On Sunday’s broadcast of ABC’s “This Week,” Washington Post columnist George Will explained just what the aim of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is with his overseas visit in the middle of his campaign.
Will said that the stop in Israel is important, but not for the two obvious reasons some have suggested. According to the Washington Post columnist and “This Week” regular, the goal isn’t to win the favor of Israel, nor is it to win the support of Jewish voters. Instead, he said it is a show to evangelical Christians within the GOP that he supports Israel.
“Two stops after London that matter most,” Will said. “It’s right to say that he’s not courting those nations, he’s courting those children of those nations who now live in the United States — Poles in southwestern Pennsylvania, and Cleveland and Detroit and all the rest. In Israel, he’s courting not the Jewish vote in the country, maybe it will make a small difference in Florida, and that make a big difference, but the vast majority of American Jews are going to vote Democratic. Always have and as far as I can tell and always will. The great support for Israel right now, the energy is in the evangelical community, which is a part of the Republican base. So the trip to Israel is a way of firing up this enormously important, somewhat skeptical of Mitt Romney Republican base.”