Posted on 08/14/2002 3:21:26 PM PDT by knighthawk
For many New Yorkers, this summer's most emotional election will be held Tuesday in DeKalb County, Ga. The race for the Democratic nomination in the 4th Congressional District pits incumbent Cynthia McKinney against Judge Denise Majette. Both are black Christians, but their primary has become a national Jewish-Arab battlefield.
McKinney is the Arab candidate. After 9/11, she scolded then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani for turning down $10 million from an anti-Israel Saudi prince and asked for the money for her own causes. She accused President Bush of failing to stop the bombing of New York and stirring up Mideast war to benefit arms-industry Republicans.
Majette, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, is the anti-McKinney. Her Web site prominently features an American flag, and she is happily pro-Israel. Last week, in a televised debate, Majette went after McKinney's base. "On 9/11," she admonished her opponent, "while the rest of the world watched in horror ... you were counting money received from some people who have been named as Arab terrorists."
"All our donations are legal," McKinney tepidly replied.
Maybe so, but McKinney's donor list reads like the Ramallah phone book. Her campaign manager, Bill Banks, concedes that most of the money comes from out-of-state contributors with Arabic surnames, but he regards this with equanimity. "Money is money," he says. Besides, "A lot of people named Muhammad have been in America two or three generations."
McKinney's supporters are an Arab-American who's who. They include Nihad Awad, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations; Sami Al-Arian, the much-investigated Palestinian Florida professor whose public utterances include, "Let us damn America, let us damn Israel, let us damn their allies until death"; Abdurahman Alamoudi, a leader of the American Muslim Council who proclaimed his support for Hamas and Hezbollah at a demonstration in front of the White House in 2000, and Jamal Barzinji, chairman of the Virginia-based Saar Foundation, which is under federal scrutiny.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that McKinney has 18 donors who are "officers of Muslim foundations under investigation by the FBI, have voiced support for Palestinian and Lebanese terrorist organizations or have made inflammatory statements about Jews."
The Jewish community has responded to this electoral jihad by pouring money into Majette's campaign. The challenger has raised $1.2 million - an unheard-of amount for an untried challenger in Georgia. That's almost double McKinney's war chest and 10 times more than any of her previous opponents raised.
Early in the campaign, Majette's money came mostly from Georgians. But in the last two weeks, money has been flowing in from Jews living in Connecticut, California, Florida and, especially, New York. Majette's finance manager expects at least another $100,000 and perhaps much more by Primary Day.
As usual in politics, money matters. When the race began, McKinney was a heavy favorite. Now independent polls give Majette a slight lead. Her camp says it has a private survey that puts the challenger ahead by double digits. McKinney's manager says the race is even.
In a June Democratic primary in Alabama, pro-Arab Rep. Earl Hilliard lost a money-raising contest and a primary to a pro-Israel challenger. McKinney may very well have the same experience. That would make a lot of people in DeKalb County, Ga., very happy. And a lot of people in New York, too.
DITTO!
I live here. A Majette victory would be a victory for the whole nation.
McKinney is no Christian.
Weeehaaaaw!!!!
That says it all. McKinney and her ilk are all about the money! And she has never put in an honest day's work in her life.
Fellow Freepers: I have voted for a democRAT only once in my 51 years and I don't even remember that person's name. I was simply voting against Pat Swindall who had a little black mark on his record called laundering drug money. So, I held my nose and...
Well it's time to fess up. I will be voting for Denise Majette (a tax and spend liberal) in the August primary. I know some of you are looking away from the screen right now in a spasm of horror. I am sorry. It is something I do with a heavy heart but, take heed, I can still vote Republican in the general election and there is an excellent Republican candidate available.
Driving around the very liberal 4th district this freeper has seen nothing but Majette signs. Some lawns sport two of the things. I give Cynthia the same chance I would give Lester Maddox riding a bicycle backwards through Brooklyn.
Wait! I missed one: THANK YOU!
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