How NOT to address Jewish Republicans
NBC News:Several GOP candidates had some, er, odd ways of speaking to influential members of the GOP Jewish community yesterday at the Republican Jewish Coalition forum.Donald Trump told the crowd "I'm a negotiator like you folks" and "Is there anyone in this room who doesn't negotiate deals? Probably more than any room I've ever spoken." And he suggested: "You're not going to support me because I don't want your money." (The Times of Israel even offered the headline: "Trump Courts Republican Jews With Offensive Stereotypes."
Then there was John Kasich, who proclaimed, "When I was a very young man, [my mother] said, 'Johnny, if you want to look for a really good friend, get somebody who's Jewish.'" And Jim Gilmore, who thought it prudent to tell the crowd: "Last night I was watching 'Schindler's List.' Everybody here has seen 'Schindler's List." It's one thing to pander, but to make sweeping - and even in some cases offensive - stereotypes about an entire room full of people whose vote you're courting? Huh?
= new reply since forum marked as read
I was briefly acquainted, who greeted two guests, who were also attorneys, and happened to be Jewish, with a declaration that he loved Einstein's Bagels. 
They were friends of mine and we still laugh about it in an embarrassed-for-him way.
I still can't shake the feeling that there is something meta about what Trump is doing. Many politicians pander to the lowest common denominator; many demagogue to one degree or another.
But to me Trump seems like he is knowingly trying to embarrass the Republican party by trading on the very worst, most ignorant aspects of the conservative base. I would bet several dollars, for instance, that the amount of time he spends in his private life talking about building imaginary border walls or "remembering" phantom Muslim 9/11 celebrations in New Jersey is close to zero.
I had the same feeling when he went "birther" on Obama around the time of the last election. It was like he was toying with the idea of appealing to the dregs of conservative America to see how far he could take it.
Whatever the game is, it isn't a funny game, or one we can safely ignore, but it does look like a game nonetheless.
group of politicians ever seen in America... If you discount today's Congress. 
