Jewish support for Liberals hurt by lack of clear position

[Guest Warwick Green]

By the time the next Liberal leadership debate occurs the fighting will have stopped. It will be interesting to see how the candiadtes try to go after their traditional Jewish vote.

Liberal MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler conceded yesterday his party's lack of a single, clear position on the current conflict in Lebanon has hurt Liberal support among Jewish constituents in Montreal.

"It's fair to say that Harper's speaking up early and clearly has earned him respect, and there has been a supportive response to that (in the Jewish community). The Liberal Party's situation has not yet allowed for that," said the MP for Mount Royal. "We can't yet speak in a uniform, consistent way on issues until we have a leader."...

The two parties don't differ on responsibility for the current hostilities lying with Hezbollah's unprovoked attack against Israel and the importance of enforcing UN security council resolution 1559, which calls for the disbanding and disarming of the militia group, Cotler said. The difference is that the Harper government has been able to articulate those points in a clear and consistent way, he said.

The main criticism coming from the Jewish community is that the Liberals were not quick enough to condemn Hezbollah as the aggressor and that interim leader Bill Graham was wrong to urge Harper to take a more neutral position....

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news...39-6bacf93a23d4

[jdobbin]

By the time the next Liberal leadership debate occurs the fighting will have stopped. It will be interesting to see how the candiadtes try to go after their traditional Jewish vote.

It could prove to be a problem in some seats in Canada. However, the Liberals could also pick up support elsewhere in these ridings for their position while the Tories lose it.

A lot will depend on who the Liberals pick as their leader.

[Guest Warwick Green]

By the time the next Liberal leadership debate occurs the fighting will have stopped. It will be interesting to see how the candiadtes try to go after their traditional Jewish vote.

It could prove to be a problem in some seats in Canada. However, the Liberals could also pick up support elsewhere in these ridings for their position while the Tories lose it.

A lot will depend on who the Liberals pick as their leader.

Let's call it an election in the Spring of 2007. The UN "peace keeping" effort will be on-going in Southern Lebanon and provided Hezbollah isn't still shelling Israel the issue will be out of the public's mind. I don't then see it as an issue in the next election.

[Rue]

War you bring up a very very interesting phenomena. Yes for years Jews like most non Wasp communities and the Francophones voted Liberal and basically the Conservatives were a WASP party.

That changed though with Brian Mulroney who showed the Conservatives could get more Francophone votes then the Liberals and at the same time get support from out-west.

True today's Conservatives are still not strong in Quebec and Ontario and yes the Reform wing of the Conservative party did scare off ethnic votes including Jewish votes but I think what has happened dramatically is that Harper has uninentionally won over the Jewish vote for obvious reasons and yes it will hurt the LIberals in some ridings but not that many as the reality is Jews have candidates in Town of Mt. Royal in Montreal but are not a factor in any other riding because the numbers are just not there.

The Liberals are going to do what they do best talk out of both sides of their mouth. They know Quebec is by far anti-Israel and anti-American and so they will play that up in their favour. They will also court the Muslim and Arab vote for all its worth and the anti-American vote for all its worth.

What is interesting is that the so called LIberal front-runner Michael Ignatieff's foreign policy platform is identical to Harper's. Bob Rae is basically following the NDP model, suprise suprise, and Stephane Dion is looking like a complete idiot trying to sound neutral.

I think the current Liberal position on the Middle East is a blatant example of two-faced hippocracy. Many of its people support Harper but are afraid to say so for fear of alienating their French voters, Muslim voters, and anti-American voters.

As for me I will vote for Harper. He has denounced terrorism as boldly as possible but never once sucked up to me or Jewish people and never once made a speech saying he was taking sides. All he has ever said was that he is soundly against terrorism. That is true neutralism. That is a true leader.

As for the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois they are laughable bafoons.

[betsy]

I can't blame the Jewish community if they switched allegiance this time....in fact, I would find it strange if they don't, after watching Graham do a patronizing spiel on tv when he was bashing Harper for not calling an immediate ceasefire. "We can show Israel that we are their true friends by telling them to cease their attack on lebanon immediately." And then being careful to add that Israel have the right to defend itself.

Defend how?

It's scary enough to place one's security in the hands of people (such as the Liberal Party and NDP of Canada) who do not, and will not acknowledge Hezbollah as a terrorist group....what more, conveniently continue to ignore the fact that this group (along with other neighboring nations) want only one thing: to see you wiped off the earth.

It is so smug of them to talk of "peaceful" talks and existence.

They should reside in Israel for a couple of years and take on identities as a Jew...to know how it feels to be a Jew!

[jdobbin]

The Liberals are going to do what they do best talk out of both sides of their mouth. They know Quebec is by far anti-Israel and anti-American and so they will play that up in their favour. They will also court the Muslim and Arab vote for all its worth and the anti-American vote for all its worth.

I don't know that Quebec is anti-American. In some ways, the are more pro-American compared to other Canadians. Several polls seem to bear that out. It is an interesting contrast.

And while Robert Lantos, Heather Reisman and David Asper have left the party to go with the Conservative particularly on the Israel issue, they are still more socially liberal and might rub against some of the Conservative brass.