DNC: And Did We Mention That Eric Cantor Is Jewish?

The bottom of the website reads: "Paid for by the Democratic National Committee"--so maybe they can explain a word that appears 5 times. Why should it have been mentioned at all.

And by the way, since when is roast beef on challah, 'a deli special that exudes Jewish power'?

Eric Cantor
Same Old Republican...

Just Like All the Rest, Cantor Votes with Bush
Cantor Voted With Republicans 92.5% Of The Time In 110th Congress. According to the Washington Post Voting database, Rep. Eric Cantor has voted with the majority of his Republican colleagues 92.5% of the time during the current Congress. [Washington Post Voting Database, 8/3/2008]

Just Like Bush, Cantor Fundraised with Abramoff
Abramoff Held Undisclosed Fundraiser for Cantor at Stacks. In January 2003, Abramoff held a fundraiser for Cantor at Stacks. Abramoff said that Cantor would be "the party's most visible liaison to Jewish groups and in my view will be an important liaison to conservatives and religious Christians." At the $500 per plate dinner, Abramoff announced that he would name a sandwich at Stacks after Cantor. However, by June 2003, Cantor had failed to pay Stacks for the cost of the event or disclose any debt owed. Cantor's campaign consultant said that though Cantor was required to disclose any debt owed within 60 days, Cantor was late because he had not yet received an invoice from Stacks. Cantor's consultant said that the invoice had just arrived and that the debt of $1,732.52 was immediately paid. [Forward, 1/31/03; National Journal’s House Race Hotline, 6/20/03]

Cantor Was Actually Around a Lot of Suspicious Abramoff Events
Cantor Co-Hosted Improper Signatures Fundraiser With Abramoff. Jack Abramoff and House Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor co-hosted a fundraiser for then Rep. David Vitter at Abramoff's Signatures restaurant. In April 2005, Vitter admitted to the Federal Elections Commission that he failed to pay for the expenses for the fundraiser. According to the Times Picayune, Rep. Eric Cantor was "the marquee guest" at the event which sought to raise money from the Jewish community. Both Abramoff and Cantor are Jewish. [New Orleans Times Picayune, 4/16/05, NRCC Events List, www.nrcc.org]

All that Corruption Sure Works Up an Appetite
At Fundraiser, Jack Abramoff Named Sandwich After Eric Cantor -- Cantor Asked To Switch Sandwiches. "At a January 2003 fundraiser for Cantor, who had just become chief deputy whip, Abramoff unveiled the Eric Cantor sandwich, 'a tuna-based stacker,' which, lamentably, was 'not quite [the] power lunch befitting' the only Jewish Republican in the House. Hence a request by Cantor ... to switch his eponymous sandwich to roast beef on challah, 'a deli special that exudes Jewish power.'" [The Hill, 1/18/2006]

At Least One Person Likes Cantor for VP
Cantor Posted Articles On His Own Campaign Blog Suggesting a McCain/Cantor Ticket. Cantor posted the following: "RTD Op/Ed: McCain -- Cantor? That's the Winning Ticket -- In case you missed it, Bob Rayner had some nice things to say about Eric Cantor today. 'As a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Cantor brings the clout and experience on economic and tax issues that many believe McCain lacks. He was a businessman before being elected to the House in 2000 and has been an eloquent spokesman for pro-growth policies ever since.' This Just In: Stuart Roy at The Hill's Pundits Blog agrees." [Eric Cantor for Congress blog post, 4/23/08]

Cantor's Relationship with Abramoff Extends to Abramoff Client
Cantor Co-Signed a Letter That Would Protect Abramoff Tribal Client. In 2003, Rep. Cantor co-signed a letter to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Majority Whip Roy Blunt opposing a plan by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians to open a casino at a non-reservation site, expected at the time to be outside Shreveport, La., not far from a casino owned by the Coushattas. The letter endorsed a view of gambling law benefiting the Coushattas' desire to block gambling competition by another tribe. The Coushattas were an Abramoff client, and Abramoff lobbied to get the letter organized, signed, and sent to Secretary Norton. According to a report in the Washington Post, the intent of the letter was to protect the income from the Coushattas' casino -- about $300 million a year. [Washington Post, 9/28/04; Chicago Tribune, 1/5/06]

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

Technorati Tag: Democrats.

Michael Totten Is In Georgia

Michael Totten is reporting from Georgia, with a perspective that is both humanizing and even-handed:

Senator John McCain may have overstated things a bit when, shortly after the war started, he said, “We are all Georgians now.” But apparently even rank-and-file Russian soldiers view the Georgians and Americans as allies. Likewise, these simple Georgian country women seem to understand who their friends and enemies are. “I am very thankful to the West,” Maya said as her eyes welled up with tears. “They support us so much. We thought we were alone. I am so thankful for the support we have from the United States and from the West. The support is very important for us.” She tried hard to maintain her dignity and not cry in front of me, a foreign reporter in fresh clothes and carrying an expensive camera. “The West saved the capital. They were moving to Tbilisi. There was one night that was very dangerous. The Russian tanks were very close to the capital. I don’t know what happened, but they moved the tanks back.” And my translator, whose husband works for Georgia’s ministry of foreign affairs, made a similar guess that the West helped save the capital. “The night they came close to Tbilisi,” she said, “Bush and McCain made their strongest speeches yet. The Russians seemed to back down. Bush and McCain have been very good for us.”

