bush did not respond for four days. That gave his Democratic opponents an opening, according to E.J. "Eve" Kessler, a reporter who covers politics for the Forward, a Jewish weekly. Said Kessler: "Howard Dean, in a meeting with Jewish leaders last Friday, took the president to task for not having responded at that point. And he said, 'You would have had to hold me back!' " So in Bangkok on Monday, Bush confronted Mahathir in a one-on-one meeting, calling his remarks about Jews "wrong and divisive." The White House made sure the president's private comments got plenty of attention. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said of the prime minister's original remarks: "Everybody thinks the comments were hateful. They were outrageous." Republicans see an opening with Jews. "There is a big bid afoot in the Jewish community to make the case that President Bush is the best president for Israel ever," Kessler said. The GOP saw a payoff in last year's midterm elections. Nationwide, Jewish support for Republican House candidates had mostly been in the 30 percent range during the 1980s. In the 90s, GOP support among Jewish voters fell. Then suddenly last year, the Jewish Republican vote went back up to 35 percent. Jews make up only 3 percent of voters nationwide. But, they are a major source of campaign money for Democrats. Republicans are not as dependent on Jewish contributions. But they may have another motive. "It's about peeling off money that might go to the Democrats," Kessler said. Especially now that Bush has spoken out against an outrageous, anti-Semitic slur. "Whether you want to say he did it too late or he did not do it loud enough or whatever, he did it," concluded Kessler. And it was the political Play of the Week.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
