Just got this one passed to me. It's an email from a Kirk supporter basically accusing anyone who does not support Kirk's pro-war position as anti-semitic. The writer then goes off on bloggers on Kos and picks out some of the more extreme examples trying to pass them off as the norm. As my readers know, I am Jewish, not at all anti-semitic, not at all self-hating and pretty fed up with people who presume to tell me and others what we are supposed to think with the threat of being marked anti-semitic for any disagreement. I am also fed up with the new spin on anti-semitism that leaves us vulnerable to real anti-semitism now unchecked in the new church merged with state country Bush wants for us, and supported by Mark Kirk who never says anything about its dangers.
The email goes further to insinuate that Jay Footlik and Dan Seals should not speak to anyone left of center and certainly not anyone who would use that pesky old free speech, a mere holdover from those Jefferson/Madison days.
The Bush/Cheney/Rove/Kirk mentality is that only a few far right wing extremely wealthy people really matter and no one else should have a say or even be allowed to listen. Remember that also means that you should not have the ear of a candidate:
if you support a reasonable health care system,
if you support investing in education and Americas infrastructure,
if you support a woman's right to choose,
if you support separate of church and state,
if you support clean, renewable energy over oil companies,
if you support dealing with the issue of global warming, and
if you want to see a reasonable and rational approach to foreign policy over entering into elective wars and then doing a really bad job once you send our young men and women to fight them.
See for yourself what Kirk supporters are emailing around to each other and then ask yourself if you agree that no one who supports any of the above should be able to speak to a candidate for U.S. Congress. Then, ask yourself: since Mark Kirk will not, does not and even runs away from people who believe in the above, should he be your U.S. Congressman?
Oh, and by the way, I know who sent the email. I just choose at this time not to print his name. I'd really like to see the person fess up himself.
Dear Friends,
While we may disagree on politics and policy sometimes, we all can agree to strongly condemn anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and the institutions that foment them.
I remain a stauch supporter of Congressman Mark Kirk who has co-chaired the congressional Task Force on Anti-Semitism, led the way on hate crimes legislation, continues to lead on opening the Holocaust archives in Bad Arolsen and remains the strongest voice in Congress for the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship.
I write to you today to make sure you know about an issue I find to be pivotal in the upcoming race for Congress in the 10th District. While the two Democrats vying to take on our friend Congressman Kirk next year claim to support our values, their actions to gain political support suggest they do not.
In an effort to appeal to their party's far-left, both candidates participated in this week's Kos Convention in Chicago--with Jay Footlik working the crowd and Dan Seals addressing the conference. Both expressed great pride and satisfaction in attending.
What's troubling is that Seals and Footlik speak to our community with one mouth and then run to a convention filled with anti-Semitic bloggers. DailyKos is a community of bloggers--thousands of people who write their own opinions online. The site's real attraction comes from the discussion that ensues.
Let's see a few examples of what the Kos Convention attendees are blogging--the very same people Seals and Footlik come running to for support. Many times posts are left up for weeks or months until watchdog groups raise concerns over anti-Semitism--at that point, Kos removes the blog pages. Fortunately, there are other savvy bloggers out there who keep archived copies.
1) "Once we lock up a Majority, where we don't need Lieberman, I hope they will kick him to the curb like the dog he is." This post received 24 positive ratings and zero negative.
"He's [Lieberman] a much lower form of life than a dog" 8 plus/zero minus
"He's a snake in the grass." 4 plus/zero minus
"Don't insult dogs like that, Given a choice between my dog and Lieberman, I'd gas him without thinking twice." 4 plus/3 minus
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/05/16/daily-kos-gas-jew-lieberman-like-a-dog/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnetwmd.com%2Fblog%2F2007%2F05%2F16%2F1682&frame=true
2) "because as everybody knows, jews ONLY care about the welfare of other jews"
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2005/12/7/162152/209/100
3) "Israel is showing the entire world why the Iranian President was absolutely right to suggest that Israel cease being a sovereign state as is."
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=21553&only
4) "Zionism was and remains a racist ideology." A picture was included in that post showing an Israeli cabinet minister merging faces with Adolf Hitler, with a Star of David inside a skull.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25034_The_Protocols_of_the_Daily_Kos&only
5) Another blog expressed sympathy and support for the Hamas takeover of Gaza.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/15/153353/694
Of course, I'm not surprised that Dan Seals attended. In his unsuccessful 2006 race, he made two comments caught on film that caused eruptions in the Jewish community.