QanO notes:

Interesting - Bush and McCain. No mention of Obama. Perhaps that crate of bumper stickers his campaign shipped in didn't make the impression they hoped it would.

Totten concludes:

Russia doesn’t want to annex Gori permanently, in all likelihood. But it does want, as it always has, a buffer zone between itself and its enemies. It was George F. Kennan, America’s ambassador to the Soviet Union, who said, “Russia can have at its borders only enemies or vassals.” Now, Georgia has been all but dismembered. The opening phase of this crisis may soon come to a close, but it is shaping up to be merely the first chapter in a potentially long and dangerous era. “We will never forget this,” Lia said. “Never. Ever.”

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tag: Russia and Georgia.

From The NBN JBlogging Conference: Marketing Israel

For me the most interesting speaker at the Nefesh B'Nefesh First International Jewish Bloggers Conference was Zavi Apfelbaum. She is Director of Brand Management, Foreign Ministry and spoke on: Branding Israel - From Vision to Reality.

She spoke on the idea of Nation Branding or Country Positioning, which is the new approach that Israel is taking in presenting herself to the world. This represents a departure from the traditional Hasbarah approach, which assumes that Israel's image problem is due to a lack of knowledge--that our goal is political support. (As a side note, this is also a departure from the approach that Israel needs half-naked Israeli women models appearing in Maxim.)

To illustrate how the world sees Israel today, Apfelbaum showed a short clip of a focus group study. Small groups of Americans sitting around a table were asked to imagine stopping by various homes, each one inhabited by a family of a different country, and described what they imagined they would see and experience. In each case, the participants decribed a pleasurable experience--all, except in the case of Israel.

When describing walking to and entering an Israeli home, participants described a home dominated by cement without a grass lawn. As opposed to all the other homes, in this one the man of the house answers the door--the woman of the home is not even seen. One participant said that it would be uncomfortable to enter, because the home would be 'Orthodox' and the people living there would probably not even want guests. In essence, many of the participants identified Israel with Saudi Arabia. It reminds me of when I was at Disney World--in the "It's A Small World" exhibit, Israel was represented by a chassid.

The key point is that here were intelligent Americans, Americans who tend to support Israel--yet they had no clue as to what Israel and Israelis are like. The fact that Americans support Israel is not because they actually understand or identify with her.

Pressed for time, she finished off with an outline of 3 basic Israeli qualities, about which there is going to be testing to see which resonates most with people: Passion, Ingenuity, and Fusion. She discussed the creation of a 'book' that would outline the key quality and its implemention and implied that bloggers would be helpful, each in their own way, by touching on the key quality in their blogs.

The marketing approach would be done on the community level as well, according to an article about a meeting with Jewish community leaders in Toronto:

A two-day “brainstorming” meeting was held last week in Toronto to discuss ways of implementing the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s “Brand Israel” program, which will focus on a “more creative, eclectic and yet more accurate picture of Israel,” said Ido Aharoni, founder of the ministry’s Brand Israel concept.

Toronto is one of eight markets, including Tokyo and London, selected for the pilot program, he said.

Aharoni was in Toronto last week for the meetings with representatives of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada-Israel Committee, Hillel and Hadassah-WIZO, as well as marketing and public relations specialists with ties to the Jewish community.

Aharoni said the ministry has conducted market research over the past few years that showed “Israel is viewed solely through the narrow prism of the Arab-Israeli conflict… Israel’s personality is 90 per cent dominated by conflict-related images and some religious connotations,” he said. “Those of us who know the brand intimately are disturbed by the divergence of brand and the perception.”

...aspects of Israel are worthy of promotion, including its culture and arts; its accomplishments on environmental matters such as water desalination, solar energy and clean technology; its high-tech successes and achievements in higher education; and its involvement in international aid, he added.

Getting Canadians – both Jewish and non-Jewish – to see Israel in that light is part of the branding effort. Not only would that change Israel’s image, it could lead to more tourism and investment, educational exchanges and other benefits, Aharoni said.

...Aharoni said the pilot program will likely be launched in the next year or so. He said the branding process is a long-term strategy – it could take decades to change Israel’s “persona” – and will include several aspects. It could involve sponsoring a film festival, supporting cultural and sport exchanges, or junkets to Israel for Canadian opinion-makers. Once a brand is built, it becomes entrenched in the public’s mind.

It's going to be a lot of work.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Israel.

