Category Archives: Elections

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Anti-Semitism in America isn’t about religion

It was just last night, at 10:14 PM EDT, that I published an article pointing out that Vice President Kamala Harris Emhoff opted against choosing Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) as her running mate, noting that, despite the denials, it was all because he and his wife are Jewish. With the open drive toward anti-Semitism by the young and the ignorant among the harder left, and Mrs Emhoff’s husband, Douglas Emhoff also being Jewish, there’s just no way the Vice President and her staff would make a selection which would drive the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel leftists away.

And on Monday morning, The Philadelphia Inquirer gave OpEd space to Zev Eleff, president and professor of American Jewish History at Gratz College in Melrose Park, that barely glossed over — if you can even call it that much — the radical anti-Semitic left in the decision:

Josh Shapiro, the veepstakes, and the role of faith in presidential politics

I’m proud that the governor was reportedly on the short list of Kamala Harris running mates. Yet I was also troubled by those who asked whether America was “ready” for a Jewish vice president.

by Zev Eleff | Monday, August 12, 2024 | 6:37 AM EDT

The polarizing discussion surrounding Gov. Josh Shapiro’s faith and his recent bid to join Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket struck a very different tone than the Jewish presidential question of 1959. Back then, the journalist Bernard Postal polled a who’s who of American politics — Earl Warren, Hubert Humphrey, Dwight Eisenhower, to name-drop a handful of the 30 respondents — on a very pithy question: “Can a Jew be elected president?”

Postal was prompted by the wide speculation that John F. Kennedy, the Catholic senator from Massachusetts, would run for president in the next election. “I believe that a candidate’s religion should have no bearing upon his qualifications for the Office of President,” wrote Kennedy to Postal. “Accordingly, Catholics, Protestants, and Jews should all base their appeal to the voters upon their record of accomplishments and their program or action.”

Postal reported that most agreed with Kennedy, hopeful “that before too long the voters will do away with the tacit but nonetheless effective religious test that has traditionally barred all but white Protestants from the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.”

There’s a lot more at the original, but, like so many historians, he has missed the point!

Dr Eleff’s OpEd piece tells the reader something of the history of religious tolerance, as it slowly gained a foothold in the American body politic. While there were a few, and I stress the description few, anti-Semitic influences and incidents in the United States, the bigotry against Jews, Muslims, and Catholics in the United States was fairly minor as far as being based on their faith. It was more pronounced based upon ethnicity, and ethnicity was not part of the professor’s OpEd.

Catholics don’t really come with an ethnicity link in the United States, other than we are primarily white and Hispanic; the percentage of blacks who are Catholic has always been small. For Muslims, much of the ethnic mix are of Arabic or African extraction.

Jews? In the United States, they are almost exclusively white, and so indistinguishable in appearance, other than by the way some sects of Judaism in the US dress, that the Nazis in Germany actually published a “Jewface” caricature of ‘Jewish physiognomy,’ because Jews weren’t that easy to distinguish in many cases just by looking. The Nazis wanted everyone to be able to know who was Jewish! In the United States, in most of Europe, Jews are characterized primarily by ethnicity. In a way that would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetically sad, so many good, white Europeans and Americans view Jews as not being white, while much of the Arab Middle East sees Jews as too white, and not ethnically connected to the Holy Land.

Do Mr and Mrs Shapiro attend the synagogue? Does Mr Emhoff go to Temple? If anyone has asked those questions, I haven’t seen them, but my point is that the discrimination against Jews is not really religious, at least not in the 21st century. We all seem to know that Jews have a different faith than Christians or Muslims — though I would point out here that every Catholic Mass on Sunday has a reading from the Old Testament, the pre-Christian Jewish holy books — but how many actually understand Judaism, as a religion, to be offended by the religious differences?

And let’s tell the truth here: a large percentage of Americans who might tell you that they are Christian don’t attend church. Joe Biden is famously Catholic, and attends Mass frequently, but his being a Democrat is far, far, far more important to him than being Catholic!

Today’s anti-Semitism is almost entirely political. We good, white Christians drove the Jews out of Europe, because the Nazis tried to kill them all. Half of the Jews of Europe were killed by the Third Reich, but those who survived were thoroughly dispossessed. They couldn’t return to their homes in Europe because they had no homes in Europe, and even if they had, their neighbors would have been the same good, white Christians who turned them over to the Nazis. Zionism was a political movement, started long before the Nazis came to power, but it became a political and social imperative thanks to the Nazis.

