From the NYTimes

Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell endorsed the presidential bid of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, during an interview Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

The former Army general, who served as Secretary of State during President George W. Bush’s first term said a number of factors contributed to his decision to support Mr. Obama over Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee.

“I think that Senator Obama brings a fresh set of eyes, fresh set of ideas to the table,” Mr. Powell said, speaking outside NBC’s Washington studio. “I think that Senator McCain, as gifted as he is, is essentially going to execute the Republican agenda, the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and a maverick approach to it, and he’d be quite good at it, but i think we need more than that.”

Mr. Powell also said following the interview that the negativity of the McCain campaign was “over the top” and troubled him.  

Conservative newspapers have also gone towards Obama.

According to Editor & Publisher, Obama now has a 3 to 1 lead over McCain in newspaper endorsements — 51 newspapers with a total 6,299,363 daily circulation. At least seven of those papers endorsed President Bush in 2004.

In his recent article, he also criticizes the Republican party for lacking ideas and vision.

Republicans have alienated the highly educated regions — Silicon Valley, northern Virginia, the suburbs outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham. The West Coast and the Northeast are mostly gone.

The Republicans have alienated whole professions. Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it’s 2-to-1. With tech executives, it’s 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it’s 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community.

Will David Brooks abandon the Republican party and actually vote with a conscience?

By time, roughly:

In a heated rally, Palin says Obama puts “ambition above country”
http://thepage.time.com/2008/10/10/palin-to-donors-obama-putting-ambi…

McCain takes flack from conservatives over new housing plan, shifting
lender’s debt to taxpayers:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/10/mccain-faces-conserva…

They broaden their Ayers offensive to include Michelle Obama:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_campai…
http://thepage.time.com/2008/10/10/spouse-in-play/
(“”I would emphasize that we’ve all been focusing on Senator Obama. I
think we need to speak to his wife.”)

They accuse Obama of going negative(!):
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/223476.php

Rick Davis says campaign not talking about the economy becuse “I don’t
know if you really want to turn a campaign into a CNBC news show on
the stock market”
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/10/1528893.aspx

Rick Davis, in reference to initial bailout vote, says we have Mcain
to thank for “coming to town and actually blowing that package up” -
despite fact that McCain claimed to be suspending his campaign to get
the bill passed, then blamed Obama and the Democrats when it failed.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Davis_McCain_blew_up_bail…

Christopher Buckley endorses Obama:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-10/the-conserv…

McCain has to fight against boos to try and restore civility to his
rallies:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/223513.php
(“I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not
have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.”)

Palin found to have abused her power in trooper firing:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/10/palin-abused-power-but-didnt-break-law-in-trooper-case/

• There has to be “an end” to the Israeli “occupation” of the West Bank “that began in 1967.”
• The establishment of the state of Palestine is long overdue. The Palestinian people deserve it.
• Not only must Israel be secure, but that any peace agreement “must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people.”

Rumors have it that Obama has said these things.

But it was actually George Bush, long hailed as a president who was “pro-Israel.”

So, we must ask, if Jews want a president who is “pro-Israel,” what does this really mean?

Thomas Friedman’s Op-Ed Article in NYTimes, Obama and the Jews, asks this very question:

What really makes a pro-Israel president?

Personally, as an American Jew, I don’t vote for president on the basis of who will be the strongest supporter of Israel. I vote for who will make America strongest. It’s not only because this is my country, first and always, but because the single greatest source of support and protection for Israel is an America that is financially and militarily strong, and globally respected. Nothing would imperil Israel more than an enfeebled, isolated America.

He adds :

But if Israel is your voting priority, then at least ask the right questions about Mr. Obama. Knock off the churlish whispering campaign about what’s in his heart on Israel (what was in Richard Nixon’s heart?) and focus first on what kind of America you think he’d build and second on whether you believe that as president he’d have the smarts, steel and cunning to seize a historic opportunity if it arises.

Opportunities offer presidents the chance to be heroes and solidify their legacy. Let us hope our next president can succeed where our current one has so miserably failed…

Declare your solidarity against the Jews against Obama.

Jennifer Krause, rabbi and author of The Answer: Making Sense of Life, One Question at a Time, took a moment to reflect on Apollo Braun’s shirts, which represent the Jews Against Obama. His shirts are…

“reminiscent of the posters one sees in exhibits devoted to the worst kinds of intolerance that have lumped “Jews,” “blacks,” and “gays” into monolithic groups distinguishable to others only by their religion, skin color, or sexual orientation.

 

If there is one thing inherited Jewish wisdom demonstrates, whether it be in pages of passionate talmudic discourse or in current public debates on a multiplicity of issues, it is that there is no group-think among Jewish people. Jewish people come from different cultures, different lands, different schools of intellectual thought, and different socio-economic backgrounds.”

We will not stand for these reductive black + white arguments. So we have printed our own black + white t-shirts. Check out the tees here

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