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In this issue
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Oct. 7, 2008 / 8 Tishrei 5769

Palin is no rube; she deserves media's respect

By Ed Koch


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Sarah Palin is a phenomenon. She is plucky and, in a winsome way, in your face. Referring to middle class America as Joe-Six-Pack and to herself as a hockey mom, she debated last week with veteran Senator Joe Biden, who has served in the Senate for 36 years and knows his way around Washington. I have never met Governor Palin. I have known Joe Biden for many years. I really like Joe and share his positions on most issues.


I admire Sarah Pain's spunkiness and feel she has not been treated fairly by the media which has tried to make her look foolish and provincial. When she was interviewed by Charles Gibson and asked the question, "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?" I thought it unfair. Why? I consider myself to be knowledgeable on foreign affairs and I did not know what the Bush Doctrine referred to until later when it was described as support for preemptive military action. However, that term — Bush Doctrine — has also been applied to other policies of the administration. I certainly do believe in the right to take preemptive action to thwart an enemy's attack upon us. Sarah Palin later explained when she learned what the Bush Doctrine stood for, that she did too.


When Katie Couric in a later interview asked Palin if she disagreed with any United States Supreme Court decisions other than Roe v. Wade, a case deciding that abortion was a privacy right protected under the Constitution, Palin, having no Supreme Court decision in mind again obfuscated and again looked bad.


Interestingly, I am a lawyer — not a Constitutional expert — and had I been asked the same question, no particular decision would have come to mind. This recalls President Eisenhower, who when asked at a press conference to describe Nixon's contributions to his administration's policies, replied: "If you give me a week, I might think of one."


On reflection, I would have said that I, most recently, disagreed with the Court's decision to reverse a U.S. District Court's decision which struck down a law allowing judges to be selected by judicial delegates, rather than through a primary. That U.S. Supreme Court decision reaffirmed the power of party county leaders to select New York's Supreme Court judges. I would have also objected to the Supreme Court's recent decision defining the language of the Second Amendment to include the right of individuals to own and carry rifles and hand guns. This decision struck down local laws outlawing possession of guns, thereby providing an enormous victory to the National Rifle Association.


Palin's failure in her interview with Katie Couric was in not challenging Couric at the time of the questioning, asking that she further define the question.


The media howled and conveyed to the public that on the basis of the interviews, Palin was not qualified to be vice president because she might succeed to the presidency. I thought the media presenting that point of view was simply wrong and biased.


Then came the debate with Joe Biden. Both candidates did well. One CNN poll I saw reported that 51 percent of those watching said Joe Biden won the debate to 36 percent for Governor Palin. I agree that Biden won the debate.


However, I also think that Palin's performance during the debate with Joe Biden made clear to America that she is no rube, but rather an intelligent, thoughtful person who clearly is not as knowledgeable as her opponent Joe Biden, particularly on foreign affairs. She deserves the media's respect, instead of its mockery and efforts to destroy her by their clear distain.


Interestingly, highly intelligent women friends of mine who support Barack Obama, as I do, were horrified when I told them of my views and that I was writing this commentary. Their position is not to give Palin any credit. They believe McCain disgraced himself by choosing her and that she is not worthy to hold the vice presidency. I agree that Joe Biden is a far worthier and more qualified candidate. But I also believe it is Palin's conservative positions that appall many people than anything else.


I ask what would they have said about the selection by Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Harry S. Truman, who now is considered by many historians as our seventh best president. Truman was a haberdasher from Missouri. In his private diary he used disgraceful language in referring to blacks and Jews, and his wife prided herself on the fact that she never permitted a Jew to enter her home. Truman, as President, desegregated the armed forces and recognized the State of Israel even though his Secretary of State George Marshall, threatened to resign if he did so.


I am for the Obama-Biden ticket. I also believe that in campaigning for that ticket, it is important to be fair to the opposition — McCain and Palin — who are honorable, intelligent, patriotic Americans

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Edward I. Koch, the former mayor of New York, can be heard on Bloomberg Radio (WBBR 1130 AM) every Sunday from 9-10 am . Comment by clicking here.

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