NY-9 Used To Be So... So, You Know... Liberal

It's 1921 all over again! That was the last time a Republican won in NY-9. This time Brooklyn voters decided to send President Obama a message-- or a hodge podge of messages-- by electing an out-and-out fascist, Bob Turner, to Congress. He won 32,446 (54%) to 27,669 (46%)-- although Weprin won in the Queens part of the district 51-48%. Hordes of Orthodox and Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn gave Obama a big thumbs down. In the 2012 midterms 67,011 Democrats voted; more than double the number who voted yesterday. If Obama thinks he's going to motivate Democrats and left-leaning independents next year, I can't wait to hear what he has in mind.

When Republican fascists attacked Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal-- which brought prosperity and dignity to millions of American working families-- they often spat out the word "Jew" as part of their derogatory description. It was before Christian right apocalyptic mania merged with militarism and Big Oil dictates to tamp down the overt anti-Semitism that was standard GOP fare until the 1980s. Since then, Jewish refugees have been a special class, almost as cherished and encouraged-- unlike when they were turned away by the thousands in the direst time of need-- as the Cubans. America has been taking in a hefty share of Russian and Eastern European Jews, some secular but some from bizarre post-medieval cults, the Hasidim.

One of the ways I disappointed my atheist father was by insisting I-- like everyone else in the 'hood-- get bar mitzvah-ed. When I was 12, living near Kings Highway and 17th Street in what is now New York's 9th congressional district, he offered to take me on a tour of Europe-- and pointed out I wouldn't have to go to Hebrew school-- if I decided to forego the bar mitzvah. In what I think was the last really über-stupid decision of my life I opted for the bar mitzvah. The one positive thing to come out of that was an opportunity to make some bank. The neighborhood shul had good turnouts on Friday nights and Saturdays but Orthodox Jews go to shul every morning to pray and according to rabbinical traditions, God doesn't hear the prayers unless there are at least 10 men present-- 10 men over 13. The neighborhood shul couldn't count on more than 8 on any given morning. So once I was bar mitzvah-ed (i.e.- a man) I could be part of a minyon (the quorum of 10). They gave me and my friend Stuie Cohen $25 or $50 a week each (I can't remember exactly-- only that it was a princely sum) to show up every morning at 7 on our way to school and sit there while they prayed. On mornings when only 7 of them showed up they would count the Torah as the 10th man and on morning when only 6 of them showed up-- they were all very old and frail-- they made due with the Black janitor. One of the old guys assured me he was a Falasha, an Ethiopian Jew, but I sensed I was being deceived and one day the janitor told me his family was from Dothan, Alabama, not Addis Ababa (let alone Gondar). That's probably the last thing I remember about being Jewish, other than the immense pride I felt at the role Jews played in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In my last year of high school James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner (an African American and two Jews) were my heroes after they were brutally murdered by the KKK in Mississippi.

I haven't had a lot of interaction with Hasidics. They're very anti-assimilation. I feel uncomfortable writing about them; they're an easy target for bigotry with their ritual clothing and clannish behavior. And their racism... racism that would make the murderers of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner proud-- racism that "shows," in the words of Brooklyn blogger Hasidic Rebel, "the mentality of those who, while living in America, have yet to learn the value of respect and dignity for all mankind."

Black slaves called themselves Israelites before Abraham Lincoln freed them, although they were wise enough to gravitate to the liberating message of Jesus even if they admired the Jews freeing themselves from Pharaoh's bondage. My limited experience with Hasidim makes me think that, except for their propensity towards non-violence and their non-aggressive nature (more like passive-aggressive), they'd be perfect for the KKK... if they'd cut the peyes, dye the robes white and ditch the beaver-skin hats for pillowcases.

If the rebbe says we all shop at Store A, they all shop at Store A. And if the rebbe says we all vote for the right-wing kook, they all vote for the right-wing kook. And yesterday they did. The Hasidim used to be working class and populist. Many still are. But in NY-9, there are lots of rich Hasidim living in McMansions. My sister says her old neighborhood, Manhattan Beach, is unrecognizable as Russian immigrants came in, bought up the properties and tore down the beautiful old character houses and replaced them with sterile McMansions with mezuzahs; and, this week, with Vote Bob Turner signs. NY-9 has been trending less Democratic of late. It's the only district in NYC that gave Kerry a bigger percentage of votes in 2004 than it gave Obama in 2008, something we saw all over the South but not much anywhere else. You can't blame it all on the Hasidim and the Orthodox Jews of course. There are 49,522 Jewish voters in the district, 29,123 Asian voters, 40,566 Hispanic voters, 35,265 Italian voters, and 26,238 Eastern European voters (some of whom are Jews). Jews vote in very high numbers. There aren't all that many Hasidim in NY-9 though, not as many as Orthodox Jews, who do not take orders from rabbis about who to vote for. And it should be remembered that progressives were also eager to send Obama a message. Sunday night PPP released data, though, that showed Obama sinking the party.

Republican Bob Turner is poised to pull a huge upset in the race to replace Anthony Weiner as the Congressman from New York's 9th Congressional District.  He leads Democrat David Weprin 47-41 with Socialist Workers candidate Christopher Hoeppner at 4% and 7% of voters remaining undecided.

Turner's winning in a heavily Democratic district for two reasons: a huge lead with independents and a large amount of crossover support.  He's ahead by 32 points at 58-26 with voters unaffiliated with either major party.  And he's winning 29% of the Democratic vote, holding Weprin under 60% with voters of his own party, while losing just 10% of Republican partisans.

...Weprin has been much maligned as a candidate but he actually has positive favorability numbers too with 39% of voters rating him positively and 36% negatively.  Over the last few years there have been very few races we polled where a candidate had a positive net favorability spread and still lost.  If Obama's approval in the district was even 40% Weprin would almost definitely be headed to Congress. He's getting dragged down by something bigger than himself.

The issue of Israel does appear to be having a major impact on this race.  A plurality of voters-- 37%-- said that Israel was 'very important' in determining their votes. Turner is winning those folks by an amazing 71-22 margin. With everyone who doesn't say Israel is a very important issue for them Weprin actually leads 52-36. Turner is in fact winning the Jewish vote by a 56-39 margin, very unusual for a Republican candidate.  This seems to be rooted in deep unhappiness with Obama on this issue- only 30% of voters overall approve of how he's handling Israel to 54% who disapprove and with Jewish voters his approval on Israel is 22% with 68 of voters disapproving. That has a lot to do with why Turner's in such a strong position.

Remember a couple weeks ago when Cuban-American fascist Marco Rubio claimed Social Security and Medicare had made Americans weaker? These very foreign residents of NY-9 are as in tune with America as Marco Rubio-- i.e., not at all. This is a district that was once the heartland of the New Deal. Sad what happened to it.