Sunday, June 19, 2005

Democrats Are In Trouble

There is a terrific article over at The American Thinker, by Richard Baehr that is a must-read. It addresses the sad fact that anti-Semites appear to be welcome in the Democratic party. Who can deny that after the John Conyers mock Judiciary Committee hearing giving a platform to the conspiracy theories of known anti-Semite Ray McGovern? What about the corresponding anti-Semitic pamphlets being handed out at the DNC headquarters at the same time? The following paragraph eloquently lays it out.

But when the Democratic Party sponsors what amounts to a festival full of anti-Semitic hysteria and Israel bashing at its own headquarters, and invites anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists in to address members of their Congressional delegation, then I think that the line of basic support for Israel has been crossed. Arguably, when former President Jimmy Carter invited filmmaker and Israel hater Michael Moore to share his Presidential box at the 2004 Democratic convention, the line had already been crossed.  Or maybe it was crossed when the entire Democratic establishment treated Jew-baiter Al Sharpton as a serious Presidential candidate and respected member of the Party in 2004. Now, there can be little doubt.

If the democrats have any hope of taking back the White House or even one of the Congressional Houses, this isn't a great way to go about it. The moderates need to come forward and reclaim the party.

14 Comments:

At 5:47 AM, Blogger Always On Watch said...

Found you through one of your comments at TheBeakSpeaks...

The Democratic Party has moved in a direction which is frightening. They have buddied up to nut-cases and jihadists, in effect making a mainstream political party a 5th column of the enemy.

At this point, I'm not holding my breath for the moderates to take back the Party. As I see it, the lunatics are in charge, and their hold is very strong.

 
At 7:16 AM, Blogger Timothy Birdnow said...

The Democrats had been the party of slavery, Jim Crowe, seperate but equal, etc.

Today it is the home of the radical left, and leftists have always hated anyone who doesn`t fall into line.

It comes as small surprise that anti-Semitism is rearing it`s ugly head in their ranks. Where else are the racists and lunatic fringe welcome?

 
At 8:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The problem is I don't know how much better the Republicans are. Look at Condelezza Rice's attitude to what is happening in Israel. Even if you are pro-engagment one must wonder where this woman has been for the last ten years to say, with a stright face, that she doesn't think Palestinian moms want their children to be suicide bombers, when that is exactly what their mother's are raising them to be.

 
At 9:27 AM, Blogger Tran Sient said...

Anytime Howard Dean is attempting to moderate something from his own party, you know they've got a problem.

 
At 2:00 PM, Blogger beakerkin said...

I have taken heat for similar comments. There just is no place for Jews in the Democratic Party. The refusal of the party to deal with the left wing Utopians is unfathomable.

I squared off against these types in the Cold War and history will not be as kind as some think. The problem is nihlism via jihad or Marx the result is death.

 
At 3:47 PM, Blogger Esther said...

Thanks AOW. Much appreciated. :) I'm afraid your comments on the dems is accurate, no matter how much it pains me to say that.

Timothy...well there is one other place. The radical right. The far left and right meet in one place -- anti-Semitism.

rachel ann....sad but true. It truly is a world of lesser evils, I'm afraid.

lol TS, you're probably right.

beak.... :(

 
At 4:14 PM, Blogger Dan Zaremba said...

"Today it is the home of the radical left, and leftists have always hated anyone who doesn`t fall into line."
Timothy - right on target.

It also fits pefectly the anti-capitalist stand if you believe that the Jews own it all.
Yer enemy is clearly defined.
U$rael.

 
At 2:54 PM, Blogger Dan Nexon said...

Let me throw out an alternative position:

I find the Democratic party far more hospitable than the Republican party. Why? Because I don't worry about them legislating "Christian values" and I don't see any evidence that their foreign-policy leadership is particularly anti-Israel.

Let's also remember that being opposed to Israel's policies is not the same thing as being anti-semitic. What happened at these hearings seem to have gone far over the line, and there is NO doubt that a lot of the European left uses anti-Israeli rhetoric as a mask for base anti-semitism, but I don't necessarily equate opposition to the right-wing of Likud with anti-semitism. I have too many friends in the Israeli left and Israeli center to feel that way.

I'm NOT saying anybody here is doing what I've described. But I think that drawing the distinction helps explain why a lot of Jews - who aren't particularly different than non-Jews in terms of where they poll on Israel policy, and who also trend a lot more liberal than the Republican party on domestic issues, won't jump ship on the Dems.

Moreover, for every one of these lefty nutjobs, there's a Pat Robertson ("bring the Jews to Israel so that the second-coming can happen and they can be converted or die") or the equivalent. Although the story might be an urban legend, there's the incident of the push-poll in South Carolina. All in all, reasons why 75%-80% of Jews vote Democratic.

 
At 4:09 PM, Blogger Esther said...

Marty, my friend, you have truly gone over the deep end if you're showing me The Guardian of all things as any type of proof of anything.

 
At 4:14 PM, Blogger Esther said...

Well said, felis.

That's scary, gindy.

Daniel, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! You're the second one (hi Kevin if you're out there) to bring up the need to separate criticism of Likud from anti-Semitism. Where are you guys hearing this stuff? Not on my blog, at least. I don't get it. Personally, I have plenty of issues with what's going down in Israel. Hell, so do most Israelis. ;) There is a definite difference and maybe I'm naive, but I don't think telling the difference (between honest criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism) is all that hard.

 
At 4:49 PM, Blogger Esther said...

Marty, it's not silly. I think we've had the discussion before about being wary of who you're willing to get into bed with to make a point. A washington post link doesn't illicit the same type of virulant response from me as one from the Guardian. I've seen enough anti-Israel rhetoric out of them that I have no desire to see what they print. If that makes me silly, I can live with that.

As to your article, that i should worry about our country instead, I don't see it as a mutually exclusive issue. I can worry about many things at once. :) While I don't like the idea of an abusive environment at the Academy, frankly I am more worried that Dems are welcoming a known anti-Semite into their midst to give testimony on something that can be aired (thus used by our enemies) throughout the world -- and then have a group giving out anti-Israel pamphlets at the headquarters of the Democratic party to boot!

 
At 5:06 PM, Blogger Dan Nexon said...

Esther,

You know me from gindyblog, but under my pseudonym.

You're right, I don't see that going on here. I just wanted to preempt any counterargument about the miniscule differences between Republican and Democratic policy on Israel.

I think one reason why the Likud issue crops up is because of the argument, which appears from time to time, over whether the term "Likudnic" is code for "Jew." I also do think there are a number of prominent Jewish groups that don't do a good job of distinguishing between criticisms of Israel and anti-semitism. I understand their position - again, I reference what goes on in the European left - but I do think it cheapens real anti-semitism (e.g., the Jews knew about 9-11).

 
At 5:23 PM, Blogger Esther said...

LOL, Daniel. Whew! With "two" of you thinking that, I thought I was totally missing something. :) I think if anyone started to get into that here, enough people would come to the defense. It's a pretty great group. Even with those I tend to disagree with, and they (and others) know who they are, it's usually all in good spirit. Bottom line -- we love Israel and want to see her survive and prosper.

 
At 11:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The moderates need to come forward and reclaim the party."

So, so true. (Sorry I missed this dialogue last night. Some very interesting comments!)

 

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