CNN reports on the Obama campaign's latest effort to hold the Jewish vote:

Rep. Alcee Hastings told an audience of Jewish Democrats Wednesday that they should be wary of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin because "anybody toting guns and stripping moose don't care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks."

"If Sarah Palin isn't enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention," Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida said at a panel about the shared agenda of Jewish and African-American Democrats Wednesday.

At first this was a bit of a head-scratcher, but we figured it out when an email debate erupted among our Jewish colleagues over whether moose is kosher. Then it seemed obvious: Hastings is trying to turn Jewish voters against Palin by implying that her meat is unclean. This would also explain Barack Obama's porcine allusions, although the laws of Kashrut do not apply to facial cosmetics.

There's a lot of misinformation out there, so we did some research, and here's what we found: Moose have cloven hoofs and are ruminants. Therefore as a species they do meet the necessary conditions to be kosher.

In order for a particular animal to be kosher, however, it must be ritually slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. This requires that it be killed with a long, sharp blade to the neck. Shooting a wild moose and eating it, therefore, is forbidden; the only way to keep it kosher would be to trap it alive and have a shochet do the honors.

But Hastings ignores one important point: Her aversion to pork notwithstanding, Palin is not Jewish. If Joe Lieberman were eating meat from improperly slaughtered game animals, he would be in violation of religious law. (Whether it would be appropriate to raise that in a political attack is another question.) But Judaism makes no claim that its dietary laws are universal. Unless she decides to become a giyoret, Palin is free to devour all the treif she wants.

Rep. Stephen Cohen of Tennessee spoke at the same event:

Cohen, who recently remarked that Jesus Christ was a community organizer, took his comments about the founder of the Christian faith further Wednesday. "A lot of what Jesus talks about is wonderful," Cohen said. "Talks about helping people and lifting them up and caring about people who are sick and all those things. He's a great Democrat."

In fact, the modern Democratic Party dates only to 1828; its predecessor, Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, to 1792. Jesus was born within a few years of 1, so he could not have been a Democrat.

This might have been an honest mistake. But Cohen, who is not Christian, ought to be aware that those who are, regard Jesus as the Messiah. To disparage him as a mere "community organizer" or "Democrat" is a show of disrespect for other people's religion. Would Cohen describe the Prophet Muhammad as a "community organizer"?