The first, during an interview with 2004 candidate Lee Goodman, Seals said that if war ever broke out between Israel and Iran, he would come down on the side of peace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB9fEmrKw6I
The second, during the height of the August 2006 war in Lebanon, Seals called on Israel to cease fire immediately and begin addressing the root causes of terrorism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPuSvhVRN4E&mode=user&search=
But why did Jay Footlik attend? Is he that desparate that he runs to a community that slurs Jews and supports the Iranian President's dream of wiping Israel off the map?
And while you think about this, I urge you to contrast the action of both men to the continued leadership of our dear friend, Congressman Mark Kirk. While his opponents run to anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bloggers, here's a sampling of Congressman Kirk's leadership on our core issues since the beginning of 2007 alone:
* Established the 10 th District Israel High School Forum for students in our community to learn more about the U.S.-Israel relationship葉he first of its kind in the nation.
* Authored an amendment which passed the House ( H.R. 1585) directing the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress with a plan to fully integrate the U.S. National Ballistic Missile Defense with the State of Israel.
* Authored appropriations language now in law ( H.R. 2206) requiring the Secretary of State to report to Congress on the Lebanese Government's progress in fulfilling its mandate under Section 14 of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.
* Authored appropriations language mandating a comprehensive review by the Government Accountability Office of Cash Assistance and Emergency Cash Assistance programs run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The language was prompted by UNRWA reports that terrorist and families of suicide bombers may received emergency assistance.
* Authored appropriations language mandating a report by the Secretary of State on the feasibility of executing an international restriction on gasoline to Iran. Iran imports more than 40% of its refined petroleum預 unique economic weakness.
* Authored appropriations language earmarking $5 million for women's support programs in minority communities in Iran and $2 million for democracy programs in Syria.
* Introduced H.R . 2880, the bipartisan Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act of 2007, to extend current sanctions to companies that provide gasoline to Iran.
* Sponsored a bipartisan resolution ( H.Res.64) which passed the House calling on Bangladesh to drop all charges against journalist Shoaib Choudhury. Congressman Kirk previously negotiated Choudhury's release from prison following his arrest for attempting to visit Israel .
* Authored a bipartisan letter with 104 co-signers to Secretary Rice urging her to work within the Security Council to give UN Forces in Lebanon a new mandate to intercept arms coming across the Syrian border.
* Authored a bipartisan letter with 12 key foreign assistance leaders in the House calling on World Bank President Robert Zoellick to end disbursements to Iran immediately.
* Led a successful international effort to pressure European nations to open Holocaust archives in Germany. Co-authored a series of bipartisan letters to European Ambassadors and was the lead co-sponsor of the Hastings-Kirk resolution which passed the House (H.Res.240).
* Lead co-sponsor of the Conyers-Kirk Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act ( H.R. 1592), which provides federal resources to investigate and prosecute hate crimes.
* Ordered an Inspector General investigation into reports that more than $140,000 was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development to the Hamas-controlled Islamic University in Gaza. In June, Congressman Kirk authored appropriations language tightening anti-terror vetting language to include institutions that have terrorist trustees葉hereby closing the funding loophole to Islamic University which boasts Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
* Authored a bipartisan letter to the Japanese government urging it not to open direct assistance to the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority. After receiving the letter, the Japanese government reversed its decision and upheld the Quartet conditions on assistance.
* Co-authored a letter to Secretary Rice urging her to fire the news director of Al-Hurra TV after airing an interview with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and sending reporters to cover the Iranian Holocaust Denial Conference. Congressman Kirk then co-authored appropriations language cutting Al-Hurra's funding and mandating 24/7 online video feeds of all broadcasts. Al-Hurra's news director resigned the following day.
* Co-authored a letter to the National Institutes of Health demanding a full investigation of reports of anti-Semitic conduct by it chief clergy.
* Delivered a special order address before the House detailing all the factual inaccuracies in President Carter's recent book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
The time to show your support to this great leader is now. If you are as disgusted as I am by the actions of Dan Seals and Jay Footlik, I would urge you to call their campaigns and let them know you're making a contribution to Kirk for Congress because unlike them, he's fighting in Congress to combat global anti-Semitism, fight Holocaust denial, protect Israel and stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Specifically excluded from the grand list of Kirk's accomplishments is any reference to anything that protects separation of church and state and any reference to anything that might reduce tensions in and around Israel, matters that go toward real problems with anti-semitism. Such items are, of course, excluded because Kirk simply does not care about them. Kirk feeds off of the hate and divisiveness of the Bush administration and tensions in Israel and among its neighbors are his biggest selling point.
