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February 10, 2012
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The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
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Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
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Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
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January 30, 2012
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Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
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January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
May 13, 2008
/ 8 Iyar 5768
The pot holes on the high road
By
Wesley Pruden
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Taking the high road is the high-minded approach to campaigning, but the high road can lead to disappointing places. That's why successful pols usually look for alternate routes, just in case.
Successful candidates are careful to create the illusion of traveling the high road. Richard Nixon campaigned as the man who would "bring us together." Jimmy Carter would "never tell a lie." Bill Clinton only pretended to search for the high road, taking frequent detours to look for the red-light district.
Here we go again. Barack Obama, fortified with 92 percent of the black vote, talks about transcending race to impose "unity" and "change." (He took the precaution yesterday in West Virginia of showing up with a new flag pin, bigger than the one he wouldn't wear last week.) Cindy McCain, who heard it from her pillow, says her husband had rather lose than emphasize the considerable Obama "negatives." All this is happy talk for April and May. Mr. Obama must contend with a color problem that won't go away: Voters aren't concerned that he's too black to be president, but that he's too green. Such "experience" as he has is experience only in "activism" in shady precincts far out in left field.
Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who has endorsed Mr. Obama, is typical of Democrats with such concern. "I am sure there are people in Missouri who won't vote for Barack Obama because he's black," she says, "but there are not that many of them. I don't think that's going to be a deal breaker. The key is going to be whether Barack Obama can avoid getting on defense on social 'wedge' issues and can stay on the offense on economic issues."
Some public-opinion polls suggest that John McCain, who just the other day completed a tour to convince conservatives that he really and truly is one of them, is regarded by many swing voters as a "centrist," far closer to the mainstream than Mr. Obama. Not only that, he's perceived as tough enough and then some to defend the nation's security, and Mr. Obama isn't. The likes of Iran are not likely to intimidate a man who showed his grit hanging by his arms on the wall of a prison cell in Hanoi. The prospect of dealing with the likes of Iran already intimidates Mr. Obama, who says he'll offer supplications to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with or without his demonstration of good faith.
More trouble. Andrew Kohut, the director of the Pew Research Center, says his polls find that Mr. Obama's first problem is that he's perceived as a liberal. Indeed, he has the most liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate. "He is perceived by many voters as not well-grounded on foreign policy and not tough enough and he has a potential problem, distinct from race, of being an elitist, an intellectual." Just the sort of candidate you might expect to pander to wealthy San Francisco Democrats by mocking the faith and values of small-town America.
Barack Obama naturally wants to keep the fight on the high road, the avenue of the familiar. There are few mosques on the high road, and try as he might Mr. Obama, who professes a born-again Christian faith discovered under the unlikely tutelage of a bigoted preacher, has, unfair as it is, yet to persuade small-town America that he's "one of us." Worse, his conversion is a crime in the eyes of traditional Muslims.
"As the son of a Muslim father," writes Edward N. Luttwak in the New York Times, "Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as [he] has written, his father said he renounced his religion." His conversion in Muslim law is a crime worse than murder, and in radical Muslim quarters the punishment is beheading (though certain Muslim moderates say stoning and hanging would suffice). The Secret Service, charged with the senator's safety, has taken due note.
John McCain need not point out these pot holes on the high road; others are ready and eager to do it whether he approves or not. Barack Obama's own wise men are aware of the pot holes, too and are looking for alternate routes around them.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
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