--- Doug Pensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Can you cite a reference on that? I know that there > is a liberal > contingent that is pro Palestinian (and a > conservative one that is > anti-Israel), but I think that Americans in general > are very supportive > of Israel. > > See: > > http://www.pollingreport.com/israel.htm > > > Doug
Unfortunately the one I want isn't up on the web anymore - or at least I can't find it. There was a Gallup poll on the subject that is referenced in: http://www.thejewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=1921 http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=6129 Also mentions the results from the poll. But: http://www.mclaughlinonline.com/newspoll/np2003/021803mideast.htm at least shows that Republicans are consistently more likely to favor Israel than Democrats, on every question in the poll, although it doesn't split it out by ideology. You can do it by opinion leaders as well. The National Review and the Weekly Standard are the two most important conservative magazines - both are massively pro-Israel, even though neither has any policy of enforcing an editorial line. It's just that the only conservative of any significance I can think of who is not strongly pro-Israel is Bob Novak. Maybe John McLaughlin too, I guess. Neither is exactly important. The most important liberal magazines are, well, The New Republic, which has moved to the center and is owned by Marty Peretz, so that's _extremely pro-Israel_, since Marty would fire anyone who disagreed with him (and has). But there's The Nation and Mother Jones - both violently anti-Israel, basically because it's fairly difficult to find a (non-Jewish) intellectual on the left who _isn't_ fairly pro-Palestinian. The New York Times editorial board consistently condemns Israel for defending itself. The Wall Street Journal Opinion page, by contrast, makes a better case for Israel than Israeli diplomats do. The strong sympathy of the right for Israel (and antipathy of the left) is one of those bizarre things in American politics where ideology is more important than self-interest (campaign finance reform was another). Jews _never_ vote Republican - but Republicans back Israel. Even Richard Nixon, violently anti-semitic though he was, strongly supported Israel, and Israel has never had a more supportive President than George W. Bush. The Democrats, on the other hand, despite receiving the Jewish vote, consistently put pressure on Israel to moderate its defense against the Palestinians. I think it has something to do with power. The left seems to feel, at some gut level, that anyone with power is always in the wrong. Israel has more power than the Palestinians, so they oppose Israel. The right is (too) comfortable with power, so the fact that Israel is a democracy becomes more important. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