Mr Shapiro was not chosen as Mrs Emhoff’s running mate because he is religiously Jewish, but because his ethnic and family history is Jewish. Among today’s fanatical and anti-Semitic left, that’s all it takes.

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Rubbing my hands in glee Could the pro-Hamas radicals recreate the 1968 Democratic National Convention?

1968 Democratic National Convention.

Regardless of their denials, Vice President Kamala Harris Emhoff did not select Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) to be her runningmate because he is Jewish. More, his wife, Lori Shapiro, is also Jewish, as is the Vice President’s husband, Douglas Emhoff. Mrs Emhoff and her campaign staffers had a big picture of how the anti-Semitic far left of the Democratic Party would react to having three Jews out of four on the ticket.

So, she instead selected Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), as the least offensive candidate, but it still might not work. From The Washington Post:

Pro-Palestinian protesters vow massive showing at Democratic convention

Activists say the replacement of President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris does not affect their plans for a show of anger and dissent.

By Yasmeen Abutaleb | Sunday, August 11, 2024 | 6:00 AM EDT | Updated: 3:45 PM EDT

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — The scenes and stenches that greeted Hamza AbdulQader when he crossed Egypt’s border into Gaza in mid-March were far worse than the devastating videos he had watched as war raged in the territory.

I have deleted three useless paragraphs at this point, in which the practitioners of the ‘new’ journalism begin with a small story as a segue into the larger story.

Democratic leaders hoped that Vice President Kamala Harris’s ascent to the top of the ticket would shrink the protests, since she was not the architect of President Joe Biden’s Gaza policies and has been more vocal in challenging Israel and voicing empathy for Palestinians. But to many activists, Harris has not done nearly enough.

“We don’t expect any changes — we’re still anticipating that there will be tens of thousands of people in the streets,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, national chair for the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and a spokesman for the Coalition to March on the DNC, an amalgamation of more than 200 advocacy groups and community organizations. AbdulQader added, “Unless she clearly takes a stance and says this is not okay … that door is shut.”

The night that Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21, more than 80 people logged in to the coalition’s weekly Zoom meeting, Abudayyeh said, and organizers said they were moving ahead as planned even though it looked like Harris would soon become the Democratic nominee. They asked if there were objections, and no one raised concerns.

The same night, the coalition put out a statement saying, “Democratic Party leadership switching out their presidential nominee does not wash the blood of over 50,000 Palestinians off their hands. When it comes to the genocide in Gaza there is no difference between Biden, Harris, or any of the likely candidates for the nomination.”

Hey, that’s great! Recreate 1968, please!

I have a difficult time picturing many of the pro-‘Palestinian,’ pro-Hamas demonstrators voting for former President Donald Trump, but I’d be perfectly happy if they were just so angry that they don’t vote at all: that not only takes potential votes away from the top of the ticket, but in the ‘down-ballot’ races as well.

American Jews normally give roughly ¾ of their votes to the Democrats, but if they see the Usual Suspects rioting in front of the Democratic National Convention, and Mrs Emhoff and her minions trying to mealy-mouth platitudes to the pro-Hamas crowd, that number just might change. They’ll realize the two-faced actions, and then remember that it was President Trump and his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, engineered the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and which was later supported by Bahrain and Oman. They’ll also remember that it was President Trump who finally ended the practice of American Presidents certifying every six months that the American embassy in Israel could not be moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, as required by a 1996 law, and moved our embassy to the Israeli capital.

There’s still a lot that can happen, and only the Lord knows who will win the elections, but anything that weakens the Democrats is a good thing.

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Democrisy: the leftists who loved outside money in their campaigns hate it when Other People use it to defeat Democrats

When she first moved to the Bluegrass State, my younger daughter was employed by the United States Postal Service, working out of the Post Office in Versailles. One thing about which she complained was the huge volume of mail sent out by Amy McGrath Henderson[1]Even though she did not respect her husband, Erik Henderson, enough to have taken his last name, I shall not show similar disrespect to him. during her campaign, first for the Democratic nomination and then the general election in 2018 for the Sixth Congressional District seat held by Representative Andy Barr (R-KY). Overall, Mrs Henderson wound up spending $8,274,396 to Mr Barr’s $5,580,477, but she still lost, 51.0% to 47.8%. Much of Mrs Henderson’s money came from outside of the Sixth District, and outside of Kentucky altogether.

