Obama..... not religious?

Perhaps, you were too busy working on the campaign to have read the newspapers.

People across the country were up in arms.

There was as much citizen concern over his background as there was over Kennedy's Catholicism.

Hey, sugar, Big Business has totally taken over government. While you're busy wailing about the Obama and the Constitution what you fail to realize is that Wall Street and Big Business ripped it up years ago.

Jesus Christ, David. Do you remember the names of your neighbors in 1964?

I was still in high school then and plenty of people were against him for his name and background. There were skits on television about it, articles in the newspapers . . . on that and about how his defense policy was: draw the wagon trains into a circle.

Chalk it up to your age, DAvid. Enough.

The retired senator, an Episcopalian whose father was Jewish, also was remembered this week as an avid supporter of the local Jewish community and a staunch defender of Israel.

Plotkin, who celebrated 50 years in the rabbinate this year - more than 40 of those years spent here in the Valley, was one of two clergy who officiated at Goldwater's funeral service June 3 at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe.

"I knew Barry from the first week I came to town. Harry Rosenzweig (of Rosenzweig's Jewelers) - was his best friend, and Harry gave a welcoming reception for me at his home," Plotkin told Jewish News in an interview after the funeral.

"(Goldwater) contributed financially to the building of (Temple Beth Israel) at 10th Avenue and Flower. He said to me that he was very proud of his Jewish background, although when he was raised here, there was no Jewish synagogue. His mother took them all to church at Trinity Episcopal Church; that's where he was baptized.

"Today, I gave him the full Jewish rites, read the Hebrew El Mole prayer, and recited a blessing for him at the very end. ... Susan Goldwater (his widow, who is a convert to Judaism) wanted something Jewish at Barry's funeral. ... I was very honored to be there, to represent the Jewish community."

Plotkin co-officiated with the Rev. Carl Carlozzi of All Saints Episcopal, where Plotkin is rabbi in residence.

Jerry Lewkowitz, a Temple Beth Israel member whose parents were among the synagogue's founders, was also a friend of Goldwater. Lewkowitz said one reason Goldwater had strong ties to the Jewish community was that he grew up alongside several of the Valley's earliest Jewish families.

The issue of Goldwater's religious background occasionally surfaced in the public arena, particularly after he earned the Republican presidential nomination in 1964.

GSC:
For what it's worth--and this seems right based upon the clip from the HBO documentary--one web site claims that the Goldwater quote I referenced above was from his October '64 speech at Madison Square Garden, and he said: "The Nazi and the Fascist types -- the bigots -- they're not going to vote for me because my grandfather was a Polish Jew."

FYI, his grandfather was born in (what had been) Poland, but his grandmother was English (and Jewish). Goldwater's father converted when he married Barry's mother. One could argue that by discussing only his grandfather in the speech, he was trying to reduce his "Jewish blood" to 25%, but I think be adding the Polish part, it added to his "foreigness," and his father did convert. (I can't imagine many anti-semites having a problem with someone 1/2 jewish but not 1/4, so I don't think that the reference to his grandfather was very calculating.)

The HBO documentary also had Robert MacNeil (I believe) of MacNeil Lehrer fame tell one of Goldwater's favorite stories of going to play golf and being told jews can't play. Goldwater responds with, "But I'm only half Jewish, can I play 9 holes?" I have always loved that story and had just told it to my wife shortly before it was on the documentary.

Big Business has destroyed this country, moving jobs overseas, multiplying cookie cutter stores throughout the country, increasing the cost of doing business, keeping salaries low for the majority of the workers.

plainoldme wrote:

Chalk it up to your age, DAvid. Enough.

I 'll chalk it up to unsuccessfully attempted deception from u, PLain.





David

You are off the deep end. Just because you forgot something doesn't mean others didn't. William F. Buckley reported in his eulogy for Goldwater upon his death of the opposition that Jews held toward the Senator: http://old.nationalreview.com/flashback/1998200511170839.asp

This rather long article opens with a note that Goldwater's Jewish background was downplayed during his presidential campaign:
http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/bloom/v13goldwater.htm

I spent some time on line but I think Goldwater is too long dead to be of much interest, although I did find mention in a blog of how his campaign staff had emphasized that his ancestors were "Polish" immigrants and not Jewish. This was repeated in ways that demonstrate they were not from a common source in several other blogs.