As I always say, "it is what it is" and the above email from Kirk's camp looks a lot to me like it's from someone who does not believe in the America of liberty and free speech I grew up in and in which I watched a post-WWII Jewish community thrive. To be sure there is some language on Kos that is not good, but that does not mean that thought and speech should be stifled and that no one on Kos should be talked to or listened to. We can have the liberty our founders intended for us, the one that gives everyone opportunity to live and work and prosper, or the intellectual vacuum of one-sided, hateful thought police that Bill O'Reilly and Mark Kirk's supporter want and was never conducive to a thriving minority.
What America do you want?
26 comments:
Ellen,
Are you suggesting the Daily Kos comments cited in the letter are ok?
does "badge of honor" think we can judge a candidate by all the opinions/statements of people who may or may not be supporters? I'm sure no one could pass that test, and certainly not mark kirk. what a stupid question.
Badge of honor is doing the republican thing well- hatemongering and manufacturing wedge issues. The letter is dishonest and blatantly biased, written by a Jewish republican, trying to justify support for his 'dear friend' Kirk. It just shows how worried the kirk camp is when they have to resort to such low, weasely tactics so early.
I just received another "official business' report from markie. He might as well just recycle the garbage he's sent out for the last six years. I'm tired of footing the expense for his false advertising.
Badge of honor's comment illustrates the point I am making here. He automatically insinuates by question of course, but still meant to insinuate, that I think the comments lifted out of Kos expressly because they are extreme and not representative of the norm on Kos, are ok. I said in the post they were not ok, that they were extreme and not good. Nope badge of fake honor, your games don't work here.
Now who's grandstanding???:
Emanuel, Durbin launch radio ads against BP
(AP) — Congressman Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin are putting campaign fund dollars behind their efforts to stop pollution.
The Illinois Democrats are airing ads this week targeting BP Amoco on Chicago radio stations.
Emanuel and Durbin are outspoken opponents of BP's plan to expand an Indiana oil refinery and discharge more pollution into the Lake Michigan region.
And KIRK is supposedly the one who is trying to make political hay out of opposing BP?
TA
TA, avoiding the subject of the post. He probably wrote the email.
The person who sent around that vile email was being deliberately misleading, and, as you say, has gone O'Reilly on us. First of all, of the five responses he lists, four of them were deleted. Two of them, as it is, were taken totally out of context, and the full answer gives an entirely different perspective. Very dishonest and hateful.
And finally- they were just that- comments by random posters. I would hate to have someone lift badge of honor or TAs comments and use them as samples of your blog, Ellen!!
I say let them just choke on their own bile, along with the ever faltering O'reilly- how many times is he going to cut the mike on speakers he disagrees with and still be credible?
Ellen, the writer will never fess up himself because he knows it's wrong to incite hate and does it anyway. Just like Mark Kirk.
Anyone who quotes from the LGF site to try to make a point about haterz at DailyKos is just too nutty to bother with.
The emailer also touted all that Kirk has done to fight hate crimes-which is totally bogus. This is the man who wants to give condoms to the Mexicans to keep so many of them from coming here illegally, and racially profiling for Arabs, to keep us safer? Are his hate crime votes anything like his ANWAR votes? What about Gitmo? FISA? I'd sure hate to depend on kirk for defending me.
Badge,
Take the time to look into the 5 comments cited.
Three out of the five are obvious distortions. Indeed, link #2 in the Andy Lappin's email is only a half-quote. The full quote is actually a comment which uses sarcasm to state the exact opposite of the portion Mr. Lappin clipped.
While there are certainly hurtful comments left at Daily Kos (just as there hurtful comments left at BillOReilly.com). With a community of almost 150,000 users able to comment and diary (and more every day), a few are bound to be complete jerks.
But that is part of the responsibility that comes with freedom of speech -- the overwhelming majority of reasonable people, no matter their political persuasion, must point out those individuals and shine a bright light on how wrong they are.
Indeed, link #4 of Mr. Lappin's email brings readers to a page with some despicable pieces of art. What Mr. Lappin utterly fails to note however is that DKos front-pager MissLaura added this disclaimer to that particular diary: "To be clear, the fact that the images stay is in no way an endorsement of their content."
That said, another of the responsibilities of our right to free speech is to point out Mr. Lappin's lies, half-quotes, distortions and weak-kneed innuendo -- not the least of which is that neither Dan Seals nor Jay Footlik have ever made an anti-Semitic comments. Never.
