Jason Maoz of The Jewish Press wastes a good deal of ink trying to figure out for David Horowitz's readers why more Jews haven't come around to the Republican ticket, but can offer only insulting, patronizing theories to the effect that those backwards semites (Maoz et al excepted) just don't know what's good for them: ...the arrival of the Eastern European Jews who crowded into the big cities at the turn of the century and quickly learned that their very livelihoods were dependent on the good will of those Tammany-like political machines, which were invariably Democratic and invariably corrupt... ...Jewish socialists and communists left a seemingly indelible stamp on the collective political identity of American Jew... ...Whether Roosevelt or Truman was deserving of such Jewish support is a question most Jews were reluctant even to ask... ...Adlai Stevenson, a one-term governor of Illinois whose persona of urbane intellectualism set a new standard for the type of candidate favored by Jewish liberals... ...Jews still feared that pulling the Republican lever would cause their right hands to lose their cunning... ...Official" Jewry - that dizzying network of committees, councils, conferences and leagues staffed by liberal flunkies whose Holy Writ is the platform of the Democratic Party and whose daily spiritual sustenance comes from New York Times editorials - was represented in the McGovern campaign... ...it was a combination of old habits and a religious-like devotion to dogmatic liberalism that drove the majority of Jewish voters, not any primary concern for Israel or narrowly defined Jewish interests... ...a conservative Republican, which for most Jews in 1980 (and to a somewhat lesser extent today) was akin to an alien life form: an altogether unfamiliar species... ...Jews were drawn to Mondale for a number of reasons - his Humphrey connection, his New Deal liberalism, and the simple fact that he wasn`t Reagan, to whom most American Jews never took a liking, despite a dramatic improvement in U.S-Israel relations since Mondale`s old boss had been thrown out of office... ...But Clinton would have defeated Bush and Dole even if each had sworn to immediately move the White House to Jerusalem, for the simple reason that Israel has never been the determining factor in how most Jews vote. If it were the determining factor, Nixon in 1972 and Reagan in 1980 and 1984 would have received a far greater share of the Jewish vote... ...a not inconsiderable number of Orthodox Jews found themselves to be just as susceptible as their secular brethren to the fatal Clinton Mystique... There are a few basic premises here: We Jews (besides Maoz) are easily swayed by personality, image, and kitschy references that make us feel important. We Jews (like Maoz) would oppose attempts by the US government to pressure Israel to behave in the way dictated by Jewish values, or to undertake policies with any hope of bringing closer a just compromise - but (besides Maoz) fail to reward the hawks who are laboring to support the Likudniks because we're too short-sighted to notice. We Jews (like Maoz) are wealthy, and we validate that laissez-faire capitalism works, and so our support (contra Maoz) for government policies concerned with social justice must demonstrate some combination of confusion, conformity, pressure, and paranoia. Starting from there, it's not surprise that the intrepid reporter, after 7,000 words down and 70 years surveyed, is forced to conclude that while each of the explanations we`ve cited may have its own degree of merit, and while taken together they may provide an interesting glimpse into the collective psyche of the American Jewish community, the Great Mystery of Jewish voting habits remains just that At the beginning of his piece, Maoz throws out the idea that there's resonance between liberalism and Jewish tradition, identity, or values, on the grounds that if that were true, Orthodox Jews - who everyone knows are the real ones - would be the most liberal. Perhaps if Maoz checked out Isaiah - or Exodus, or Jeremiah, or Genesis - he'd find something to at least offer a clue as to why, in his words, the American Jewish community, the most affluent subgroup in the country, still votes as if it's one step ahead of the bread lines and the evict notices. Class traitors? It'd have to be one of the lighter insults we, as a people, have suffered. Could be that Jewish community and tradition offer - for some at least - an imperative to have a stake in being part of a just, free, and democratic community, and to work to build such a nation. Or maybe it's just those Jewish grandmothers kvelling when Bill Clinton says "mensch," and worrying that if he doesn't get their vote he'll sick one of those Democratic Party Machines on them.