More Unbelievable Republican Lies. Can these guys ever tell the truth?

In 2012 Republicans continue to ratchet up the false attacks and false meme's regarding Jews leaving the Democratic Party. Yes, there has been some fall off but lately the Republicans have been simply telling some "whoppers" regarding the amount of fall-off of Jewish voters.

Recently on a Right Wing site, I came across some of this silliness in the form of Geraldo shilling the Republican message on FOX news. It took all of two seconds to find out just how easy it is to dispel this ridiculousness. Where does this come from? Well on May 3, 2010 the McLauglin group (A Right Wing affiliate, according to Media Matters,  had this gem:

The US Jews polled were asked whether they would: (a) vote to re-elect Obama, or (b) consider voting for someone else. 42% said they would vote for Obama and 46%, a plurality, preferred the second answer. 12% said they did not know or refused to answer. The McLaughlin poll held nearly 18 months later, in April 2010, appears to show that support down to around 4 out of 10.

And according to the Rightists this poll just shows that Jewish American voters are "Running for the Hills".

BUT... Not so fast.

Of course, however Media Matters (thank goodness for them) destroys this immediately:

Oh brother. "Would consider"? Could the McLaughlin poll have made it any easier for respondents to not pick option a), "vote to re-elect Obama." The wording practically begs people to pick b).

The problem, of course, is that on the one hand the poll asks people to pick a hard, definitive response. (i.e. would vote for Obama). And then offers up a mushy alternative (i.e. would "consider" voting for somebody.) Yeah, but don't most voters consider voting for somebody else?  Isn't that what elections are for, to consider the possibilities? 

Sure enough, one right-wing blogger claimed the McLaughlin poll proved that, "In little over one year in office Barack Obama has lost nearly half of his support among American Jews."  Conservatives assumed that every American Jew who said they would consider voting for somebody else meant they no longer supported Obama. And yes, it seems the poll was structured to create exactly that kind of confusion.

Whoops... So basically the question: "Would you consider voting for someone else" means you would not vote for President Obama? Really. Personally, I would consider voting for Russ Feingold, Alan Grayson, or Bernie Sanders over President Obama. Does that mean I would not vote for President Obama? OF COURSE NOT. What a ridiculous question to base anything on.

Of course, I was able to find this information easily enough. So that, of course leads us to our first question.
Why wasn't the question as it was presented discussed? Of course, because that would have messed with the meme that is being pushed and presented - the one that promotes: "Jewish Americans are fleeing the Democratic Party".

Secondly, why is this being parroted when it is obviously a gross distortion of fact? What does this say about the people that are pushing this meme? Does it speak to a certain desperation that the G.O.P. feels when it comes to Jewish voters? Perhaps. Jewish voters and African American voters truly support the President in far higher numbers than the National Average. However, by constantly trying to continue this meme the Republicans and their supporters hope to create an illusion that President Obama is somehow against Jewish People.

For me, as someone who deeply cares about America and about Jewish issues, I find this strategy both insulting as well as quite pathetic. Is this really what Republicans have to resort to, to sell their brand? (Rhetorical question as we all know that this is sadly typical of Republican tactics and that if for once one of them, or their supporters actually told the truth their heads might explode).

Now real support for the President in the Jewish Community is hard to gauge but between the Pew Polls and the AJC Polls one can get a picture of what is really happening:

Lets take a look at some real polls from 2006 - 2011 (and 2012 is coming most likely before the election).

AJC 2006 (Considered party affiliation)    
Democrat 54%
Republican 15%
Independent 29%
Not Sure 3%

AJC 2007

Democrat 58%
Republican 15%
Independent 26%
Not Sure 2%

AJC 2008

Democrat 56%
Republican 17%
Independent 25%
Not Sure 2%

AJC 2009   

Democrat 53%
Republican 16%
Independent 30%
Not Sure 1%

AJC 2010

Democrat 50%
Republican 15%
Independent 32%
Not Sure 2%

AJC 2011

Democrat 45%
Republican 16%
Independent 38%
Not Sure 2%

Now this data indeed shows that Jewish voters are slightly turning away from the President. In 2008, Jews voted for the President at 78%. This means that over 80% of the Independents broke for the President. IF we are generous and say that only 70% of the independents break for the President that means that 71% of Jewish American voters will vote for President Obama. So we would have a net loss of 7% of Jews voting Republican or Not voting for the President. HARDLY the doom and gloom predictions that the Republicans gleefully distort.

FURTHER, the Pew Polls of 2010 and 2011 show an interesting trend. In 2010 the Pew Poll showed that Jewish voters went 60% for the Democrats and 33% leaned Republican. HOWEVER, 2011 that number IMPROVED for the Democrats to 65% with 29% for the Republicans AND 6% undecided.

Reality has also interfered with the Republican narrative as well. In Florida, Jewish voters in 2008 were 4% of the total GOP Primary vote. In 2012.... they were 1%. In Nevada, Jewish voters were 2% of the vote in 2008 in the GOP Primary. In 2012.... they were 2% of the vote in the GOP Primary. So much for the G.O.P. Surge.

Of course this doesn't even count the fact that while Jewish voters don't self identify as closely with the Democratic Party (as of now - I think we need to see who the Republican nominee will be), they sure as hell don't identify with the Republican Party whose influence seems to have "skyrocketed" a whole 1% (and is actually down 1% from 2008).

Of course who can blame Jewish voters for NOT signing up with the Republicans or with Conservatives. After all, you have a party that:

1. Has White Supremacists speaking at the CPAC conference
2. Has their front running candidate as someone who supports Post Mortem conversions to Mormonism on Jewish Holocaust victims
3. Has another Candidate (who just won three primaries) that on his Hanukkah cards - sends Christian messages from the New Testament
4. Has another Candidate who thinks Israel shouldn't exist, wants to completely cut aid to it, and hangs out with Stormfronters
4. And their last mainstream candidate wants to send weaponry to Islamist Rebels in Syria.

It is amazing that any Jews vote this way, but hey, there is no accounting for Obama Derangement Sufferers.