Amusingly enough, Mr Barr’s campaign found a video of Mrs Henderson fund raising . . . in Massachusetts! It was there in which she uttered those unforgettable words, “I am further left, I am more progressive, than anyone in the state of Kentucky.” Perhaps, just perhaps, that didn’t help her much in the Bluegrass State. Including mostly liberal Lexington, the Sixth District is less solidly Republican and conservative than the rest of Kentucky, but she still couldn’t win here. And yes, I live in the Sixth District.

Undeterred by her defeat, Mrs Henderson decided to challenge Senator Mitch McConnell in 2020. In her Senate campaign, Mrs Henderson raised $94,120,557 and spent $90,775,744 compared to Mr McConnell’s $71,351,350 and $64,787,889, only to lose 38.2% to 57.8%. As it happens, Mrs Henderson had the lowest percentage total against Mr McConnell of any of his opponents save sacrificial lamb candidate Lois Combs Weinberg in 2002.

$90+ million is a huge amount to spend in a conservative state like Kentucky:

An analysis of the money raised in the Kentucky race shows much of it is coming from people who live outside the state.

The Metro areas that have contributed the most to both campaigns are from New York City, Washington DC and Los Angeles California, according to the non-partisan website Open Secrets.

I thought of that as I read with amusement how Representative Cori Bush Merritts[2]Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Cortney Merritts, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect. (Hamas-MO) and her supporters whined about outside money following her primary loss. This is from the far left magazine, Mother Jones:

One of the Most Vocal Proponents of a Ceasefire in Gaza Just Lost

First, it was Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York. Now, it is Rep. Cori Bush in Missouri. In a race with a lot of AIPAC money, another member of the Squad is defeated.

by Sophie Hurwitz | Tuesday, August 6, 2024

In one of the most watched primaries this year, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) — among the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire — lost to St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, who jumped into the race late, and with the backing of millions of dollars from pro-Israel groups. The Associated Press called the race for Bell around 10:00 PM local time.

“Organized people beat organized money,” Bush’s campaigners have repeated. This race, however, has tested whether that’s true: as of election day, it is the second-most expensive Congressional primary in American history — and the money has, indeed, made a difference.

Bell dropped out of his bid to dethrone Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and chose to challenge Bush soon after the war began in Gaza. Bell has benefited from an incredibly well-funded advertising campaign since then.

Over half of all the outside money spent on the race came from the United Democracy Project (UDP), the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)’s electoral arm. The money UDP spent here is second only to that which they spent on a successful campaign to defeat Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York. In total, UDP spent nearly 9 million dollars in MO-01, bolstered by $1.5 million from the crypto PAC Fairshake. Bush and her backers also attracted some outside spending: Justice Democrats, a progressive PAC founded by former campaigners for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sent $2 million her way.

Then comes the author’s major complaint:

Bell’s choice to take that money has been divisive. Mike Jones, a 75-year-old former alderman and Board of Education member with a long career in St. Louis politics put it this way: “I think everybody knows that the race is not about the issues that have surfaced. It’s about the issue nobody’s talking about.” On most issues, Bell and Bush’s stances are near-identical. “So, literally, the only reason for this campaign, at a political level, is AIPAC money,” Jones said.

It doesn’t take much perusing of Sophie Hurwitz’s Mother Jones author page to see that she’s totally in the bag for the ‘Palestinian’ cause. Her article on the defeat of Mrs Merritts’ fellow squadristi,[3]I use the term ‘squadristi,’ the singular of which is ‘squadrista,’ to mock the so-called ‘squad.’ ‘Squadristi‘ was the Italian nickname for Benito … Continue reading Jamaal Bowman (Hamas-NY) noted that he “did not back away from pro-Palestine rhetoric” and that he lost to “a lot of AIPAC money”. Of course, the editorial slant of the entire magazine is pro-‘Palestinian’.

