Not even close.

I think one comment in the article was particularly telling -- Israel as their "baby" -- largely the domain of older Jewish individuals who can remember the founding of Israel and view it as a sort of phoenix of hope arising from the ashes of the holocaust. Many of the younger, "modern Orthodox" have a similar view and have backed it up by moving there. A radical (and unfortunately often bigoted) subset of this group supports the settlers. The neocons speak to this demographic and they will likely vote for McCain, Palin or no Palin.

Like any other group of people with a shared culture there are also significant class distinctions -- the older, very wealthy subgroup are Republicans for the same reason other wealthy ex-businesspeople are Republicans and will probably go McCain/Palin.

This leaves a very large number of Jewish people who are younger (and in my experience are *extremely* pro-Obama) and, frankly, a significant proportion of older folks (like my in-laws) who fervently believe with all of their hearts that we all have a responsibility to care for others who cannot care for themselves, the message they heard in shul all of their lives--they would be more likely to jump off a bridge than vote for McCain/Palin. These lines are very stark in this election.

Someone above also commented on the "education" factor -- this is a good point. It would not surprise me if older folks who were wavering were turned off by Palin's good old gal routine, my guess is that if any of my seemingly endless number of cousins had gone through 5 colleges and *still* couldn't come up with a coherent thought they would be whispered about and considered a "black sheep" --- not an obvious candidate for VP in these difficult times.

So while I am not sure whether she is a direct negative -- she certainly is not a positive for any older Jewish voter who hadn't already committed.

mind explaining the nice little pamphlet put out by the Southern Baptists (not exactly a small group) about 10 years ago during the High Holy Days exhorting the faithful to increase their efforts to convert Jews? Yes, yes, all with "love" of course, to save them from their fate in hellfire. Profoundly and deeply insulting, this was discussed with horror in synagogues all over the country, you can well imagine where folks might be a bit suspicious of Palin's "love". Secondary gain, perhaps?

This has nothing to do with the respect for another religion's beliefs, supposedly a bedrock belief of this country.

I'm with underanothername and Zandru 100% on this one.

You're skipping over the exhortation to convert -- how convenient. You know, a major part of evengelical thought in this country. And hey, if you're into history, there's always the Spanish Inquisition.

I know that it is easier to just play the victim card and talk about how no one understands all of the persecuted and misunderstood Christians, but surprise, many of us actually have studied religion in college or actually understand the simple concept of disliking the message, not the messenger.

And there are many things to dislike regarding the fundamentalist view of the role of Jews (or Muslims or Hindus, etc. for that matter).

And Sarah Palin could have called out that minister who was blessing her for his Israelite comment. But she didn't.

he's really keyed up now.

He better calm himself before tomorrow's debate -- acting like this in front of a national audience would be quite a spectacle.

I guess this is all you have left when you have no substance and plenty of blind ambition.

Pathetic.

but the "health of the mother" moment complete with his off-kilter smirk and sarcastic tone -- topped off by the air quotes was a real mind-blower.

And there you have it folks, John McCain's priorities when it comes to pregnancy complications -- that happen more often than you would think. So the next time I have a woman with a prior history of postpartum cardiomyopathy who presents in heart failure with a subsequent pregnancy or severe pulmonary hypertension I guess I'll just have to tell her to tough it out because Senator McCain figures her life is expendable -- too bad for those other kids at home, I guess.

I hope someone has the balls to make that moment into a nice ad-- really shows the measure of the "man". Pathetic.

Well, the obvious answer is just plain old garden-variety stupidity.

Kind of mind-blowing and repulsive.

You're probably underestimating the disaster that is the VA -- I'm in NYC and our (huge) facilities are in no way prepared to handle the onslaught of grievously injured young men and women.

These young people are not getting their initial evals within any reasonable period of time and for many of these injuries, optimal outcome can be impaired by these delays. There are not remotely enough rehab docs, the PT facilities are almost laughably outmoded and there is just no indication that anyone in this administration gives a damn. Not to mention the lack of services for the families who bear the brunt of the care. It basically becomes a full-time job for the primary caregiver, with attendant loss of income, etc.

It's actually a pretty common discussion among my MD colleagues -- how can we contribute in a meaningful fashion? This is actually where the infamously horrific VA bureaucracy "rears its head" -- no mechanism at all for this.

Like anything else in medicine, time is of the essence and early interventions make big differences. Hopefully someone in the next administration will get a clue -- these folks deserve the best, not the worst. And that is what they are getting.

Looks like I have my retirement direction though -- should be as rewarding as hell.