The darling of the Tea Party set has apparently been pulling in Jewish supporters, thanks to her Semitic-sounding surname.
By Sara Miller
Fresh from her victory in the Iowa straw poll earlier this month, Michele Bachmann seems to have a new edge in her efforts to secure the Republican nomination for the White House.
Jewish Republicans have reportedly been giving their money to Bachmann thanks to her Jewish-sounding surname, much to the chagrin of Mitt Romney, one of her main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
According to reports in the American media, some Jewish Republicans have opened their wallets to Michele solely because of her pseudo-Semitic surname. In real life, the Congresswoman from Minnesota is an Evangelical Christian.
Romney had reportedly hoped to cash in on a shift from by Jewish voters disillusioned with Barack Obama’s performance on Mideast. But Bachmann, with her kosheresque moniker, is apparently drawing support thanks to a mere accident of marriage (her single name was Amble). To make matters worse, in a game where every possible scenario is discussed, this is an unexpected eventuality.
“It’s a real problem,” a fundraiser for Romney is quoted as saying by the New York Post. “We’re working very hard in the Jewish community because of Obama’s Israel problem. This was surprising.”
Bachmann is certainly wooing potential Jewish voters in her bid to oust Obama and become the first woman president of the United States. The darling of the Tea Party is not shy about recalling her time on kibbutz in the Negev in the 1970s; she reminisced at an AIPAC meeting that, “I really learned a lot in Israel.” She also told the gathering, “I am a Christian, but I consider my heritage Jewish, because it is the foundation, the roots of my faith as a Christian.”
This week she popped up at Agudah Yisrael in Manhattan, for a chinwag with local Jewish leaders, where she again reportedly trotted out her tales of youthful kibbutz experiences.
In the race to the White House, almost everything has come to be considered fair game, and Bachmann is certainly a savvy enough political animal not to turn her nose up at an offer on a silver salver. Although she might want to brush up on her Yiddish.
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Bachmann Meets With Orthodox Leaders
By Forward Staff
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann reportedly talked about her faith and strong support for Israel during a meeting group of Orthodox Jewish leaders in New York Tuesday.
“We’re meeting with people all across New York who are interested in my candidacy,” Bachmann told the New York Post before the private hourlong sit-down with Orthodox leaders.
Participants told the paper that Bachmann spent about an hour discussing issues ranging from same-sex marriage to security for the Jewish state. She reminded the group she worked on a kibbutz in Israel as a college student.
The rabbis have met previously with Republican rival Mitt Romney as well as with President Obama, who got the lion’s share of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election.
“She introduced herself,” Rabbi David Zwiebel, executive vice president of the Orthodox organization Agudath Israel, told the paper. “A similar group has gotten together with Governor Romney and will get together with other candidates as well.”
