US Republicans take ad about disenchanted Democratic Jews to key swing states as part of $5m. media campaign.
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, JPOST CORRESPONDENTRepublican convention 370(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – The Republican Jewish Coalition took their ad about disenchanted Democratic Jews from the computer screen to the small screen Wednesday, as the spot began airing in heavily Jewish communities in key swing states.The ad buy is part of the $5 million media effort the RJC is undertaking to make inroads with Jewish voters in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada.The campaign, dubbed “Buyers’ Remorse,” features a relatable self-described lifelong Democrat, Michael Goldstein, who backed Barack Obama in 2008 but now is voting Republican.The RJC has promised several more switch voters in future spots.Goldstein points to Obama’s speech about using the pre- 1967 line as the basis for negotiations over a two-state solution and his rude handling of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at a White House visit as key reasons for his change of heart.“He was disrespectful to him to a point that I’d never seen,” Goldstein says of Netanyahu’s Oval Office visit in the ad.Goldstein also warns of what he expects to come from Obama in a second term.“I think that he’s going to change the game when it comes to Israel,” he says. “He’s going to place Israel in a position where they’re in danger.”Democrats have assailed the ad for being misleading, charging that Goldstein, a New Jersey voter, is not registered as a Democrat and in fact contributed $250 to former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani in 2007.
Goldstein told The Washington Post that the donation had not come out of political allegiance but because the former New York mayor was a close friend of his late father. He also told the newspaper that his contributions to Obama, for whom he once held a fundraiser, amounted to significantly more than that, though made in much smaller increments.Democrats promoted their own Jewish supporter Wednesday as well. Actress Natalie Portman was featured at an Ohio Women Vote 2012 Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio on Wednesday morning.Portman appeared at a conference devoted to women’s issues and what Obama has done to promote them.
