Mostly, they are just confusing the Democratic viewpoint with the Jewish one, because so many Jews, especially prominent figures, are Democratic. As Democrats, Jews will naturally be predisposed, if not to support Governor Davis outright, then to at least oppose his recall.
However, it would appear that Jews in California were not asked their opinion on Davis or the recall. They were treated as just another Democratic interest group that needed to be prodded out to support the flailing Governor. Front and center is the Forward newspaper, which has run numerous editorials parrotting the Democratic party line.
The most disgusting aspects of this prodding were the attempts to slander and defame U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, the main financier of the recall petition campaign. Darrell is a huge supporter of Israel, contrary to all the crap thrown at him. He has one of the highest scores given out by AIPAC. Darrell is a great, fun guy, who just happens to be conservative. It is no surprise that he would get dragged through the mud. I was sorry to see him not run for governor once his recall campaign finally succeeded, but would he have somehow been "bad for the Jews"? I don't see how.
What might be a Jews' concerns (ney, a Jewish Democrat's) about Arnold, besides that he is running as a Republican?
1. His father was a member of the Nazi Party and served in the German army during World War II:
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, recalls that in the mid-1980s, Schwarzenegger became an active member and patron of the center, and later its Museum of Tolerance.OK, not a nice thing to have in the family, but the complaint is too easily lobbed at most Germans/Austrians.
“In 1990, Arnold came to see me and said he was troubled because he really knew so little about his father,” Hier says. “He asked us to use our researchers and resources to track down his father’s past.”
The search showed that Gustav Schwarzenegger, a small-town Austrian police official, tried to join the Nazi Party in 1938, immediately after the Anschluss, but was not formally inducted into the party until 1941.
He served in the German army, stationed in Austria in a police function. No records or complaints were found to implicate the father in any war crimes or persecution of Jews.
2. He has a strange relationship with Kurt Waldheim. Again, not a good thing. Unlike number 1, Arnold has control over this. But what exactly the relationship is, no one can specify -- even Tim Noah, Slate's mudslinger extroardinaire.
All in all, there is no "Jewish" aspect of the recall. It is just an exercise in direct democracy. We can agree or disagree on the sensibilities of it all, but the legality is obvious and the pedigree goes all the way back to ancient Greece. Right-wing conspiracy it is not.
And it is certainly not an anti-Jewish one.
With over 100 candidates to choose from (I personally prefer Brooke Adams, a reliably conservative Republican who happens to be a hot chick as well), Jews should not have trouble finding someone they like. And it is clear that, aside from a few key interest groups whom he has bought off, no one likes Grey Davis.
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