Thursday, September 21, 2006

But we are all Jews!

UPDATED: as promised in comments

While looking back over the old posts during the Webb/Miller fight over Miller being Jewish, I came across a common theme, that I had missed at the time.

First, here's Lowell Feld, responding to the charge that the Webb campaign was making sure Virginians knew that Miller was jewish:


They are also "Jewbaiting" three original members of the Webb "draft" - Josh Chernila, Lee Diamond, and myself - all of whom were raised Jewish.


Then there is Ben Tribbet (NotLarrySabato):


Since I am Jewish, I find this to be the most offensive thing ever said about me.


The implication was that, as Jews, they couldn't possibly be using Miller's Jewishness against him.

But in fact, the opposite is true.

They would have a unique perspective of what being known as Jewish means to how you are perceived by others. A non-Jewish person might have no idea how being known as Jewish makes people think less of you, or causes them to treat you differently.

So in fact, someone who knows that might be more likely to use it against political opponents than someone who doesn't. Or at least, not less likely.

Now, I don't know whether these people, and others involved in the Webb campaign, all mean what they are saying all the time. I can only speak to the MESSAGE they are sending, not their motivations. It could be that they don't understand what it means to go out of their way to label someone a Jew, especially in the context of calling a mother a racist.

What is evident is that Lowell (who put a Jewish Star of David on his web site for a time this week before yanking it without explanation), and Ben, and others associated with Webb, are working hard to make sure the "Allen - Jewish" connection is known to the world.

And given the anti-semitism of some "Progressives" posting at DailyKos and other web sites, and the attempts by Democrat bloggers three weeks ago to figure out how to "use" Allen's Jewish heritage against him, I think it is fair to ask "why are Ben and the other Webb supporters so fixated on labelling Allen a Jew?"

Updated: Fixed capitalization of "Democrat", "Allen", "Jew", "Progressives", and "Jewish".

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because "macaca" was stale and focusing on issues is out of the question.

Thanks for being fair, Charles.

James Young said...

Of course, Charles, what unites them is not their ethnic heritage, or a shared religious faith. What unites them is a shared faith in Liberalism, and a shared desire for political power. And for the far Left (I find myself disappointed that Ben's in this crowd), shared faith in government power trumps everything.

Anonymous said...

I'll be updating the main post later today, to apologize to Ben and correct the record, specifically because Ben was right after all, Allen's mother apparently WAS jewish. Allen didn't come right out and say it in his press release, but it was there if you read closely, and now we know why -- because Allen's mother just told him last month, and swore him to secrecy.

Anyway, Ben wins for outing an 83-year-old women who has kept her heritage hidden from her family her whole life and didn't want to risk alienating them in her twilight years because they are all she had.

But he was correct, I was wrong, and I apologize.

Charles.

Anonymous said...

As if to make my point, Lowell posted at RaisingKaine this morning all about the racial and ethnic composition of the Webb campaign:
The Webb Campaign Staff vs. the Allen Campaign Staff

He charges that Allen's entire campaign staff is all white men, and contrasts that with the "8 jews" on Webb's campaign.

I've NEVER said that Webb was anti-semitic (I did say that his comment about Miller was anti-semitic, but suggested he didn't understand how it was anti-semitic). I've never claimed that Webb's campaign was anti-semitic.

I've said that they are fixated on labelling their opponents as jewish, and this post SPECULATE on a reason why, as jews, they would understand how such a charge could be used to hurt a candidate.

Democrats seem fixated on putting people into little groups, labelling them and counting them and having quotas and goals and expecting people to act based on other's ethnicity.

In 64, Martin Luther King had a dream that we would all be judged on our character, not our ethnicity. His dream is dead, killed by the people who once marched with him, but who now want nothing more than to label everybody and treat them differently based on their ethnicity.

Charles

Jon Swift said...

Clearly, Charles, you know a lot about how "being known as a jew makes people think less of you, or causes them to treat you differently." I'm beginning to think you might be a Jew yourself. I just hope you can "embrace" your Jewish heritage the way Allen has.

Joe Friday said...

All this talk about Jews is really getting disgusting.

It's my understanding in order to be accepted in the "circle of influence" in the Jewish faith/race, your Mother, not Father, has to be 100% Jewish. How can Allen be Jewish if is he has some distant Jewish blood in his DNA?

The Jewish faith/race is the only religion that does not actively evangelize for new members. You have to born into the RACE in order to be an influential member.

So what is Allen's status in the synagogue if he were to practice the Faith/Race?

According to the Federal Government you have to have a subsantial % of Native American blood in order to reap the free Higher Education, etc. benefits of that race.

So has anyone actually calculated the % of Jew Allen really is. And what his benefits are? Where's the ADL for Allen? They're no where to be found because he's not really Jewish.