Presidential Campaign Fail To Vet Their Supporters

by: Publisher

Thu Aug 23, 2012 at 15:09:54 PM EDT

• The RJC and Jews for Sarah point out that Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb is on the list of over 613 "Rabbis for Obama" that was unveiled yesterday. Rabbi Gottlieb serves on rabbinical council of Jewish Voice for Peace (no relation to the Philadelphia Jewish Voice). The Jewish Voice for Peace supports the BDS (Boycott Divest Sanction) movement and is on the ADL's list of the 10 most anti-Israel groups. Rabbi Gottlieb visited Tehran and dinned with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. According to the Jewish Voice for Peace, the trip to Iran was intended to support the Jews who still live in Iran, and the meeting with Ahmedinejad served to "castigate him" for his shameful behavior. See JVP's editorial in the Forward.

Meanwhile, Romney has similar problems of his own:

• Dr. John Willke is the doctor who misinformed Rep. Todd Aiken that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" do not become pregnant because their bodies "shut down" due to the trauma. Aiken is under pressure to abandon his US Senate campaign against Claire McCaskill in Missouri for having given voice to such an ignorant, misogynistic point of view. Dr. Willke told The Telegraph that he had a private meeting with Mitt Romney at his Cincinnati home last October and that Romney thanked him for his support and told him, "we agree on almost everything."

  The 87-year-old endorsed Mr. Romney's bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and was one of his official campaign surrogates. "I am proud to have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement," Mr. Romney said at the time.

  
  
• As we reported in June, the GOP selected Yossi Gestetner as their "Jewish Outreach Director" in New York. As reported by The Jewish Channel and Vos Iz Neias, "The newly appointed Director of Jewish Outreach for New York State's Republican party has resigned from his position after just eight days in office, calling himself a distraction to the party." The distraction? Espousing anti-Zionist positions, among others.

  As Vos Iz Neias notes,

  "According to a report by The Jewish Channel, Gestetner's resignation came less than thirty minutes after Josh Rubin, a reporter for NY1, asked State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox about an investigation of Gestetner by The Jewish Channel, which conducted an hour long on-camera interview with Gestetner. During that interview, Gestetner discussed several issues that may put him at odds with both the Republican party and many of New York State's 1.6 million Jewish residents, which include his being a spokesman at a fundraiser to benefit an alleged child molester, his controversial stance on referring suspected cases of child abuse to a rabbi before alerting the authorities, his views on government assistance programs and his work for Torah True Jews Against Zionism, an anti-Israel organization that states that Zionism is contrary to Torah Judaism."