Posted on 08/10/2015 3:42:08 PM PDT by Kaslin
Tablet Magazine is not exactly a bastion of conservative thought among Jewish American publications. In fact, the editors didn’t appear impressed with Senator Chuck Schumer’s decision to oppose the deal with Iran that Barack Obama and John Kerry insist that Congress refrain from rejecting, calling it “calculations” geared toward Schumer’s “self-interest.” But they have been even less impressed with the rhetoric coming from the White House and the Left in demanding support for the deal, calling it “Jew-baiting” and worse. The editors blasted Obama for using the kind of rhetoric they would expect from white supremacists, not a President with a good case for supporting an agreement with Iran:
What we increasingly can’t stomach—and feel obliged to speak out about right now—is the use of Jew-baiting and other blatant and retrograde forms of racial and ethnic prejudice as tools to sell a political deal, or to smear those who oppose it. Accusing Senator Schumer of loyalty to a foreign government is bigotry, pure and simple. Accusing Senators and Congressmen whose misgivings about the Iran deal are shared by a majority of the U.S. electorate of being agents of a foreign power, or ofselling their votes to shadowy lobbyists, or of acting contrary to the best interests of the United States, is the kind of naked appeal to bigotry and prejudice that would be familiar in the politics of the pre-Civil Rights Era South.
This use of anti-Jewish incitement as a political tool is a sickening new development in American political discourse, and we have heard too much of it lately—some coming, ominously, from our own White House and its representatives. Let’s not mince words: Murmuring about “money” and “lobbying” and “foreign interests” who seek to drag America into war is a direct attempt to play the dual-loyalty card. It’s the kind of dark, nasty stuff we might expect to hear at a white power rally, not from the President of the United States—and it’s gotten so blatant that even many of us who are generally sympathetic to the administration, and even this deal, have been shaken by it.
We do not accept the idea that Senator Schumer or anyone else is a fair target for racist incitement, anymore than we accept the idea that the basic norms of political discourse in this country do not apply to Jews. Whatever one feels about the merits of the Iran deal, sales techniques that call into question the patriotism of American Jews are examples of bigotry—no matter who does it. On this question, we should all stand in defense of Senator Schumer.
It’s a big contrast with Schumer’s own argument, writes David Adesnik at the Weekly Standard. Schumer probably didn’t win many brownie points with his extensive thoughts on opposing the deal, but it comes across as “courtly,” Adesnik says, especially in comparison to the White House’s rhetoric:
If Schumer’s goal were to lose the fewest friends possible, he could have provided a tepid rationale for his position that did not lend so much credibility to the arguments made by the deal’s opponents. But Schumer also makes his arguments in a thoughtful, even courtly manner– in sharp contrast to President Obama, who insisted in a mean-spirited address on Thursday that the merits of the deal are so obvious that one should dismiss any criticism as “knee-jerk partisanship” or mercenary opposition bought and paid for by wealthy donors.
Almost from the moment John Kerry returned from Geneva, the Obama administration has tried to steamroll this agreement through Congress by bluster and bullying rather than any sort of nuanced explanation of the purported benefits from the deal. That is certainly one indicator that the deal doesn’t have any to extol, other than the fact that Obama and Kerry agreed to it. Instead, Obama has worked himself up into a bona-fide hysteric by insisting that this is the only path to avoid war, and that any opposition is tantamount to treason.
One has to wonder whether this will backfire in the end. Schumer’s position has undoubted influence on Democrats on Capitol Hill, but had the White House just stood pat and let him vent, it probably would have dissipated. By attacking him and others with such vehemence, it exposes a deep insecurity in their position, and it makes one wonder whether Obama might just lose this vote after all. Those disgusted by the Left’s easy resort to anti-Semitic tropes certainly can wonder about whether this deal might be designed to leave Israel in the lurch against Iran.
Update: Daily Kos certainly jumped into the “dual loyalty” trope very quickly after the White House went on the attack against Schumer:
Daily Kos is calling Chuck Schumer an Israeli Jew Traitor for opposing Iran deal. Seriously: http://t.co/JWxHdXgZeY pic.twitter.com/kf02VlM2Ny
— Jeff B@AoSHQDD (@EsotericCD) August 9, 2015
Update: Jeff Dunetz wrote more about this yesterday, with more examples.
I told my Jewish relatives a couple of years ago that it was only a matter of time before the Democrats turned on them. They told me I was insane.
I has been new-.baiting for years. Nothing new here. “We” elected an enemy agent. We got what we ( supposedly) voted for. And just look at a his enablers,in treason ( both parties, courts, mass media). We are for sure in serious serious danger as now he’s nearly gotten away with training a Fourth Reich insane hostile enemy’s nuclear icbm’ arsenal directly on America.
I have Democrat friends, behind closed doors, that would cheer the holocaust.
I’m not joking.
Jewish Democrats are getting what they deserve, what they asked for. A muslim president.
There were jews in Germany that supported Hitler until they started getting rounded up.
[[President with a good case for supporting an agreement with Iran:]]
And there is the crux of the problem, he does not have a good case for this agreement.
Demonizing the opposition is how he makes his case.
He chastised Ted Cruz for his “rhetoric” but had no dispute on the facts.
I hope the Jewish community is finally waking up to exactly what we have in the White House.
[[I told my Jewish relatives a couple of years ago that it was only a matter of time before the Democrats turned on them. They told me I was insane.]]
What are your Jewish relatives saying now? Have they woken up?
I have Democrat friends, behind closed doors, that would cheer the holocaust.
I’m not joking.
_____________
I thought I was the only one. Even Jews who identify with these overeducated animals.
This Obama rule has been the worst thing for Israel in 60 years—The Democrats—to get Islamic money have sold them downriver. Israel may well be lost because of oil money and corruption—Its the Ship of Fools all over again.
Jewish folks, the dim’s have used you for decades. They pretend to care but they will betray you in the end. Any Jewish person who votes democrat is NOT a Patriot. Any Jewish person who voted for 0 and who is sympathetic to 0s administration is actively working is actively supporting the destruction of America. This also applies to non Jewish who vot democrat and support 0s administration. One other thing, if this nation falls, the marxist / socialist dims are going to need a scapegoat for the nation’s collapse they caused. The Jews will be the scapegoats. You need to work and vote against dim’s as if your life depends on it. Sadly, I believe it does.
Vot=vote
I don’t know, haven’t spoken to them in a while. I got tired of being called a racist for making common sense observations on topics like Obama and illegal immigration.
All liberals of every stripe are crazy insane!
“Jew baiting” not to far from the truth.
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Antisemitic attacks would be more accurate than Jew baiting.
Hey. It’s ancient culture.
“The Jews will be the scapegoats.”
Disagree.
Jews of faith and Christians of faith will be the scapegoats. (The Christians in name only and the “Secular Jews” will be the brilliant, atheist, intellectual geniuses who will become the new gods to be worshipped and obeyed in the camps.)
The biggest problem for the camp workers will be to choose black or brown shirts.
IMHO
IMHO
Black. Definitely black.
Where will you be when the roundup begins?
The Tablet and it’s ilk have rather enjoyed this same racist operating book employed against non-Jewish groups. Now that it is personal they scream the obvious foul. However, they were silent when they came for the Christians, when they came for the non-Jewish whites, and now there is no left to save them, from themselves.
“Where will you be when the roundup begins?”
If it happens as a complete surprise, I don’t know.
If it happens over the course of a few days with warnings and overt actions, probably in the hills somewhere.
:-)
IMHO
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