3.25.2005
Bushies Kvelling Over Orthodox Jeff Ballabon (Observer.com)
By Ben Smith
March 25, 2005
In a rapid, confidential near-whisper, Jeff Ballabon was offering his counterintuitive take on former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
"If you go to his house today, he has a mezuzah on the door," Mr. Ballabon said. And when they went to a Baltimore Orioles baseball game together, he recalled, Mr. Ashcroft knew that combining hot dogs and ice cream wouldn't be kosher.
"Ashcroft isn't an 'evangelical,'" Mr. Ballabon explained. "He's not a 'fundamentalist.'"
If you're looking for a New Yorker with deep ties to the Christian right--you know, the folks running America--Mr. Ballabon is your man. Which is odd, first of all, because he's not Christian, but an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Long Island. And, second, because he's spent most of his career as the lobbyist for New York media companies, including Court TV and Primedia.
(More ... Bushies Kvelling Over Orthodox Jeff Ballabon) ¶ 14:51
March 25, 2005
In a rapid, confidential near-whisper, Jeff Ballabon was offering his counterintuitive take on former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
"If you go to his house today, he has a mezuzah on the door," Mr. Ballabon said. And when they went to a Baltimore Orioles baseball game together, he recalled, Mr. Ashcroft knew that combining hot dogs and ice cream wouldn't be kosher.
"Ashcroft isn't an 'evangelical,'" Mr. Ballabon explained. "He's not a 'fundamentalist.'"
If you're looking for a New Yorker with deep ties to the Christian right--you know, the folks running America--Mr. Ballabon is your man. Which is odd, first of all, because he's not Christian, but an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Long Island. And, second, because he's spent most of his career as the lobbyist for New York media companies, including Court TV and Primedia.
(More ... Bushies Kvelling Over Orthodox Jeff Ballabon) ¶ 14:51
