Jezebel: anti-semetism

All The Appointment Gossip You Can Handle, Including Aretha Franklin

Megan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:30:00 EST

Batty conservative Michael Savage thinks Caroline Kennedy ought to watch her back since Hillary Clinton killed her brother John. We think she should watch out for batshit crazy conservatives. [Media Matters]

But New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — a reported competitor for the seat — might harbor a teeny crush on Caroline. [Politico]
Barack Obama's next appointment is likely to be Republican Congressman Ray LaHood to be the next Secretary of Transportation. [Huffington Post]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has appointed defeated New Hampshire Senator John Sununu to the oversight board for the financial bail-out so that Johnny doesn't have to go live in New Hampshire or anything. [Politico]
Tabloid-esque biographer Andrew Morton is shopping a book proposal on Michelle Obama but he's not having much luck. [The First Post]
Former CIA Director George Tenent is: an anti-Semite, possibly a drunk; definitely short-sighted when it came to being sold out by the Bush Administration. [Think Progress]
Big surprise: the whole "trickle down" effect we were supposed to see from the government throwing wads of cash at the banks? Not happening. They're just hoarding and giving out bonuses and taking expensive staff retreats. [LA Times]
Egyptian Saad Gumaa has offered his daughter, Amal Saad Gumaa, to the guy who threw the shoe at President Bush, Muntazer al-Zaidi. She considers al-Zaidi a hero; her father considers her the most valuable thing he could offer al-Zaidi; we continue to think that women are more than chattel. [Reuters]
Aretha Franklin will sing and Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma will perform a selection composed by John WIlliams at the swearing-in ceremony at Obama's Inauguration. We assume that neither Dr. Feelgood or The Imperial March will make an appearance. [Huffington Post]

Why You Shouldn't Vote For A Bad Guy With Good Positions

Megan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST

I was one of those voters who didn't really care who Bill Clinton was shtupping in the 90s. When he got caught with his cigar in Monica Lewinsky (possibly the best non-euphemism ever), I was nearly 21 and was really curious why, as a feminist, I was supposed to be all freaked about a woman my age having consensual sexual relations with an older man. I don't care terribly much about the personal lives of my elected representatives except when the (conservative) positions they take are in stark conflict with their private behavior — and even then, I am voting based on the positions and not whether they, for instance, get blow jobs in the Union Station's men's rooms. There is one exception to this rule for me, and that exception is my Congressman, Jim Moran.

Jim Moran votes exactly the way I would want my Congressperson to vote — he's pro-choice, he votes the right way on women's issues, he's decent on economic issues (from my perspective — he's fairly conservative), he's anti-war. But, today, for the 4th time, I cast my ballot for Jim Moran's Republican opponent (who, for once, isn't a rabid anti-abortion freak, thanks NoVa Republicans). Why? Because of his personal life.

In June 1999, Mary Moran (née Craig) called Alexandria Police claiming that her husband had hit her. Her husband was, of course, Congressman and former mayor of Alexandria (1985-1990) Jim Moran. Notably, Moran ran for mayor after 2 years as Vice Mayor — a position he was forced to resign as part of a plea deal on bribery charges which, due to his many friends and relationships in the Democratic party, had no effect on his political aspirations or friendships. Mary Moran later refused to testify and divorce papers were filed the next morning instead. Three weeks later, he filed a cross-complaint in their divorce claiming that the marriage broke up over financial problems for which she was supposedly responsible. Yes, when his former wife filed divorce papers because he smacked her around one night, he turned around and blamed the dissolution of the marriage (and, by extension, the argument that precipitated the domestic abuse) on her.

It's not the first or the only time Jim Moran's laid his hands on someone in anger. In 1995, he shoved Randy Cunningham in the House cloakroom (granted, Cunningham is an asshole, but still) and in 2000, he manhandled an 8-year-old African-American boy that was looking at his car. And let's not talk about the time he got caught with a $25,000 interest-free loan from a pharmaceutical company lobbyist, or said "the Jews" were the reason we went into Iraq. He is, quite frankly, an embarrassment to the Democrat establishment, which nonetheless clutches him to their bosom because he's their guy, a member of their party and, thus, not subject to the standards to which we, as Democrats, would certainly hold a Republican challenger.