Shockingly enough, American Jews mostly support Israel, the officially Jewish state. Is it any surprise that, when Israel is locked in an existential struggle against Hamas terrorists, that American Jews would support Israel? American Jews are mostly politically liberal, and normally give about ¾ of their votes to Democrats, but I have heard it said before that while support for Israel and Zionism is far from universal among them, there is a bare minimum requirement that candidates support the survival of Israel. Squadristi like Mr Bowman, Mrs Merritt, and the rest have threatened that bare minimum of support. Add to that the anti-Semitic demonstrations on so many college campuses, on which this site has frequently reported, and it’s no wonder that so many American Jews are concerned.

The truly laughable part is how the same Democrats who used outside money in 2018 and 2020 are so very upset about other people marshaling outside money to defeat certain candidates. Perhaps Mrs Merritts and Mr Bowman would not have lost their elections without outside money, but it’s just as probable that the Democrats wouldn’t have seized control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections without it.

References

References
↑1 Even though she did not respect her husband, Erik Henderson, enough to have taken his last name, I shall not show similar disrespect to him.
↑2 Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Cortney Merritts, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect.
↑3 I use the term ‘squadristi,’ the singular of which is ‘squadrista,’ to mock the so-called ‘squad.’ ‘Squadristi‘ was the Italian nickname for Benito Mussolini’s fascist paramilitary Black Shirts, and today’s American far-left are nothing if not fascist themselves. As I have said many times before, they are pro-choice on exactly one thing, prenatal infanticide, and support government control over every other choice Americans have.
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Cori Bush Merritts continually trashed Israel, but she thinks it’s wholly unfair that she gets called to account for it She lost, and she is royally pissed!

Paul Szypula tweeted out the outraged rant of Representative Cori Bush Merritts[1]Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Cortney Merritts, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect. (Hamas-MO) after she realized that she had been defeated in the Democratic primary for renomination to Missouri’s 1st congressional district. Perhaps she realized that, serving four full years in that seat does not make her eligible for a congressional pension. 🙂

So, who needs to be afraid? Why, the Joooos, of course!

Squad Member Bush Vows to Fight Pro-Israel Group After Loss

by Christian Hall and Bill Allison | Wednesday, August 7, 2024 | 3:06 PM EDT

(Bloomberg) — US Representative Cori Bush said that she will go after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee after she lost a bitter and expensive primary battle driven by Democratic divisions over the war in Gaza.

“AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down,” the Missouri Democrat said in a fiery speech following her defeat to local prosecutor Wesley Bell.

Wesley Bell is hardly a great guy, himself a ‘progressive’ prosecutor, but he apparently isn’t an anti-Semite like Mrs Merritts, and he’s not completely insane. In 2020, he decided that he would not press charges against Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who justifiably shot and killed Michael Brown Jr, the oversized thug who roughed up a bodega owner half his size in a robbery. He didn’t say that such exonerated Mr Wilson, but said he could not prove murder or manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt. Nevertheless, he is a liberal, and will almost certainly win the general election in the one-sided first district.

The loss is the second for a member of the “squad” — an informal group of progressives in the US House. Just weeks earlier, Representative Jamaal Bowman, another Israel critic, lost a primary in the New York suburbs to George Latimer, who was also backed by AIPAC.

I refer to them as the squadristi, the Italian nickname for Benito Mussolini’s Black Shirts. Today’s far left are every bit as fascist as the Italian dictator. I’ve said it many times before: today’s left are pro-choice on exactly one thing.

Bell, who benefited from $9.5 million in ad spending from pro-Israel groups, according to AdImpact, had implored voters to “stand with Israel,” drawing a sharp contrast with the two-term Democrat who has accused Israel of committing war crimes in its response to the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas. The US and European Union deem Hamas a terrorist organization.

Mrs Merritts refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization.

Next up is squadrista Representative Ilhan Omar Mynett[2]Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Tim Mynett, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect. (Hamas-MN), who is facing a primary election next week.

Progressives argued that the massive amounts raised by Israel supporters are intrusive in local races.

“This would not be a race without AIPAC lifting up this man,“ said Usamah Andrabi, the communications director of Justice Democrats, a PAC that supports Bush and other squad members.

