Wayne Allyn Root (website) (wikipedia article) B.S.'d himself into being the Libertarian Party V.P. candidate in 2008, but lost in his bid to become the Chair of the party in 2010. He's a self-promoting Rich Gambler (or so he says) who gets on a lot of right wing television. He's got one of the biggest egos I've seen in the party since Aaron Russo who made a real ass of himself running for LP presidential nomination in 2004. Root may be more libertarian than your average Democrat, but there are lots of Republicans who are far more libertarian. He did get elected to the Libertarian National Committee and now a lot of libertarians are passing around a resolution saying "LNC members should always clearly distinguish between their own personal views and the Libertarian Party's stands whenever the two are not congruent." I call it the ROOT, KEEP YOUR DAMNED REPUBLICAN MOUTH SHUT resolution. Photo above is from this article about Root and the party. (Note: No, Palin and Beck are NOT libertarians!) (David Weigel also covered the controversy in the Washington Post.)Of course, Root has earned his "shut up," having declared on his FaceBook page (this link for "friends") the following four messages in a row to Libertarian Party co-founder David Nolan telling libertarians to stop criticizing Israel because Jewish voters contribute half the money to Demopublicans and the Libertarian Party will never get anywhere unless it kisses their butts. Talk about ethnocentric special interest pleading. Please go back to the Republicans, Wayne boy.
Wayne Allyn Root
David...you're small theoretical universe of hundreds of people ...90% of whom includes Libertarians...is hardly a scientific model. How about FACTS? Do they matter to Libertarians? Here are real scientific numbers...in the 2004 Presidential election over 60% of all monies donated to the Democratic Party were donated by Jewish voters. And here's the truly interesting and surprising number...over 40% of all the monies donated that same year to the GOP was from Jewish voters.
Add it up David...that means over 50% of all political donations in the United States comes from Jews. 50% of every dollar given to political candidates. So perhaps the fact that the few hundred people you've spoken to don't mention Israel means absolutely nothing. The biggest donors in American politics...most of whom are either Jewish or Christian believe very strongly in America supporting Israel. I wonder...maybe...just maybe...if this one issue thats so important to pretty much every big contributor in all of American politics...might be THE disconnect that has resulted in 39 years of futility...and almost zero campaign contributions from big donors to the LP? Maybe theres a disconnect there as big as the Grand Canyon. Maybe.
June 12 (2010) 12:45 am
Wayne Allyn Root
Now let's bring it home in a more personal and scientific way...while LP candidates can't raise any serious money for races like Congress or Senate or Governor...while it's hard to raise even $100 as a Libertarian candidate...I just raised $25,000 in 2 weeks for an intra-party race (Chair) that no one outside the LP cares about. And all of my donors wrote $1000, $2500 and $5000 checks. All were business owners...and every one of them considers Israel a very important issue. Understanding the power of my fundraising ability and my highly unusual success in getting donors to write big checks for the LP...perhaps Libertarians should step back...listen...and learn a valuable lesson. The LP has made a big mistake and miscalculation on this issue for 39 years. Is it the most important issue? Absolutely not. It's not even in my Top 10. But it is a very important issue to the biggest donors in American politics. And it is certainly a DISASTER to say negative, vicious, derogatory things about our ally Israel.
June 12 (2010) Wayne Root 12:53 am
Wayne Allyn Root
Interestingly, I do not ask Libertarians to love Israel...or support Israel...I ask them to stop making outrageous statements that denigrate Israel for defending herself...and stop making supportive statements about terrorist organizations like Hamas ...and stop showing propaganda videos on Libertarian's Facebook page that are created by terrorists that paint Israel as the devil. If you ever want to win elections or raise money from mainstream patriotic Americans this has to stop. Public perception is 99% of politics...and Libertarians are painting a horrible public perception...and showing a terrible lack of judgment.
June 12 (2010) 12:58 AM
Wayne Allyn Root
Lastly David...I'm interested how much money you raise for your U.S. Senate run versus John McCain? My guess is the hundreds of people you meet at events in Arizona that share a lack of interest in Israel...will collectively donate about $2.50. Meanwhile John McCain and his Democratic opponent will each raise $1,000,000 at one single fundraiser dinner in Scottsdale from donors who all care VERY much about Israel. Perhaps the LP has lacked judgment on this issue for 39 years. Unfortunately thats not all the LP has lacked...we've lacked MONEY. No coincidence.
June 12 (2010) 1:01 AM
UPDATE - David Nolan's Resolution before the Libertarian National Committee:RESOLUTION CLARIFYING THE ROLE OF LNC MEMBERS
IN THEIR ROLE AS REPRESENTATIVES TO THE PUBLIC
WHEREAS members of the Libertarian National Committee are viewed by the voting public as representatives of the Libertarian Party, its principles, and its policy stands, and
WHEREAS the principles and policy stands of the Libertarian Party are clearly spelled out in our national platform,
THEREFORE the Libertarian National Committee hereby instructs its members to adhere as closely as possible to the national platform when stating “the Libertarian position” on issues - especially when being interviewed by news media, civic groups, and others who have the ability to influence public opinion. LNC members should always clearly distinguish between their own personal views and the Libertarian Party's stands whenever the two are not congruent.
7 comments:
Jews are overwhelmingly liberal Democrats. Is Wayne ready to support government health care and welfare too?
Does the man have anything betwixt his ears?
Given that Jews only represent 1.2 to 2.2% of the American population, I'm going to chalk this up as another bit of wild hyperbole from WAR. Did he really just try to say that 2.2% (tops) of the population donates 50% of the money in American politics? Talk about over-identifying with your own demographic. I think hardly anyone realizes just how small the U.S. Jewish population really is.
Actually Root is correct on this. These statistics have been quoted frequently. Search relevant terms and a few articles will pop up.
Carol, I have a really hard time believing that, even if other articles are claiming it. Have any of these articles done substantive research on the subject, or is it based on some flimsy, unscientific glance at an isolated campaign? Be sure that I'll certainly be looking into this, but the math behind this does not seem to indicate these numbers could possibly be statistically significant or correct.
A quick browse of the internet only turned up white-power folks and Jews actually making this claim. You could still well be right (though, again, the numbers just don't add up on this), but I didn't see anything academic turning up on this.
So are you saying Jewish news sources can't be trusted on that issue?? It seems to me that those are some of the circa 2006 sources I have somewhere hiding in my voluminous archives that also will remind me of good search terms for further research. Will take a look after finally re-review VISTA search methods since it's much more confusing than old XP and far less effective; very frustrating.
http://carolmoore.net/libertarianparty/bootroot/fundraising.html This is a page with JPGs of the Facebook page in question and links to references for the factoids on Jewish contributions. Part of the "BOOT ROOT" 2012 LP Convention campaign.
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