Jim Moran is a wife-smacking, bribe-taking, black child-shaking anti-Semite that has earned the protection of the local Democratic party as well as many prominent, national Democratic women like Donna Brazile and Patricia Ireland in exchange for voting the "right" way. He gets to be the antithesis of a feminist and to live his personal life in opposition to every supposed ideal of the Democratic party because he'd never vote for a ban on partial-birth abortion or a Constitutional amendment on same sex marriage. Well, great. This "my guy because he's my party" bullshit that I decried yesterday when it came wrapped in the form of National Review Online editor Katherine Jean Lopez is equally abhorrent when practiced by people that I agree with politically and even admire. And if this year, with the Democrats poised to strengthen their majority in the House isn't the year that the feminists — let alone the women — of the Democratic Party are going to be willing to dump this guy (and the other guys like him) or support a primary opponent, then when will it be the year? Why does he get a pass for wife beating — because of Roe v. Wade? Fuck that. Roe isn't getting overturned by a House member, and I'm not voting for a guy that gets away with domestic violence just because he votes for laws to send other men to prison for it. I might find it disturbing that Mark Ellmore's site features a picture of him campaigning with Fred Thompson, but I'm way less disturbed by that then anything Jim Moran's done to women while voting for legislation for us.

Related: Moranic Record [National Review]
James P. Moran [Fox News]
Lawmaker Under Fire For Saying Jews Support Iraq War [CNN]
Mark Ellmore for Congress

Earlier: Peggy Noonan Has A Battle Of Wits With National Review Wingnut

With "Friends" Like Jesse Jackson, Does Obama Need John McCain?

Megan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Jesse Jackson used to be considered a great man and a great civil rights leader. He was considered MLK's protégé, he was the first African-American candidate to run a credible campaign for the Democratic nomination, he helped free hostages, he fought for social justice... And yet, somehow, with the United States credibly on the cusp of elected its first African-American president — a ceiling that Jackson himself put some cracks in — it's been a tough year for him. Today's news is that as a supporter of Barack Obama — not an adviser — he told the World Policy Forum that Obama's election would reduce the clout of the "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades." The fuck?

Jackson claimed the right to say this about Obama because he's a "a neighbor or, better still, a member of the family" since Jackson's son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., is a strong supporter of Obama's. In fact, he's such a strong supporter that — for the second time this year — he's had to issue a statement slamming his increasingly erratic father. Obama and Congressman Jackson issued statements taking issue with Reverend Jackson's completely false characterization of Obama's positions on Israel, and the good Reverend was forced to admit that he's had nary a conversation with Obama on the subject in his life.

This is, of course, not the first time Jackson's fucked up when it comes to Obama. The first time, during the primaries, he accused Obama of "acting white" for not being out there enough talking about the Jena 6, a comment he later denied. He was later caught on tape saying "I wanna cut his nuts off" for "telling n*****s how to behave" after Obama spoke about absentee fathers in the African-American community. Of course, Jackson might be just a little sensitive about the subject of absentee fathers, given that he practically stopped visiting the child he had with his mistress in her second year of life, preferring to make sure she was financially supported and had her privacy. So, actually, making anti-Semitic, anti-Israel policy statements while claiming to be speaking on behalf of a candidate he has publicly desired to castrate might be par for the course for the Reverend Jackson this year.

Is he jealous that Obama might rise to the pinnacle of political power that he himself failed to achieve? Or is he just losing his marbles? Or can Sarah Palin's wink do something to a man up close that, thankfully, it can't do over a television feed? Jeebus only knows, but Congressman Jackson needs to get his dad to shut the fuck up already.

The O Jesse Knows [NY Post]
Obama Responds To Report On Jackson Comments [Washington Post]