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• Sunday, October 5, 2008 08:26 PM

  Florida Jews Should Be Ashamed of Themselves

  I'm Jewish, and live 10 minutes from Boca Raton. It's heartening to read that many south Florida Jews seem to be coming around to Obama, after months of flirting with McCain, even if it's for reasons that don't involve support for the Democratic Party or progressive principles. The fact that Sarah Palin is an evangelical Christian anti-semite, who believes in the Rapture, during which most "unsaved" Jews will be condemned to Hell while she and her brethren float up to Heaven, is a good enough reason to send McCain to his own "Century Village" retirement home in Arizona. With 9 different homes, that's a fat chance!

  I've heard and been involved in numerous conversations in diners and restaurants here that make my neck hair stand on end. People suggesting Obama is a Muslim terrorist, a Muslim spy who will destroy the government, a Jew hater who will betray Israel, despite his favorable rating from AIPAC and from many native Israelis. The elderly Jews who choose to believe this patently false Internet swill are either senile or they're simply using these lies as a cover for their racism. Despite their public swing to Obama, it remains to be seen how many of them will pull the lever for him when they're in the privacy of the voting booth.

  It's profoundly disturbing to me that so many of these people, with whom I share a common heritage, and for whom higher education of their children and grandchildren is a prime family value, are in fact so ignorant, even stupid in their prejudices and fears of Obama, and especially Joe Biden, who's been a strong supporter of Israel for decades and would never have joined the ticket if there was any doubt of Obama's commitment.

  Joe Lieberman may be an orthodox Jew, but he's a turncoat in his own party, a militarist, a super-hawk regarding the Middle East, a blind supporter of McCain's disastrous Iraq policies, and a Secretary of Defense wannabee in a McCain administration. Along with McCain and Palin, he cynically expects the Jews of Florida to overlook 8 years of political incompetence, greed and corruption in Washington, either because they don't understand it or they put being Jewish before being American.

  I sincerely hope they prove him wrong on Nov. 4. Wake up and smell the fresh bagels and lox!

  —stonecutter Read stonecutter's other letters
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