In the last five presidential elections, the Democratic presidential nominee averaged 79 percent of the Jewish vote. However, if the recent election in New York’s Ninth Congressional District is a bellwether, those numbers could change.
This caught the attention of HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher. On his Friday program, Maher lamented the GOP gains and blamed the shift on Republicans’ belief in the Bible.
“And people might say, ‘Why are you talking about it?’” Maher said. “First of all, I’m talking about it because 42 percent of Republicans think the Bible is literally true. A fourth of them think the Antichrist might be Obama. And this stuff does infect politics. I think it infects that discussion they’ve been having lately about Israel. Somehow the Republicans stole the Jews.”
Maher noted that the Republican Party has changed over the years.
“What happened?” he said. “Remember James Baker: ‘Fuck the Jews. They don’t vote for us.’ What happen to that old – that was your old grandfather’s Republican – ‘Fuck the Jews.’ How did the Republicans begin to be the party that’s, ‘Oh, we love the Jews.’ And you know what it is? Because they want Israel in the hands of the Jews because they think the Bible is real and before you know who comes back, the place has to be in Jewish hands.”
Salman Rushdie, the author of “The Satanic Verses,” disagreed that Obama is losing Jewish support and cited a recent PPP poll that supported his position.
“It’s not totally working,” Rushdie said. “I saw a study yesterday which said that 76 percent of Florida Jews support Obama. If he has got 76 percent of Florida Jews, the Republicans have not stolen the Jews.”
Watch: