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July 18, 2008

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The Sanctification and Importance of Time

Caroline B. Glick: US wants it absolutely clear it has no intention of attacking Iran's nuclear installations

Mona Charen: What can you say about a people who welcome a child murderer as a hero?

JWisdom:: Living a dog's life, dawg? by Rabbi Dovid Gross

July 17, 2008

Steven Emerson: Deals with devils

Libby Lazewnik: One Step at a Time

JWisdom:: Leader the follower? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 16, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Poaching humans

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Meaty pasta salad with summer berries perfect for warm evenings

JWisdom:: Keeping A Secret by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

July 15, 2008

Dennis Prager: False Equation: Opposing Same-Sex Marriage and Opposing Interracial Marriage

Joel Greenberg: Researchers look to Israeli circumcision program to help combat AIDS 'Alternatives' to Logic Won't Work

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part V: Why Judaism ISN'T Spiritual by Rabbi David Aaron

July 14, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A warning from Canada to those who value life

Jonathan Tobin: 'Alternatives' to Logic Won't Work

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism, Part II

July 11, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: It's hard to be humble when you're great

Caroline B. Glick: A tale of two hostages

JWisdom:: Profane for Prophet by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 8, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Duty to save gullible from themselves?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Islamists have the West just where they want us

JWisdom:: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 3: The Fully Loaded Human Being by Rabbi Dovid Gross

July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

JWisdom:: The Moses Method by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

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 Feb. 28, 2008 / 22 Adar I 5768

When attacks backfire

By Jonathan Gurwitz


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Even Hillary Clinton, who first identified the vast, right-wing conspiracy and blamed a conservative attack machine for dredging up scandals about her husband, must be astonished. The New York Times, and to a lesser degree the Washington Post, have managed to do what Gary Bauer, Sam Brownback, Mitt Romney and a slew of Ronald Reagan acolytes have thus for been unable to accomplish for Republicans: rally a hesitant conservative base around John McCain.


Only weeks ago, Newsweek's cover ominously predicted "There will be blood" above a tower of conservative pundits who have expressed their dislike for the Arizona senator's ideological vacillations. There may yet be some cuts and bruises, but you can put away the body bags.


If there's one thing conservatives dislike more than unreliable political leadership, it's the reliable way in which the mainstream media can be counted upon to unfairly attack conservatives. And for conservatives, the Time's hit-piece on John McCain is a lurid demonstration of the conscience of liberal journalism.


Are anonymous allegations of infidelity from a decade ago really headline material when Team Clinton is campaigning for the White House? Is it more shocking to discover McCain occasionally might not have lived up to his own high ethics standards than it is to watch water-walking Barack Obama waffle on an explicit pledge to accept public financing for the general election?


The selective quotes and rejection of facts countering the perception that McCain is in thrall to lobbyists — particularly blond ones — were so appalling that even Lanny Davis, who served as special counsel in the Clinton White House, felt compelled to respond from his blog on the liberal Huffington Post.


Davis was a lobbyist for one of the three parties that sought McCain's intervention with the Federal Communications Commission in the case that allegedly lies at the nexus of his romantic and ethical wanderings. "Bottom line: what was omitted from both the Times and the Post stories was that what I wanted Senator McCain to do, he refused to do," Davis wrote. "And he did so out of a concern of appearances of impropriety. That is a fact."


The scandalous story — scandalous in the sense that it was scandalously reported — ran more than 3,000 words from the front page of the Times. The newspaper confirmed the perception of bias and stoked more conservative ire by following with a 1,000-word report about reactions to the story, including McCain's denials — on page A20.


Compare the mainstream media's handling of this thinly sourced story to one that raged on the Internet last fall when the race for the Democratic nomination was still wide open. John Edwards was the target of that gossip campaign, which eventually made it into print on the pages of the National Enquirer.


The mainstream media responsibly rejected the tale, one constructed with anonymous sources and that seemed to derive its credibility from explicit denials of outrageous rumor. When it comes to the Republican front-runner, however, a different set of journalistic standards appears to be at work.


McCain, who in his life has dealt with more sinister adversaries than pundits and reporters, comes out of this sordid affair smelling like a conservative rose. Talk radio is abuzz, not about McCain's alleged apostasy, but rather about his media martyrdom.


He's even managed to turn it to his advantage with independent voters who will decide the election. A popular knock against McCain is his volatility and purported lack of temperament for the presidency. Yet there he was on national television, calmly rebuffing the assault on his character with nothing more brash than, "Obviously, I'm very disappointed in the article; it's not true."


The crafty way this negative news has improbably fortified the McCain campaign is too good to be true. It almost makes you wonder if that vast, right-wing conspiracy isn't at work on the pages of the New York Times. Almost.

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.

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JWR contributor Jonathan Gurwitz, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, is a co-founder and twice served as Director General of the Future Leaders of the Alliance program at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In 1986 he was placed on the Foreign Service Register of the U.S. State Department.

Jonathan Gurwitz Archives


© 2007, Jonathan Gurwitz

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