Sarah Palin on Issues Important to the Jewish Community
Friends,
With only seven weeks before the ballots are cast, the race for the White House has entered its home stretch. Both Senator Obama and Senator McCain have made the most important decision of the election season by selecting their vice-presidential running mates.
In selecting Senator Joe Biden, Barack Obama has chosen to partner with a 35-year friend and ally of Israel, a champion of women and working families who will help bring the change we need in Washington. Both of Democratic nominees have longstanding relationships with the American Jewish community and warm ties with the Jewish communities in their home states of Illinois and Delaware. Barack Obama and Joe Biden share a commitment to Israel’s security and restoring America’s role as a global leader, stronger and better positioned to confront the common danger posed by Iran.
The choice of a running mate demonstrates a lot about one’s judgment. When Senator McCain announced that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would be joining him on the Republican ticket, many in our community were left scratching our heads. For Senator McCain to elevate someone with zero foreign policy experience and no record on Israel to the Vice Presidency is disconcerting at best to those of us who care deeply about the strong U.S.-Israel relationship and America’s standing in the world.
While we in the Jewish community need to speak out against false attacks on any candidate, we should also ensure that policies of the candidates, such as those of Sarah Palin that are completely at odds with the values of the Jewish community, are brought to light and known by informed voters. Several facts about Palin’s policies should be brought to the attention of others in our community who are concerned about important issues at stake, such as reproductive freedom, the close ties between the United States and Israel, the separation of church and state, and climate change.
Attached and below is our new fact sheet on Sarah Palin’s positions on issues important to our community. We hope you will share this will your friends and family who are concerned with the direction the Bush Administration has taken this country and want to see our values – values Barack Obama and Joe Biden exemplify – back in the White House.
Thank you,
Eric Lynn
Middle East Policy Advisor & Jewish Community Liaison
Obama for America
Dan Shapiro
Senior Policy Advisor & Jewish Outreach Coordinator
Sarah Palin on Issues Important to the Jewish Community
Palin Has a Paper-Thin Record on Israel:
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Governor Palin has never visited Israel and has no history of fighting for issues critical to Israelis, Jewish Americans, and the pro-Israel community. She has zero foreign policy experience and has never made any public statements on her views about Israel or the threats posed by Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. “She’s totally out of step with the American Jewish community…” [Politico, 9/2/08]
Palin Opposes Reproductive Choice, Even in Extreme Circumstances:
- According to the Anchorage Daily News, Governor Palin opposes reproductive choice even in the extreme cases of rape and incest. When asked if she would force her teenage daughter, had she been raped, to bear her rapist’s child, Palin replied: “I would choose life.” [Anchorage Daily News, 11/8/06]
- When term limits forced Palin from office as Mayor of Wasilla in 2002, her mother-in-law, Faye Palin, ran to succeed her. Palin endorsed her mother-in-law’s opponent due to Faye’s support for reproductive rights. Faye lost the race. [TIME, 9/2/08]
Palin Curtails Freedom of Speech:
- After her election as Wasilla mayor, Palin initiated discussions about banning books from the public library that she deemed controversial. One City Council member said: “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her.” When the city librarian refused to participate in this effort, she was fired. Though Palin backed down, and the librarian was rehired, she eventually quit the job and moved away from Wasilla. [The New York Times, 9/2/08]
Palin Would Promote Teaching Creationism in Public Schools:
- When Governor Palin was asked if Creationism should be taught alongside the science of evolution in public schools, she replied: “Teach both.” [Anchorage Daily News, 10/27/2006]
Palin Opposes Potentially Lifesaving Stem Cell Research:
- Governor Palin opposes potentially lifesaving stem cell research, which could herald breakthroughs to the treatment of cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, Tay-Sachs, and other serious illnesses. When asked if she could back federal or state funding for this research, Palin answered “No.” [2006 Alaska Gubernatorial Debate, 11/2/06]
Palin Favors Abstinence-Only Sex Education:
- A 2006 questionnaire asked Governor Palin if she supports funding for abstinence-only education, and not for comprehensive sex-education and the distribution of contraceptives. She said: “Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.” [MSNBC, 9/1/08]
Palin Believes Climate Change is Not Caused by Human Activity:
- When asked in an interview how climate change is affecting our country, Palin replied: “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made.” [San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/10/08]
Palin Mixes Religion and Politics:
- When she ran for mayor in Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996, Palin ran on a platform that attacked the incumbent mayor, John Stein, on abortion, gun-rights, and religion. Her campaign claimed she would be the town’s “first Christian mayor.” Stein, who lost the race, reflected: “I thought: ‘…what’s happening here? Does that mean she thinks I’m Jewish or Islamic?’” [The New York Times, 9/2/08]
Judgment matters.
When Barack Obama selected Joe Biden to be his running mate, he chose a leader with a
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