You Can STILL View The JBlogger Conference

Mystical Paths is liveblogging the conference.
Check out Soccer Dad for a summary of Jblogger reactions

BTW, if you hear audio but see no video--try clicking the full-screen button (3rd from the left) and click ESC on the keyboard when you are done to return to normal screen.

Technorati Tag: Israel.

Live Webcast of the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention

o Note: The video of the conference is be replayed continuously--check it out here.
Unfortunately, there is no fast-forward.

o Also See: From The NBN JBlogging Conference: Marketing Israel--which I thought was an important part of the conference.

Yasher Koach to Nefesh B'Nefesh for sponsoring this.
I am participating from the comfort of my home.
I am not going to liveblog it, but here is an idea of what it is like:

Here is the view from my desktop

The conference begins!

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Technorati Tag: JBlogosphere.

Cyber-Lessons For Israel From The Russia-Georgia Conflict

One of the key elements in the Russia-Georgia conflict has been the way the battle has played out on the Internet as each side tries to control the narrative and gain support for their side.

On the issue of cyber warfare and the threat it poses to Israel, MediaBackspin editor Pesach Benson interviewed Gadi Evron. Evron used to run security for the Israeli government ISP and was formerly founder and manager of the government's computer emergency response team (CERT). Last year, he assisted Estonia's CERT when Russian hackers attacked numerous Estonian sites. Evron also blogs on internet security issues at Circle ID.

One key point:

What can Israel learn from Georgia's efforts to get its P.R. message out to the world in the face of all the hackings?

Georgia and Russia fought a media war, and they are experts. The whole media warfare has been extreme. If you go back and forth between American and Russian news sites, you can't tell who is telling the truth. There's possible evidence that Georgia lied about some of what happened to keep the media on its side.

One thing we can learn from Georgia and Russia is their ability to explain their situation and launch extensive PR campaigns. That's what we lack and we've been clearly shown how the masters do it.

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tag: Israel.

Is Russia Looking For An Excuse To Annex Alaska?

Hey, it worked in South Ossetia!

Ms. Rice could not say what NATO would eventually decide to do to make its position clear but said the alliance would speak with one voice "to clearly indicate that we are not accepting a new line."

At the same time, she said that by flexing its military muscle in Georgia as well as elsewhere, including the resumption of Cold War-era strategic bomber patrols off the coast of Alaska, Russia was engaged in high-stakes brinksmanship that could backfire.

Surely the historic ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and Native Alaskans give Russia at least as much right to Alaska as to South Ossetia.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad

[Hat tip: The Corner]

Technorati Tag: Russia and Alaska.

New Site To Move 2012 From Russia

Check out RevokeTheGames.com:

Russia's attack on Georgia in 2008 must have consequences. Sign the petition below and demand that the 2014 Winter Olympics be moved from Sochi, Russia to a new site.

The site features a petition, of course, and a wide assortment of news and opinion pieces about the invasion and about the effort to move the games.

Take a look.

[Hat tip: The Corner]

Technorati Tag: Russia and Sochi and Olympics.

Israel Fails To Placate Russia

And despite cutting back on its support of Georgia, Israel does not placate Russia after all:

But, by late 2007, Israeli analysts saw war and the horizon for Russia and Georgia, Ha'Aretz observes. "The defense and foreign ministries started ordering military exports to Georgia be cut last year, thwarting a major deal for Israeli-made Merkava tanks... Senior Israeli generals apparently felt a showdown was imminent, and preferred not to get directly involved."

Especially because Jerusalem "views cooperation from Moscow — which has been supplying Iran with arms and help in its nuclear efforts — as crucial to halting Iran’s drive" for atomic weaponry, the Jewish Week adds.

During the first few days of the war, the Russians seemed placated. “We are appreciative of Israel’s position of not selling offensive weapons to a conflict area,” Russian diplomat Anatoly Yurkov said. Today, the rhetoric changed.

Read the whole thing.

With that change in rhetoric, hopes for Russian help in curbing Iran's nuclear program are dashed.

[Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines]

Technorati Tag: Israel.

Russian Never Said They'd Do A Withdrawal--Just 'Pullback'

Besides manipulating the media, don't forget that Russia knows how to manipulate Western leaders too:

Russia 'Starts Georgia Pull-Out'

Russia says it has started to pull troops out of Georgia despite reports that they are moving deeper into Georgian territory.

The deputy head of Russia's general staff, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said: "Today, in line with the plan, the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers has begun."

But he added that there had been a misunderstanding about President Dmitry Medvedev's promise to pull forces out of Georgia.

"There is a distinction between the understandings of a 'pullback' and a 'withdrawal'... In the conversation with French President Sarkozy, the discussion was about a pullback of forces, not a withdrawal," he said.

Russian forces will pull back to the borders of South Ossetia, the separatist region of Georgia at the centre of the conflict, General Nogovitsyn said.

He would not say how many Russian troops will remain in Georgia.

This is Sarkozy's handiwork? Another Jimmy Carter in the making??

[Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines]

Technorati Tag: Russia and Georgia.