One thought is this – the Occupy people will be the ones who absolutely finish off Jewish support for Obama and/or the Democrat Party.

It’s always been a very difficult phenomenon to explain – why a demographic group which is so overwhelmingly middle-to-upper-middle class, so overrepresented by professional people and entrepreneurs and so generally involved with charities has also been so historically wedded to the Democrats.

For all of that, they got Obama. Who is the least friendly president to American Jews (and Jews worldwide, for that matter).

And the Obama people are at least tacitly supporting the Occupy movement.

Which contains this person.

How much of this can go on, on top of everything else causing concern with the Jewish community where Obama is concerned, before the Democrats’ hold on that demographic gets broken?

I’ve had it explained to me that the main thing which poisoned the well for Republicans with the Jewish vote was that 100 years ago or so when the bulk of the Eastern European Jews were immigrating to the country, the East Coast GOP establishment treated them like dirt and in doing so married them to the Democrat Party. Given that there was a good deal of socialist utopian thought in that community in the late 19th century (for example Theodore Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement, was a dyed-in-the-wool socialist), it wasn’t hard to see that group gravitate to Progressive Democrat leanings in the first part of the 20th century and for those leanings to take root.

But we’re in a much different time now. And so it no longer necessarily makes sense for the Democrats to get three-quarters of the Jewish vote.

Who defends Israel? Conservatives.

Who’s most interested in preserving religious freedom? You can say conservatives are too jingoistic about Christianity, but if you’re a Jew and you want to be left alone you might be better off with folks who see their religious tradition as originating from yours rather than people who are hostile to the entire idea of religious expression in the public square.

Who’s worried about the invasion of Islam onto the world stage? Conservatives. Nobody should be more concerned about that than Jews, seeing as though they’re the easiest victims when Muslims take over. You don’t even have to look at Israel to see that; just look at the way Muslims have bullied Jews in places like France and Great Britain and the Netherlands and if you’re a Jew you might want to make sure Islam is held at bay here.

Who finds anti-Semitism most culturally unacceptable? Certainly, conservatives. A side occupied by the Louis Farrakhans, Jeremiah Wrights and Keith Ellisons of the world can’t claim common cause with Jewish Americans. Does the GOP have a few scary people where Jews are concerned? Sure. Ron Paul’s hands aren’t clean and neither are Pat Buchanans. On the whole, though, you’re typical mainstream Republican seems a lot friendlier than some of the clowns in the streets if you’re Jewish.

Who hates the professions Jews are heavily represented in? Not conservatives. Conservatives generally like people who have professions in general, but outside of plaintiff attorneys – in which there are a representative number of Jewish folks – if you’re looking for somebody who trashes you for what you do for a living you’re looking for a lefty. Particularly if you’re a banker or otherwise occupied in the financial field, if you’re a doctor, if you’re involved in retail or real estate or if you’re in the entertainment business – though I’ll admit that the last has lots of critics on the Right based on content. Naturally, it’s a grand assumption to say these are the places you’ll find Jews in the workplace. The point is, however, that the people in these industries (which are, in fact, areas in the workforce where Jewish Americans have done outstanding work and have made their mark on society) really shouldn’t have any interest in redistributionist policies.

And on, and on.

Obama and his left-wing cabal are doing yeoman work to drive away the Jewish vote. At some point those efforts simply have to pay off and folks like Miz Patricia McAllister can take credit for driving two percent of the population from “D” to “R” – and moving states like New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania from blue to red in the process.