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May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: 'Noodles,' Asian style is a carb sub, sure. But they are also amazingly delicious and colorful

April 19, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When violence seems the only answer

Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy

Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Harvard Health Letters: Can you die of a broken heart?

Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds

Nora Schultz: Oxytocin helps beat booze cravings

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: Middle Eastern cuisine meets Italian delicious with this lentil and eggplant pastitsio

April 17, 2013

Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom

Geoffrey Mohan: Can computers decode dreams? Researchers take a first step

Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 heart-healthy eating tips help cut saturated fat but not taste

Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Told your child has sensory processing disorder? Seek a second opinion

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Corn and Curry Add Zing to Chilled Soup

April 15, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Death of Education?

Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral

Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators

Kristin Ohlson : The loneliest fight

The Kosher Gourmet by Dana Velden: A tasty, rich dish that hints at spring's arrival while still anchored in a favorite winter staple


Jewish World Review January 24, 2008 17 Shevat 5768

Looking for Mr. Perfect

By Suzanne Fields


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Barack Obama is on to something with his praise of Ronald Reagan as "a transformational president." A lot of Democrats screamed, and even a lot of Republicans complained that a Democrat was trying to steal their hero. Ronald Reagan symbolized something else to the rest of us, a man from a time when both Democrats and Republicans could honor a dead president for his actual deeds. He reminded us that it could still be "Morning in America," not "Mourning in America."


The mean characterization of Reagan as an "amiable dunce" has evaporated as his keen intelligence has been revealed in his letters and journals. The man accused of intemperance in his characterization of the Soviet Union as "the evil empire" was vindicated the year after he left office, when the wall he told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down finally came down. The West had won, just as he said it would.


But Ronald Reagan was not a hero of myth — he was a man, after all — and he shouldn't be idealized as the "pure conservative." When the Conservative Digest surveyed 350 conservative opinion leaders two decades ago, nearly two-thirds scoffed that President Reagan was not carrying out the conservative agenda. He had appointed men and women to his administration who were not only moderates, but worse, "pragmatists." These critics liked his tax cuts, but deplored the tax increases that followed. He failed to cut big-government entitlement programs so beloved by proponents of the welfare state. His commitment to social issues — the restoration of school prayers and opposition to abortion, pornography and homosexuality — was discounted as only lukewarm.


But these critics could stand apart from reality, as well as having to deal with Tip O'Neill and the Democratic partisans in Congress. The Gipper knew he had to hold on to the moderates, so despised by movement conservatives. They had been crucial to his victory in 1980. The moderates in the fractured coalition are crucial to keeping the White House this year, too. It's easy to identify the flaws of candidates who don't live up to a conservative ideal, but Ronald Reagan had flaws, too. "I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages," he said, as that episode unraveled in 1987." My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."


In the primaries, every Republican candidate is measured against an ideal "Mr. Conservative," much as women of the court once measured men against the ideal of a knight in shining armor (and as Democrats measure their candidates against a standard of total contempt for George W. Bush). Hence every flaw is identified as lethal.


John McCain was an authentic war hero, whose heroism was refined in the torture chambers of the Hanoi Hilton. Independents like him, but he enrages "pure" conservatives for his compromises on campaign finance reform and immigration. "Straight talk" is never "pure." Mitt Romney sounds good on the social issues, but his views arrived a little too late to be fully trusted. His attempts at humor sound forced against the spontaneous wit of the Gipper. Rudy Giuliani's tough stance on the Islamist terror threat reassures conservatives, but three wives (and the manner of his second divorce), and his views on social issues make him difficult for many conservatives to take. Mike Huckabee is steadfast on most social issues, but can't decide whether he wants to be the national leader or the national pastor; he didn't earn many converts with his pitch from the pulpit to amend the Constitution to make it more "godly." The leading Republican candidates offer big talk on fiscal conservatism, but their records are mixed.


Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal says the Republican Party is searching for its soul, but no savior has emerged. That's probably a good thing. Secular saviors are never credible. A conservative is someone who looks at the world as it is, not as he wishes it to be. What's important is to look for the best person to deliver what's best for the nation with toughness, leadership, smarts and experience, who's grounded in conservative values and determined to keep the nation safe and the economy strong. A tall order, but the Republican who shows such mettle could restore the Reagan coalition of conservatives, independents and "Reagan Democrats."


It's ironic that the conventional wisdom — the conventional wisdom is not always wrong — finds the likeliest figure to restore the conservative coalition is not a Republican conservative, but Hillary Clinton. Like the prospect of hanging, in Dr. Johnson's famous formulation, Hillary concentrates the conservative mind.


To be continued.

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