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Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 23, 2008 / 23 Elul 5768

Find me a demon

By Mona Charen


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Neither of our would-be leaders covered himself in glory during the past week. A financial crisis (and for once the word "crisis" is apt) has opened beneath our feet, threatening to swallow G-d only knows how much of our prosperity in its maw, and the two candidates were unable to see beyond their own narrow political interests and unable to resist searching for effigies to burn.


John McCain's posture should have been obvious: He should have presented himself as the perspicacious statesman who had foreseen the trouble and warned against it. In 2006, McCain had called for more stringent oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose failures underlie today's unraveling. In a press release at the time McCain declared, "If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole." He should then have outlined the kind of reforms he would undertake to prevent this from happening in the future. Had he done this, in tones more in sorrow than anger, he would have been able to reinforce his "reform" credentials without seeming opportunistic or rattled.


As it is, McCain lashed out at Wall Street: "Americans are hurting right now and there's going to be a ripple effect of this financial crisis because of the greed and corruption and excess — and Wall Street treated the American economy like a casino." He then recommended that SEC Chairman Chris Cox, one of the smartest and most able officials in the U.S. government, be fired. Now it may be that Chris Cox has made mistakes — who hasn't? — but the notion that he is responsible for this mess is, to say no more, a stretch. Instead of looking decisive, McCain looked petty by singling him out. He would have been better advised to aim his fire at Democrats in Congress who declined to regulate Fannie and Freddie adequately because they favored making questionable loans to so-called "underserved" populations. A bill to more strictly regulate the mortgage giants passed the Senate Banking Committee in 2005. But as Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute explains, "Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote …"


Wall Street, whether McCain likes it or not, is identified in the public mind with Republicans (though, as the Center for Responsive Politics reports, the finance, insurance, and real estate industries gave more contributions to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama earlier this year than to McCain). Still the perception endures that Republicans are the party of the rich. Railing against "greed and corruption" won't get McCain very far. But pointing up the Democrats' role — their cozy public/private partnerships, the multimillions made by Democrat bigwigs like Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, and Jamie Gorelick — would certainly confound the image the Obama campaign is attempting to paint.


As for Obama, he has used the financial crisis as the pinup for Republican approaches to the economy generally, proof he says that "too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren't minding the store" and plucked a couple of McCain quotes out of context for good measure. Obama heaped scorn on McCain's comment that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong," omitting the next words, which were "but these are very, very difficult times." Obama (remember him? the fellow who was going to run a different kind of campaign?) also trotted out McCain's old quote "I'm always for less regulation" without clarifying that McCain had specifically called for more regulation of Fannie and Freddie, the two quasi-governmental entities that are at the heart of the current meltdown.


Obama seems to have dropped any pretense to running an honest campaign. Virtually all of his charges against McCain now dabble in deception. Noting that McCain wants to increase competition in the health care insurance market, Obama says, "So let me get this straight — he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street."


Now let me get this straight: the sub-prime mortgage disaster, created in Washington by politicians who wanted to increase home ownership and, yes, perpetuated by unwise gambling in the financial markets undermines the validity of competition? It really makes you wonder, when Obama invites voters to fire the "whole trickle-down, on-your-own, look-the-other-way crowd in Washington who (have) led us down this disastrous path" whether he really means capitalism itself.

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