Thursday, November 04, 2004

FRUM JEWS AND PIG FARMERS, POLITICAL BEDFELLOWS?

Jews still vote Democrat, but GOP gains among Orthodox, Russians

I'm embarrassed. How about you?

Why are Jews thinking about the world in the same way that bible-thumping, hillbillies think about the world?

Anecdotally, all Orthodox Jews voted GOP. I am the only person I know who went on the record expressing any doubts at all about Bush's "leadership" Though I had doubts about Kerry, doubts I expressed at the sholosh seudos table on more than one occasion, I never heard similar doubts about Bush expressed by my coreligionists. (Hey, that demostrates resoluteness on my part, and also commitment to principle. Wow, I could be like a God in the red states) My daughter's too Jewish school had an election; through 6 grades, only one kid in the whole place voted for Kerry. The conventional wisdom among the elementary school kids, my daughter reported, was that Kerry was bad for the Jews. They got that, obviously, from their parents, though I can't say what their parents read. Probably nothing.

Some encouraging news

Chicago went 81 percent for Kerry (I hereby recant three or five of the horrible things I have said about Chicago in my lifetime)

Los Angeles did 63 percent for Kerry. I always liked thhat town.

The big Jewish boroughs (Brooklyn and Queens) went 74 and 71 percent for Kerry.

Rockland County, with it's heavy populations of Square and Vishnitz Hasidim went about 50/50 with a slight edge to Bush. Orange County, home of the upstate branch of the Satmar community, leaned toward Bush. (Manhattan has more people on a square block than both counties combined., of course, so this might be the clearest indicator of how Jews voted.)

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