Recall Rancor (Smearing Davis Recall Leader As A Nazi Based On Ridiculous Proof)

Forward ^ | July 11, 2003

[PJ-Comix]

Recall Rancor: In California, the forces that are trying to stop the recall of the state's Democratic governor, Gray Davis, are taking a new tack in their effort to paint the recall's main sponsor, Rep. Darrell Issa, as an extremist: They're trying to link him to Nazi sympathizers.

Issa, a San Diego Republican who has given the recall movement about $1 million of his own money, is using the effort as a platform to launch a campaign for governor, and so, he has become a lightning rod for the pro-Davis forces.

According to a report in The Sacramento Bee, Democratic operatives last week played reporters a video that was taped during Issa's unsuccessful 1998 run for Senate. The video showed that Issa's campaign had set up a table at a Southern California gun show where at least one other exhibit displayed a flag with a swastika. Nothing in the video, however, showed any interaction between the Issa supporters and the Nazi paraphernalia exhibitors, the report said.

Even so, Carroll Wills, a spokesman for the main anti-recall group, Taxpayers Against the Recall, told the Bee, "I think that there are an awful lot of politicians who would eschew the idea of participating in any event where that type of flag is shown."

An Issa spokesman, Jonathan Wilcox, for his part, called the Democrats' video "a crude tactic and gutter politics."

The press conference, whose ostensible purpose was to highlight Issa's pro-gun stance, is only the latest Democratic attempt to link the congressman to extremist groups. Two weeks ago in the Forward, another spokesman for Taxpayers Against the Recall scored Issa — who is of Lebanese descent and who has engaged in informal Middle East diplomacy — for his supposed ties to Yasser Arafat and Hezbollah. An indignant Issa responded to the Forward that he is "a friend of Israel," and a Democratic congressman backed him up.

The gun show-related press conference got poor reviews in the Golden State. "Gunning for Issa, Davis Stoops to New Low," read a headline in Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub's Web log, "California Insider."

Pro-Davis forces have had more luck pointing out Issa's early brushes with the law. Papers in California have been filled with stories about how Issa was arrested in the early 1970s on illegal-weapons and auto-theft charges, most of which were dropped. One misdemeanor gun conviction resulted in a $100 fine and three months probation, reports said.

The recall effort's supporters announced last week that they had enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

[PJ-Comix]

This is RIDICULOUS! These gun shows are quite large and there is NO connection between any two booths. This shows how DESPERATE the anti-recall folks are.

That said, however, there is a certain type of Nazi paraphenalia vendor at some of the gun shows that I do find disturbing. Those are the vendors that aren't selling just historical Third Reich stuff. I have no problem with that since I even recently sold a WWII German college catalog with some Nazi symbols in it to a vendor who bought and sold AUTHENTIC material. The vendors that I do find disturbing are the ones who sell BRAND NEW Nazi regalia. I was at a gun show recently where one vendor was selling brand new T-Shirts covered with all sorts of SS stuff. And I don't mean just a few. Virtually ALL of the T-Shirts were of the same theme. One T-Shirt even had some SS symbols along with the English words "Our Genetic Heritage." Ironically, the guy working that table was a pretty poor physical specimen himself. Also he must be a mental poor physical specimen to sell those T-Shirts. Since I am sure outright Nazi propaganda would be forbidden at these shows, I don't know why these T-shirts are permitted to be sold. And who the hell would want to wear such shirts covered with SS stuff?

However, this slur on Issa is completely ridiculous. So anybody that had a table at the gun show I was at could be similarly slurred just because there was one clueless nutcase of a vendor there?

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[EggsAckley]

Two weeks ago in the Forward, another spokesman for Taxpayers Against the Recall scored Issa — who is of Lebanese descent and who has engaged in informal Middle East diplomacy — for his supposed ties to Yasser Arafat and Hezbollah. An indignant Issa responded to the Forward that he is "a friend of Israel," and a Democratic congressman backed him up.

What's wrong with this picture? Let's see, these Dims are generally anti Israel. But NOW they're suddenly smearing Issa because he is Lebanese. What hypocrits!

[PJ-Comix]

Most likely Issa is of CHRISTIAN Lebanese descent which would mean he would be hostile to Arafat and especially Hezbollah since the latter want to abolish any other religion from the Middle East other than Muslim. Actually they even want to ban most other Muslim sects other than their own. So the folks making the charge don't even understand the history and culture of the Mideast. DOPES!

[George W. Bush]

Not only that but there is no public record of Issa emerging from the movies Schindler's List or The Pianist weeping and gnashing his teeth and renting his cloak.

A Nazi for sure.

[alloysteel]

Absence of evidence to the contrary, therefore, means that the accusation stands. The old question, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" does not permit a simple "yes" or "no" answer. But in the eyes of the jury, the seed is planted. ("He beats his wife? Why would the prosecuter ask?")