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May
15
[Note: I misspelled the state senator's last name and I had the wrong state abbreviation. Both have been corrected. Apologies to Alaska and to Sen. Hendren.]
Kudos to the Republican Jewish Coalition for condemning the reference, especially since the National Democratic Jewish Council specifically sought to have them do so:
We appreciate that Arkansas State Senator Kim Hendren, who is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, has now apologized for referring to Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as “that Jew.” However, it is important that Republicans on the national and state levels send a strong message that it is absolutely unacceptable to refer to individuals solely by their religion.
Republicans must recognize that this type of language is not acceptable in public, but more importantly, this kind of language is even more unacceptable in private. If the GOP does not want to be a marginalized permanent minority, and if Republicans want to keep their supporters in the Jewish community, the party has the responsibility to make that clear.
Very nice when Jews along the political spectrum agree.
For the back story, here’s the New York Daily News:
Kim Hendren, now the minority leader of the Arkansas state Senate, dropped his J-bomb last week after he got mad that Schumer described conservative Republicans as “hard right” in a TV interview.
He almost got away with it, but conservative Arkansas blogger Jason Tolbert caught it, and called out Hendren, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.
Hendren excused his remark by pointing to his reputation as a gaffe machine.
“I don’t use a Teleprompter, and occasionally I put my foot in my month,” he told Tolbert, then inserted it a little farther.
“I was attempting to explain that unlike Sen. Schumer, I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’” Hendren said.
“I made the mistake of referring to Sen. Schumer as ‘that Jew’ and I should not have put it that way, as this took away from what I was trying to say.”
Defending himself again to the Arkansas News, Hendren went further, saying he didn’t know why the words “that Jew” came out of his mouth. He added that there is a Jewish person in history he admires – Jesus. He’s also partial to Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.
There’s more commentary from Jewish politicians at that article’s link.
I recently had a neighbor tell me to my face, with my middle school-aged child by my side, that there are too many Jews in my city and he would not help me get on the ballot to run for city council. For more reasons than I care to describe right now, I hope you can try to imagine what it must feel like to be a Jew in 2009 and have someone tell you that to your face.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:23 pm May 15th, 2009 in anti-semitism, Campaigning, conservatives, Jewish, Politics, Republicans, senate, Statehouse
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5 Responses to “AR State Sen. Hendren (R), called Schumer “that Jew,” apologizes”
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Just a quick note, Jill, that the postal abbreviation for Arkansas is AR. When I first saw the headline, I thought it was a story about Alaska.
By the way, I’ve campaigned door-to-door for two of my own campaigns, plus for the campaigns of some other candidates. Though I enjoy the door-to-door campaigns, there are occasions when I’ve been met with vitriol and threatened with harm. The anti-Semitism you experienced cannot be excused nor can it be defended. Sadly, I’m well aware what hateful sentiments exist out there, as I’ve visited thousands of doorsteps myself. It isn’t right, but it happens.
Unbelievable what some people think. We can teach children in school that bullying is wrong, that racism is wrong, that insulting others for the group they belong to is wrong, but if they go home to people with closed-minds and open mouths, the world stands to not change.
I could tell that your experience with that old crank still rankled.
Laura: Its not that unbelievable, human nature. It happens frequently behind people’s backs but its not often that people will tell you their thoughts to your face. But you are right about the overall environment that encourages low level thoughts. But folks who have these low level thoughts hurt themselves too. Jill: Living well is the best form of revenge, I cant recall who said that. Just disregard the crow and I know from experience that its easier to tell others to do it than having to do it yourself. You go and win the election.