Forman on the Birthers

Martine Kaplan — August 3, 2009 – 4:54 pm | Obama | Republicans | Stop the Smears Comments (0) Add a comment

Ira N. Forman, NJDC CEO, posted the following response to the question “are ‘birthers’ dangerous?“on the Politico Arena today:

I can’t claim to know whether “birthers” represent a threat to the Republic. However, it does seem that the deference GOP elected officials pay to the birthers does have political implications— at least within the American Jewish community. 

One of the main obstacles to the growth of the tiny Jewish Republican constituency has been the GOP’s ideological fealty to such positions as opposition to stem cell research, teaching creationism in schools and the resistance to removing Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube. These policy positions are viewed by many in our community as equivalent to belonging to the “flat earth society.” The failure of the GOP leadership to confront the stark irrationality of a significant portion of its voting base is further damaging the GOP brand in the Jewish community.

To the extent that a large proportion of Jewish public opinion looks like public opinion of other highly educated white voters, the birther issue has even greater negative implications for GOP efforts to rebuild their electoral coalition.

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