If you’re unfamiliar with Charles Barron, a Democrat running for Congress in New York, read the Anti-Defamation League’s enlightening dossier. Barron is an extremist, dictator apologist and a passionate Israel-basher, who has railed against the “Jewish lobby,” called Gaza a “death camp” and aligned himself with anti-Semitic hate groups. He’s currently embroiled in a nail-biter primary race against Hakeem Jeffries.
While Barron might actually beat Jeffries on his own, it’s hard to imagine that any mainstream Democratic institution would lend him a hand in the primary. But as BuzzFeed reports, federal labor unions are actually planning to go to bat for him:
Two major city public worker unions, District Councils 37 and 1707 of the giant American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, have already endorsed Barron against Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a relatively moderate legislator who has championed charter schools, a union bugaboo.
And BuzzFeed has learned that their powerful federal parent union, known as AFSCME, is planning to dive into the race on Barron’s behalf. Another key New York State public workers union, the Civil Service Employees Association, meanwhile, blocked an AFL-CIO effort to endorse Barron’s rival.
“We respect the voice of our members,” AFSCME spokesman Chris Policano told BuzzFeed. “With the unanimous endorsement of the three affiliates, there will be money spent in this race.”
If AFSCME is willing to pour money behind a candidate who has praised Qaddafi and has called the Israeli government “the biggest terrorist in the world,” then who would it not support? If an avowed white supremacist ran for Congress on a pro-union platform, could he expect AFSCME’s financial backing as well?
By supporting Barron, AFSCME is also pitting itself against prominent New York Democrats who are actively denouncing the candidate:
Former Mayor Ed Koch, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Councilman David Greenfield, and Assemblyman Dov Hikind gathered with several other elected officials in front of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park this morning for a press conference billed as an effort “ to Denounce Charles Barron as Enemy of the State of Israel” and the Jewish community. The politicos who showed up at the event where longtime councilman Mr. Barron was branded “hateful,” a “scary monster,” “anti-Semite” and “bigot” also expressed their support for his rival in the congressional race, Hakeem Jeffries.
Democrats are rightly terrified about how Barron’s nomination would reflect on their party. The same can’t be said for the labor unions.
Well either way, if he wins or looses, Barron will be the new darling of MSNBC. A Cynthia McKinney lunatic screaming about evil Jews, space aliens and conspiracies. Look out Al Sharpton, your time slot is in play.
No, not "lunatic" – we underestimate the danger of certain ideologies if we simply dismiss them as the rantings of the mentally ill, or label those who utter them so as to dismiss them. n nTruth is stronger than falsehood, and those who scream "about evil Jews, space aliens and conspiracies" need to be confronted with logic and asked to provide a factual basis for each and every one of their unfounded allegations. On the most simple of levels, I like to ask that if, for the sake of argument, "Israel" or "the Jews" (or whatever group the individual is ranting about) really had a "stranglehold' on American politics & society, wouldn't they be able to get a US policy that is slightly more supportive of Israel? n nA while back, with the assistance of CAMERA and others (for which I am quite grateful), I did this to one Hussain Ibish and it worked. One has to rationally accept the legitimacy of arguments one finds beyond offensive (in Ibish's case, that the Zionists would deliberately murder Jews fleeing the Holocaust) and then show the logical underlying flaws in such arguments (in Ibish's case, that folk who knew nothing about underwater demolition let alone explosives in general are far more likely to blow a hole in the hull than snap the propeller shaft as was intended, particularly when it is a rusty un-seaworthy ship in the first place). n nAs distasteful as it is, these folk need to be confronted on the basis of facts and the logical fallacies which underlie their rants. And one needs to ask logical questions like if American foreign policy was being written by Bibi N,, wouldn't it be a policy more along the lines of his liking???
