Correspondence
Correspondence PEW POLL PERFIDY I was interested in a recent critique of our October 1999 survey that appeared in The Scrapbook ("'Encouraging' News for Al Gore?" Nov. 15). I wish to make two...
...In the Scrapbook item, you say it was anti-Semitic for Buchanan to remark that William Safire "has always put Israel a little bit ahead of his own country," noting that a traditional anti-Semitic slander has been to accuse Jews of "dual loyalty...
...specifically, we found an 8 percentage point drop in the gap between Gore and George w. Bush from september (when Gore trailed 39 percent to 54 percent) to October (when he trailed 44-51 percent...
...So please do everyone a favor, and save your accusations of anti-Semitism for actual statements that warrant them, and help maintain the term's true meaning...
...second, while questions were raised about our findings of increased support for Gore, several other national surveys taken at that time also showed growth in support for the vice president...
...MAURICE BAER Birmingham, AL I AM A JEWISH CONSERVATIVE who does not support Pat Buchanan, but it appears that your attacks on him are entirely personal and gratuitous, and therefore demeaning—to you...
...The irony here is that Buchanan, who styles himself as a 100 percent American, should ally himself with Lenora Fulani, an anti-Semite who isn't quite sure America is her home, and who is a supporter of Louis Farrakhan, the world-class bigot who rails against bigotry...
...Over similar time periods, the following polls found comparable results: ¶ The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found a 7-point drop in the gap between Gore and Bush (35-52 percent in september vs...
...If we readers thought you were joking, it would be funny...
...I did not always agree with him, but he was interesting and candid...
...By implying that Safire, and Jews as a group, have a higher allegiance to Israel, he is expressing opinion, not fact...
...41-50 percent in early November ). SCOTT F. NOLDE Pew Research Center Washington, DC IN SEARCH OF ANTI-SEMITISM IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE that Pat Buchanan considers himself a true American and questions the American loyalty of his former colleague william Safire ("Buchanan and His Bedfellows," Nov...
...This puts the interwar GOP administrations in the camp of Woodrow Wilson rather than Teddy Roosevelt...
...I wish to make two points in response to the analysis of our results...
...He errs, however, in assigning these competing worldviews to the parties...
...Don't the majority of Irish Americans favor Ireland over England in their struggle against what they deem oppression...
...where does Buchanan stand on that issue...
...For five years my wife and I have bemoaned the increasing number of our fellow Americans seen dining both here and abroad "with chapeau," almost exclusively of the baseball variety...
...Much of the GOP rationale for its disarmament policies was fiscal conservatism...
...39-49 percent in October...
...However, now that he has allied himself with professional haters, I don't know if he is doing this because of deep convictions, or to get support in his run for president...
...Doing so cheapens the term and its meaning, just as Democrats cheapen the word "racist" because they use it all the time...
...It is generally agreed, however, that party affiliation is a much more fluid measure, one that fluctuates over time with changes in public opinion...
...But seeing things differently does not necessarily mean anti-Semitism...
...First, the argument that Democrats were overrepresented in our sample, which thus inflated support for Gore, is based on the assumption that party affiliation represents a fixed characteristic of the electorate, much like demographics such as age, sex, or education...
...Do you really think he's a small step down from Louis Farrakhan, as you said in the Nov...
...8 Scrapbook...
...Republican administrations in the 1920s were active in world affairs, but those actions included arms control agreements that gave an expansionist Japan regional dominance, and the farcical Kellogg-Briand Pact "outlawing" war...
...The Washington and London Naval Treaties allowed the United States to cut warship construction to help balance the budget and finance tax cuts...
...setting aside for a moment the fact that professional and collegiate football, basketball, and hockey team participants now market themselves as baseball players, it remains that increasing numbers of seemingly well-educated and well-situated Americans know not or could care less of this complete infringement on manners...
...If this continues, Republicans may find future historians using far harsher terms than "isolationist" to describe their performance...
...But it actually sounds ridiculous, as it truly is...
...STUART SCHEER New York, NY ISOLATING THE GOP DAVID FRUM'S ESSAY on the history of Republican foreign policy had the virtue of recognizing that the real debates have been between those "who trusted in American power" against "those who trust in treaties and moral force" ("The Myth of GOP Isolationism," Nov...
...It is only natural that most Jews in America would support Israel in its conflicts with countries in the Middle East that wish it harm...
...I eagerly await THE WEEKLY STANDARD's follow-up essay on the increasing use of profanity in public places without necessity (I am not such a prude as to disdain the proper use of profanity, well directed...
...43-52 percent in October...
...I always liked listening to Pat Buchanan on Crossfire...
...The New York Times/CBS News poll found an 8-point drop in the gap (35-52 percent in September vs...
...Additionally, I think you, and others, are too easily prone to call people antiSemites for their innocuous statements...
...WILLIAM R. HAWKINS Burke, VA CAP CRAZY JOSEPH EPSTEIN'S MISSIVE on baseball caps touches a particular nerve with me ("Hats Off," Nov...
...JAMES R. ALLEN Palo Alto, CA...
...President Herbert Hoover even discussed with British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald the desirability of eliminating all capital ships, tanks, heavy artillery, and military aircraft...
...Today's GOP continues to embrace President Clinton's Wilsonian principles, such as "engagement" with China and Correspondence "free trade" under the World Trade Organization, as grand panaceas for all the world's problems...
...Although subject to more objective statistical review, I believe I can make the case that this faux pas is inching its way up from the casual diner (still in bad taste) to chain restaurants to fine dining establishments (in California, it seems to be jackets and no ties at even the toniest of restaurants...
...I certainly do, and most Jews I know do as well...
...I happen to think that this loyalty serves the interests of Jews, and of the United States...
...I must remind you that it is not anti-Semitic to state that many Jews have a dual loyalty because many Jews actually do have a dual loyalty...
...when one considers the contributions to America that Jews have made in the fields of science, medicine, literature, law, and entertainment, I don't believe they have to defend their patriotism...
...Frum's notion that interwar GOP trade policy—the one area where the party put TR's principles of national advantage over Wilsonian ideals—"damaged the world economy" is the stuff of FDR's speechwriters, not reality...
...The Gallup/CNN poll found an 8-point drop in the gap (39-56 percent in september vs...
...I know he called The Weekly Standard a "little dinky magazine," but it's time to take the high road and let it go already...
...jackets will be totally gone by the time of the next Bush administration...
...That same mindset is at work today, with Congress refusing to vote more than token increases in President Clinton's defense budget even as the "hollowing" of the military becomes ever more apparent...
...Come on now, get real...
...We are all entitled to our opinions on that question without being labeled...
...Perhaps others don't see it that way...
Vol. 5 • November 1999 • No. 11
