GUEST,sionline said, in part:

But one thing does concern me: Why did Michael change his original Jewish surname to "Howard"?

You are assuming, for the purpose of your diatribe, that he changed his name. I don't know that, and I don't think YOU know that. At least four other scenarios come to mind:

a.) He may be a convert
b.) Someone farther back in his family may have changed the name, and Howard is what he was born with
c.) His father, or some male back further, may have married a Jewish woman, and Howard inherited the putatively non-Jewish name that way, but was brought up in Judaism
d.) "Howard" may be an Anglicization of an earlier Jewish ethnic name.

And additionally, SO WHAT? He is who he is, and is or is not qualified for office, and it should stand on that.

Dave Oesterreich