Though his actions haven't been overt, there have been suggestions that the Webb campaign, or at least workers and supporters, have used the Jewish issue as a negative campaign issue. Both from the perspective of being a Jew, and denying his Jewish ancestry. Of course this question was asked by a reporter, not Webb.
The same accusations were made against Webb in the Democratic primary, where he also faced a Jewish candidate, "anti-Christ of outsourcing.".
Webb vs. Miller
[Greg Pollowitz 06/08 02:40 PM]
The latest is that James Webb sent out a campaign flier with the following caricature of Harris Miller, who is Jewish. The picture is being called Anti-Semitic and Webb has been accused of "jewbaiting".
Here's the picture:
From the Free Lance-Star:
Scholars of political literature had mixed reactions upon seeing the flier.
"That doesn't look so good. There's no question to me that's replete with anti-Semitic stereotypes," said Mark Feldstein, an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University. "I'm not someone who readily cries anti-Semitism, but I think it's hard to look at this and not see a number of anti-Semitic stereotypes plugged into this ad, from the hook nose to the 'antichrist' to the money-grubbing character."
Bruce Newman, a professor of marketing at DePaul University and editor of the Journal of Political Marketing, said it reminded him of 1930s German propaganda, where the Jewish character was subtly made out to be the thieving villain.
"It very much crosses the line," said Newman, who is Jewish. "I'm speaking with my professional hat on now. It's a modern-day caricature of the quote-unquote villain, the one who's out to make life difficult and hurt people in the town. I've seen literature from those days and this offends me quite a bit."
University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said the flier wasn't really any worse than other campaign literature he'd seen in hotly contested races.
"I think that's a real stretch to call that anti-Semitic, and I'm not usually inclined to give candidates the benefit of the doubt," Sabato said.
A spokeswoman for Miller said her team originally thought the flier was a prank not produced by the Webb campaign. They're bothered by it, Taylor West said, but they're focused more on Tuesday's primary. The winner will face Republican Sen. George Allen in November.
"There's a role in calling attention to differences, but this cartoon is so outlandish. It ought to be an embarrassment to their campaign. It's so far beyond what any Virginia candidate has had lobbed at them," she said. "Despite the very personal attacks, we're going to focus on our message."