The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) released a statement this afternoon commending House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for “admit[ting] to anti-Semitism within the House Republican caucus” during an interview with Mike Allen today. The problem? Cantor never did that. In fact, when Allen asked him whether he’s detected anti-Semitism from members of Congress, Cantor replied with an unequivocal “no.”
Either the NJDC didn’t actually listen to Cantor’s comments (which you can find here), or just thought the political attack was too good to pass up. The group issued the following:
In an astonishing but brutally honest admission to Politico today, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor—the only Jewish Republican in Congress—openly discussed the challenges of anti-Semitism and racism confronted within the House Republican caucus, adopting his questioner’s labeling of it as the “darker side” of the caucus. National Jewish Democratic Council President and CEO David A. Harris commented:
It’s both admirable and disturbing in the extreme to hear Majority Leader Cantor’s candid remarks regarding the dual challenges of racism and anti-Semitism that he has detected in the House GOP caucus. From the widespread use of abusive Holocaust rhetoric among House GOP members and candidates to behind-the-scenes skirmishes like Cantor’s own well-documented decision to oppose the reelection of Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL) over his statement to Cantor that Cantor would not be ‘saved,’ there are clearly deep-seated problems within the GOP. The time has come for more GOP leaders to have Cantor’s courage to step forward, and for the GOP to start addressing the problem directly—with actions, not just words.
The NJDC’s claim is based on a Think Progress story from earlier today headlined “Cantor Suggests Anti-Semitism is a Problem Within the House GOP Caucus,” which blatantly misrepresented (even by TP’s usual standards of accuracy) the congressman’s comments this morning. At NRO, Patrick Brennan knocks down the story:
TP reported, “Calling it the ‘darker side,’ Cantor responded to Politico’s Mike Allen’s question of whether there is anti-Semitism in Congress by trying to avoid commenting.” While TP is understandably eager to portray the House GOP caucus as “the darker side,” they’re not just spinning his words, they’re lying: Cantor answered the question directly, and didn’t attempt to avoid comment. The fact that he eventually grew tired of Allen’s games and didn’t respond to the final needling can’t be taken as evidence that he actually believes the precise opposite of his initial, straightforward response — which is exactly what TP tries to do.
Cantor’s office said the unambiguous “no” the congressman gave in response to Allen’s question speaks for itself.
This whole thing is being taken way out of context — "can he be 'saved'?" is a question that many employers (of all faiths) routinely ask about problematic employees — can the employee be 'saved' or do we have to fire him? n nAlana, check these numbers but if they are accurate, it puts a whole different spin on all of this: nACU- Manzullo in 2011- 92%; Lifetime- 95% Kinzinger in 2011- 72% nHeritage Action- Manzullo 83%; Kinzinger 63% nTea Party supported Manzullo (not Kinziger). n nNow, this is not happening in a vacuum. The GOP establishment has been going after the TEA Party on a search & destroy basis since the schism that opened up at CPAC in 2010. Alan West and another dedicated conservative in FL both had the GOP legislature play games with their districts, and the Manzullo/Kinziger primary was forced by the Illinois Dem legislature's redistricting. B. Hussain Obama's Illinois, and Cantor wants to be "bipartisan." n nSo we have a RINO Republican leadership which supports a RINO (Alana, check my figures, PLEASE — I am not quite sure how) over a much more conservative Congressman and the latter says that he is not sure that Cantor can be saved. This has nothing to do with Cantor being Jewish and everything to do with him being a RINO so in bed with the Dems that he is beyond salvation. Yes, I am using Christian terms, but I am sure that the various Rabbinical interpretations of the Talmud have something similar about someone like Cantor. n nThe problem is that the army has a general who is not considered loyal to the cause, the Manzullo statement being that the conservative movement needs to remove Cantor along with Obama in order to accomplish what it wishes to accomplish. Again, this has nothing to do with religion, no more than the word "niggardly" is a racial insult. n nAnd of course Eric Cantor isn't commenting on this — the absolute LAST thing he wants coming out is what Manzullo actually meant about "being saved" — that the conservative movement believes Cantor needs to be removed from his post. *IF* the ACU and Heritage stats are correct, it says a lot about a lot of this — and what is Cantor's ratings???? n nAnd if Israel (or some Pro-Israel PAC) rates Congresscritters, what are the ratings for Manzullo, Kinziger, AND CANTOR? For that matter, what are the ratings for the Jewish Dems? nWhere has Barney Frank been on the various Israel issues over the years — I have a pretty good idea, but what are the actual numbers? And what are Cantor's???? n nHmmm…..
I want to know how much of it started with "if you are TEA party, you are an antisemite" — within the GOP — and then like an unchecked wildfire, it jumped the line and now is being used against the GOP as a whole. n nIt is why small boys should not be permitted to play with matches and gasoline.
Jews need to be very careful here. Very careful. If Conservatives get the idea that Jews are not trustworthy partners in today's struggles or are willing to stab pro-Isreal leaders in the back, people are going to do the natural thing and hesitate when the time for hesitation is at the worst possible moment.
It actually is worse. Israel will, if pushed to extremis, do what is necessary for its own survival and if Israel (political leadership thereof) believes that it can trust the Christian Conservatives more than it can trust the Left-leaning American Jews — if Israel is forced to decide between these two groups and forced to pick one as its ally in a desperate struggle for its very survival (and I think that is a fair way to describe what that nation is looking at right now) — Israel is going to pick the group that they know will support them over the group that they aren't so sure about. n nIsraelis love their children too — and when you are worried about your children becoming radioactive dust in the upper atmosphere (i.e. Iranian nukes), you simply don't care about the religious faith of those who are willing to help prevent this. Israel could well ally itself with American Christians at the expense of American Jews, identifying the Conservative Christians as the true supporters of Israel. n nThis would create a schism which lots of folk would exploit and it would get really, really nasty really quickly. Yeats put it best: the middle shall cease to hold…. n
It seems that anything connected to the Democrat Party just becomes corrupted and a shill for the party, leading it to say anything to impugn the Republican Party, no matter how outlandish and untrue,
Hey, wait! I thought it's the left that's peopled by Israel-bashers and boycotters if not frank anti-Semites and Arab/Muslim/Palestinian apologists and Upper Westside self-hating Jews. I thought it's the right that's the bastion of foursquare American support for Israel to the point of Sheldon Adelson. I thought the right is where Old Testament and Torah are synonymous, and circumcision is the American way, and Haym Solomon was a Founding Father. Or maybe that's just the base, the hoi polloi, and the GOP country-club is as "restricted" as ever. If so, does that make Eric Cantor the establishment's House Shvartze?
Yes. n n n n
Alana and Commentary: I have much respect for the intellectual honesty on this website, but this article is a knee-jerk defense of the Republican party. There is most likely some anti-Semitism within the party (as there is in the Democratic party, and all over this country), and the comment by Manzullo that Cantor would not be "saved" is a problem, if said. ThinkProgress' article is intellectually dishonest as well, and meant to stir up trouble. But to deny the possibility of anti-Semitism among Conservatives is a problem. Moreover, the video is ambiguous: his "no" is followed by comments that give the sense that he just doesn't want to talk about it. Not a "yes" but also not a "no." There is anti-Semitism on both the left and the right- you of all magazines/blogs should know this.