Eric Cantor Rips Nancy Pelosi For Patronizing Jewish Voters
House Majority Leader Representative Eric Cantor, went after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for making the inference that Republicans exploit Jewish people for political gain. Cantor is the lone Jewish Republican in Congress.
In an interview with Bloomberg’s Al Hunt, Pelosi said that Republicans like to bring up support for Israel to distract Jewish voters from their real agenda which is tax cuts for the wealthy.
Pelosi said,
“That’s how they’re being exploited and they’re smart people. They follow these issues. But they have to know the facts. And the fact is that President Obama has been the strongest person in terms of sanctions on Iran, which is important to Israel. He’s been the strongest person.”
Cantor went on the attack after hearing Pelosi’s statement saying,
“It is both patronizing and deeply insulting for Nancy Pelosi to suggest any Jew is ‘exploited’ for their political beliefs or that support for Israel is somehow an ‘excuse’ for anything. Such thinking diminishes the importance of issues affecting Jews everywhere.”
This election cycle Jewish voters are being actively courted by both political parties. The Jewish vote is typically overwhelmingly Democratic, but this election cycle Republicans are at least hoping the Jewish voters will stay home or at least not write as many checks to President Obama. The President has been accused of bullying Israel at a time where the Jewish State faces external threats that some consider existential.
Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is currently in Jerusalem for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Romney and Netanyahu already have a very good relationship from past experiences.