by David Korn Posted:01/13/10
Jennifer Rubin, a contributing editor for Commentary, sort of argues that in a piece for the magazine. The article, titled "Why Jews Hate Palin," has set off a spat in literary circles, with Jonathan Chait, a writer for The New Republic, penning an acerbic response headlined "Jews Who Hate The Jews Who Hate Palin."
Rubin starts her piece with a clichéd observation: Palin is a "national Rorschach test." Conservative admirers see her as the embodiment of good ol' American common sense and common-folk independence.
Liberal (and, yes, conservative) detractors consider her a ninny: "uncouth, unschooled, a hick, anti-science and anti-intellectual, an upstart, and a religious fanatic."
And American Jews, Rubin asserts, really, really dislike her. She notes that author Naomi Wolf, a lefty Jew, dubbed Palin the "FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal," and former Reagan arms-control official Kenneth Adelman, a right-wing Jew, huffed, "Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office, I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency."
At this point, a reasonable person might note that if prominent conservatives and liberals have concluded that Palin was lacking in intellectual firepower, the serious issue is whether Palin had (or has) the brains to perform well as a vice president or -- gasp! -- a president.
On Tuesday night on "Hardball," host Chris Matthews, referring to reporting in the new 2008 campaign book "Game Change," exclaimed, "How is it possible that Sarah Palin had to be tutored about World War I, World War II, even about why there are two Koreas? Is it possible that her head was really that empty?"
But Rubin dodges the big question -- is Palin dim? -- and instead asks, "What is it about Palin that so grates on American Jews?"
Rubin skates past the obvious: Palin's apparent lack of intelligence, her conservative positions, and her ties to socially intolerant Christian fundamentalism.
Instead, she first slams -- drum roll, please -- the media for depicting Palin in a fashion that played particularly poorly with Jews. The media said Palin had supported Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign; she hadn't.
The media said she was unabashedly anti-abortion; well, that was true. The media said she was a Religious Right fanatic; uh, that's an eye-of-the-beholder thing.
Rubin does concede that Palin's "status as an unabashed conservative and as exemplar of the Religious Right would have been sufficient to alienate the majority of American Jews." But, she quickly adds, "Something else bothers them more. That something is Palin herself."
Jennifer Rubin, a contributing editor for Commentary, sort of argues that in a piece for the magazine. The article, titled "Why Jews Hate Palin," has set off a spat in literary circles, with Jonathan Chait, a writer for The New Republic, penning an acerbic response headlined "Jews Who Hate The Jews Who Hate Palin."
Rubin starts her piece with a clichéd observation: Palin is a "national Rorschach test." Conservative admirers see her as the embodiment of good ol' American common sense and common-folk independence.
Liberal (and, yes, conservative) detractors consider her a ninny: "uncouth, unschooled, a hick, anti-science and anti-intellectual, an upstart, and a religious fanatic."
And American Jews, Rubin asserts, really, really dislike her. She notes that author Naomi Wolf, a lefty Jew, dubbed Palin the "FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal," and former Reagan arms-control official Kenneth Adelman, a right-wing Jew, huffed, "Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office, I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency."
At this point, a reasonable person might note that if prominent conservatives and liberals have concluded that Palin was lacking in intellectual firepower, the serious issue is whether Palin had (or has) the brains to perform well as a vice president or -- gasp! -- a president.
On Tuesday night on "Hardball," host Chris Matthews, referring to reporting in the new 2008 campaign book "Game Change," exclaimed, "How is it possible that Sarah Palin had to be tutored about World War I, World War II, even about why there are two Koreas? Is it possible that her head was really that empty?"
But Rubin dodges the big question -- is Palin dim? -- and instead asks, "What is it about Palin that so grates on American Jews?"
Rubin skates past the obvious: Palin's apparent lack of intelligence, her conservative positions, and her ties to socially intolerant Christian fundamentalism.
Instead, she first slams -- drum roll, please -- the media for depicting Palin in a fashion that played particularly poorly with Jews. The media said Palin had supported Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign; she hadn't.
The media said she was unabashedly anti-abortion; well, that was true. The media said she was a Religious Right fanatic; uh, that's an eye-of-the-beholder thing.
Rubin does concede that Palin's "status as an unabashed conservative and as exemplar of the Religious Right would have been sufficient to alienate the majority of American Jews." But, she quickly adds, "Something else bothers them more. That something is Palin herself."