How odd. I can’t seem to recall “progressives” complaining when they spent multiple millions of dollars of ‘outside’ money propping up Democratic candidates in the 2018 and 2020 congressional elections. In Kentucky, my home state, they helped make the 2018 sixth congressional district race extremely expensive, propping up Amy McGrath Henderson[3]Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Erik Henderson, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect. in her nevertheless losing general election campaign against Representative Andy Barr (R-KY), or the same Mrs Henderson in her nevertheless losing general election campaign against Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a race into which the left pumped $100 million.

Sauce for the goose, Mrs Merritts.

References

References
↑1 Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Cortney Merritts, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect.
↑2 Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Tim Mynett, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect.
↑3 Just because she didn’t respect her husband, Erik Henderson, enough to have taken his last name does not mean I shall show him similar disrespect.
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Journolism: How can we call the credentialed media actually credentialed these days? They deliberately concealed Joe Biden's descent into dementia because they hate Donald Trump so much

No, that’s not a typo in the headline! The spelling ‘journolism’ or ‘journolist’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity.

Jennifer Rubin is the former ‘neoconservative’ columnist and warmonger for The Washington Post, always agitating for more money and weapons to keep the Russo-Ukrainian War going, and completely infected by #TrumpDerangementSyndrome. On May 19th, she wrote:

President Biden took the media and political world by surprise in challenging Donald Trump to two debates — and then swiftly accepting offers from CNN and ABC. Trump accepted the debates, on June 27 and Sept. 10, but whether he will show up is another matter.

Yup, Mr Trump showed up! Oops!

Trump has done Biden a favor over the past few months by painting the president as an infirm, doddering old man. If Biden appears even remotely sane, alert and engaged at the debates, he will have defied expectations. Moreover, Biden already accomplished an important component of a successful debate. In getting out in front to reach quick agreements with CNN and ABC, the president might have snagged, for the CNN-hosted June 27 debate in Atlanta, two of the most competent moderators available. Continue reading →

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MSNBC worried that their talking heads’ #TrumpDerangementSyndrome will be exposed even more

MSNBC was widely mocked after they sidestepped their AM show, Morning Joe, on Monday, due to fears that one or more of hosts Joe Scarborough’s and Mika Brzezinski Scarborough’s guests, or perhaps the couple themselves, might say something just boneheadedly crazy following the assassination attempt aimed at former President Donald Trump. That fear was hardly unreasonable, given that Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok has shown us dozens of statements the haters have posted on social media lamenting that the would-be assassin failed. Miss Raichik succeeded in many regards, as some of these #TrumpDerangementSyndrome-addled people have now found themselves unemployed. The bosses at MSNBC knew that Mr and Mrs Scarborough were deeply affected and infected with that disease, as many of their guests are as well. Continue reading →

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Denial is not a river in Egypt

Last Thursday’s debate appearance by President Joe Biden finally brought reality home to millions of Democrats, from the Editorial Board at The New York Times to that of The Washington Post to private citizens everywhere. It seems that they were shocked, shocked! by the images of a President who appeared to be sinking into some stage of dementia.[1]The thoroughly consumed by #TrumpDerangementSyndrome Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Inquirer, seeing the Times’ editorial title of “To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave … Continue reading

This was no surprise to anyone who had been paying attention, but either the American left had not been paying attention, or were refusing to believe the evidence of their own eyes because they did not want to believe the evidence of their eyes. From The Wall Street Journal:

The World Saw Biden Deteriorating. Democrats Ignored the Warnings.

European officials expressed worries about Biden’s focus and stamina before Thursday’s debate

Continue reading →

References

References
↑1 The thoroughly consumed by #TrumpDerangementSyndrome Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Inquirer, seeing the Times’ editorial title of “To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race,” came up with “To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race.“
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Joltin’ Joe Biden is going to fight on!

Remember: Axios reported that unnamed White House staffers told them that Joe Biden is “dependably engaged” between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM! Of course, a google search to see if any of the other major credentialed media picked up on that claim, even just to refute it, turned up nothing. The media are going to resolutely ignore it for as long as possible.

From The New York Times:

Biden’s Family Tells Him to Keep Fighting as They Huddle at Camp David

President Biden is trying to figure out how to tamp down Democratic anxiety after last week’s disastrous debate performance.

By Katie Rogers and Peter Baker | Sunday, June 30, 2024 | 4:47 PM EDT

President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance, even as some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how he was prepared for the event by his staff, people close to the situation said on Sunday.

That’s right: blame the staffers! Continue reading →