Jewish Democrats on Howard Gutman: No comment
The National Jewish Democratic Council's reaction to US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman's blaming Israel for anti-Semitism is... no comment!?! I called up the National Jewish Democratic Council to find out whether it would condemn Gutman’s comments. The response from NJDC spokesperson David Streeter: “We have no comment on it.”Later, the NJDC admitted that Gutman was wrong - but still refrained from calling on Obama to fire him:
That’s it? ....
A pro-Israel Democrat, appalled at the NJDC’s silence, emails me: “Democrats should speak out and remind Ambassador Gutman that anti-Semitism existed long before the modern State of Israel. There is no room in our party for anyone — including ambassadors — who seek to find excuses for anti-Semitism and the deep hatred among some Muslims for the Jewish people and our country. Supposedly intellectual descriptions and justifications for root causes of bigotry and anti-Semitic violence is neither intellectual nor intelligent.”
The Republican candidates have been clear on this. And yet, not a single Democratic member of Congress has spoken out against Gutman’s comments. Not only does this indicate that President Obama has no plans to recall the ambassador, it’s also a depressing testimonial about the current state of the Democratic Party. If pro-Israel Democrats can’t stand up to Obama on an issue as unambiguous as this, then one wonders what else they would be willing to stay silent on.
After telling Commentary Magazine earlier today that it had "no comment" about the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium's remarks about anti-Semitism, the National Jewish Democratic Council has decided to declare the remarks "wrong and unfortunate."Which 'immediate tough statement' would that be?
In an interview this evening, David Harris, the NJDC's top official, told me that "Ambassador Gutman's comments were wrong and unfortunate, and the White House was right to issue their immediate, tough statement on Saturday."
Harris, however, declined to say whether or not he believed Gutman should resign or be fired from his post.
Their reaction shows that the NJDC is completely incapable of any independent thought. They just take their marching orders from Obama. And most American Jews apparently accept this? Where is the outrage?
Labels: anti-Semitism, Barack Hussein Obama, Howard Gutman, National Jewish Democratic Council
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:25 AM
2 Comments:
Actually, we can do without outrage. It will waste time when there are only 11 months left until the '12 election. The way to think independently and stand up to Obama and the Dems (because it is rotten all the way down into the state and local govts) is to vote them out. Vote them out. And you can help do that in many ways:
- Get in touch with the Republican Jewish Coalition (rjc.org) and 1) donate 2) find out if or what URJ has going on in your area - they are big in the big cities and some of the states have their own chapters. They also just set up a "URJ On Campus" Facebook page. Search Republican Jewish Coalition on Facebook to get some links.
- Find your GOP office for your area. Again, almost everybody and every GOP activity has set up Facebook fan pages. You'll find usually county offices and a state office and then a thing that I think they run through the state office called Victory (I think it is an Acorn counter - and please note that Acorn gets tax money and are supposed to be non-partisan BY LAW.). ALL of the Republican activities are volunteer and donation run, although the Victory stuff comes from the national organization.
- I have NEVER done anything for politics other than vote. I was an independent for decades until I figured out that the Dems were ripping off public money in my state, which has many poor people in it. This fall I got involved and am helping in the office and writing articles for our local GOP newsletter. I'm also helping with event planning and mailer creation (every postcard takes a bunch of $$ to get out to enough people).
- If you can't bring yourself to work with the GOP, figure out all the ways and places you can legally donate and write checks to the GOP entities that you find (along with RJC and RJC On Campus). There are different limits for different donations (candidates, party administration, 501c3's, PACs, etc.). Keep a careful accounting of donations and don't cheat, but put in the legal max that you can afford. The TV ads seem to be what eats up the megabucks, but lots can be done locally with normal sized donations. I've got our area talked into starting "task buckets", where we $estimate tasks and then people can allot their donation checks to fill the bucket for that task. That way, they will know exactly where their $$ will be used (a mailer, rent on the office, etc.).
Anyway, channel the outrage into voting these people out.
Typo alert above: I meant "RJC On Campus", not "URJ On Campus". Note to self: proofread!
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