Ms. Goodman's last paragraph is relevant in a much larger context, what the mainstream "Trade Union Democrats" — people who are Democrats because FDR was good to the plumbers and pipefitters & guys who worked on the railroad, back when their grandparents had such jobs. These are the so-called "Blue Dog Democrats", who claim they would even vote for a rabid (blue) dog if the Dems nominated one — and what the left-leaning-but-sane folk in the DNC are starting to realize is that blind indoctrination only goes so far. n nRemember too that this is about far more than just Israel — this is the case of someone who has run afoul of the Left's Litmus Test, in this case by his supporting charter schools. This is the Scott Walker/Wisconsin issue writ small and the middle ceasing to hold. n nWhat Ms. Goodman didn't mention, and perhaps should have, is whom the Republicans are running for this seat, and if it is one of those where the incumbent Dem read the tea leaves and decided to "retire" before the inevitable defeat this November. As one who believes, as Milton did, that truth is stronger than falsehood in an open unfettered encounter, I almost hope that Barron gets this nomination so that the entire country can see both the modern Democrat party and the public sector unions for what they truly are. n nNY is more AFT than NEA, and AFT is part of the AFL-CIO which may be part of the references Ms. Goodman quotes — in other words,it appears that the teachers' unions are only blocking the support of this schmuck's opponent, it is the garbagemen & transit workers (AFSCME) who will be funding his campaign. Because of an issue, charter schools, which really doesn't directly affect them – their fear is that garbage collection, transit operations and other such things might face similar competition, that they might be "privateizied" with a private vendor being unwilling to continue the truly obscenely wasteful union-mandated work practices like garbage crews getting a full day's pay for routes they finish in an hour or two. n nAs Yeats wrote, the middle shall cease to hold, the ice is cracking and a lot of Jews are going to have to decide which side of the schism they wish to jump to. They can jump to shore and go with the GOP, or they can ride this increasingly anti-Semitic iceberg to points unknown. Never forget that simple statistics indicate that at least some German Jews had to have voted for Hitler in the two relatively-fair elections which he won, and then there were the Nuremburg Laws and all the rest. As George Santana wrote, those who fail to learn from history get to relive the mistakes of the past — and our current economic situation, complete with massive debts and a need to continually borrow from China, is disquietly similar to the German Weimar Republic and its debts and borrowing from the US that was necessary for it to pay its WW-I mandated repatriations to France. China now, much like the US in 1929, is a formerly agrarian country that has industrialized within a generation, has now overbuilt and is on the verge of a collapse. n nThe middle is ceasing to hold, to which side will American Jews jump when the ice below them cracks? My guess is that folk like Ed Koch understand that it will be to the GOP and that (more than anything else) is what they are terrified of.
Great analysis. Thank you.
You have your dogs confused. "Yellow Dog Democrats" are those who would vote for whomever the Democrats nominated, even if it were a "yellow dog." "Blue Dog Democrats" are those who while elected on the Democratic ticket are decidedly more fiscally conservative in office than most of their fellow Congressmen.
I almost hope that Barron gets in. The Democrats will be hoist on their own petard. Let's see how they react when he goes to the well of the House and starts one of his filthy diatribes. Let's see how Li'l Debby and Barack Hussein Kardashian deal with this serpent.
At some point people being represented must avail themselves of information: IGNORANCE is a luxury, WE THE PEOPLE cannot afford. Truth floods the internet 24/7. Charles Barron has not just become a hater. That is his and 99.5% of PC Democrats' stock in trade. For the sake of selves and children, NYC voters will have to vote character, not color. Hopefully, this year continues as the dawn of America's Renaissance. Keep the faith and the conversation going.
Remember one other thing — which I had initially overlooked — this is an Affirmative Action Congressional District. Pursuant to the Voting Rights Act, this is required to be a minority-majority district where Black votes are not "diluted" so as to ensure that whomever wins is Black. Abby Thernstrom's _Voting Rights & Wrongs_ is an excellent analysis of how we came to have these racially "jerrymandered" districts throughout the country, including one which runs down the median of an Interstate highway for a hundred miles or so, as apparently there are a lot of folk living in the medians of Interstate highways…. n nNo, Jeffries is *NOT* the face of Black politics in a more racially and ethnically diverse NYC. To be that, he would have to have won an election in a racially and ethnically diverse district — not the segregated one from which he comes, and the larger one which he seeks to represent in Congress.
"So let us be clear: both of the New York Democrats mentioned in Ms. Goodman's post are black men." n nBut let us be even more clear on something else — this is one of those designated "Minority-Majority" districts which are "jerrymandered" so as to ensure that only a Black man (or woman) can win them. n"Jerrymandered" so that no one who objects to what — let's face it — is vile racist diatribe is able to muster enough votes to make uttering such things costly to the politician who does so. It is almost like we have carved out patches of a foreign nation inside our own, giving up on King's dream of a racially-neutral society for one of legitimized segregation. n nSo we have a dual world — and I say again that the most interesting aspect of this is the fight over charter schools — which Black PARENTS really do want and which terrify the AFSCME folk.
Barron being a congressman would be kind of fun – all those political debate integrated with childish quarrels rooted on religion.
As they used say in the 'hood: Right on ,Gary, right on!!!