Of course people evaluate candidates based on their supporters. Ellen's post was one long condemnation of Kirk based on the letter of a supporter. Of course candidates are evaluated based on who they choose to talk to – Bush speaking at Bob Jones University ring a bell? Who you stand with and who stands with you matters. (Bush speaking at BJU only served to confirm my vote for Gore)
Ellen did say she did not think the Daily Kos comments were ok - I missed it on my first read. I asked a question that has since been clarified. Ellen and I agree - the cited comments are extreme.
When republicans make comments as in that E-Mail, it just goes to show how frightened they are that the American people caught on to their tatics. When in doubt they preach hate!
Anon 4:03- wasn't my e-mail. I tend not to get too involved in who is the better candidate to represent Jewish issues. I'm not Jewish, so I will let others debate that issue. The BP comment is simply timely, if admittedly off-topic.
TA
This may have been sent from a "Kirk supporter," but it sure smells like a Richard Goldberg (Kirk legislative assistant and hatchetman) signature job, which of course was thoroughly vetted through Mark Kirk's handlers before it was sent from a third-party (so they could keep their hands clean).
Ellen, your coverage of the Kos convention seems to have driven the Kirk camp crazy.
IL-10 is now in the top 20 contentious House races in the country. Your blog has done a lot to wake us up in the District. And an awakened electorate is Kirk's most feared enemy.
I disagree that there are "Jewish issues". I think the entire world cares about what Bush is doing in the region and should care. We are all people of the world and should work together to end tensions. Rather than doing that, Kirk and Bush try to disaffect everyone from each other for their own political gain. That is what is wrong. The reason I tag Kirk with what his supporter said is that he panders to and encourages it with his "Israel is gone" imagery and favor of racial profiling for Arab Americans. He is tring to pit the Jewish community against others, using us for his political benefit, not caring about the effect on us.
Are you saying that a person on the District's congressional staff is paid to write this stuff?
I agree with Rob's comment "...another of the responsibilities of our right to free speech is to point out Mr. Lappin's lies, half-quotes, distortions and weak-kneed innuendo -- "
It is in that spirit I post here. Earlier today i helped shed some light on on of Ellen's half-true distortions - “Since taking office in 2001, Mark Kirk has sponsored 70 bills, 61 never made it out of committee and 0 passed the House.”
My response:
badge of honor said...
Kirk’s legislative sponsorship statistics as taken from govtrack.com are average relative to peers – and virtually identical to some Illinois Dems:
Statistics: Janice Schakowsky has sponsored 71 bills since Jan 6, 1999, of which 67 haven't made it out of committee (Average) and 0 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers).
Statistics: Rahm Emanuel has sponsored 70 bills since Jan 7, 2003, of which 55 haven't made it out of committee (Average) and 0 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers).
Statistics: Mark Kirk has sponsored 70 bills since Jan 3, 2001, of which 61 haven't made it out of committee (Average) and 0 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers).
Oh and not far off your favorite senator:
Statistics: Barack Obama has sponsored 110 bills since Jan 4, 2005, of which 102 haven't made it out of committee (Average) and 1 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers).
I think Badge of Honor is right in respect to bills not making it to the floor, however, Susan Garrett pointed out that a legislator who really wants to pass a bill usually gets co-sponsors. Kirk's favorite co-sponsor was Mark Foley on something like 422 bills. After Foley's denouement, and the 2006 Demcratic takeover of Congress, Kirk began looking for bi-partisan support- usually Lipinski or Bean. You will also see, if you can wade through the morass, that most of his bills have something to do with his lobbyists- he makes a half-hearted attempt to appease them without actually doing something which might expose him as the mercenary he really is. So maybe we should be happy he's so ineffectual.
I refer to the ridiculous and numerous bills on tea cups and china -bills regarding imports and exports and taxes from China.
In 2004 and again in 2006 the platform of the Republican Party of Texas declared that the U.S. is a Christian nation.
I asked Kirk for a response. Silence.
When you are discussing bills not making it to the floor, please remember that for 6 years Kirk was in a wide majority of the house. Jan, in Congress since 1999, is only now in the majority and a slimmer majority. Obama started out in the minority of the Senate and now resides in only the very slimmest of a majority. See, the truth is not so very simple as the Kirk machine would like it to seem. Badge of honor just spreads another twisted republican argument in his complaints about my factually correct comment. Kirk is so busy trying to play both ends against the middle, no one knows for what he stands at all. Further, he's not approaching anything in a very smart way. What would be so wrong with him sitting down with an Iraq War veteran and listening to what he has to say? It doen't mean he has to agree with everything the veteran believes. Kirk just ran away looking immature and not very congressional. He belongs at a lobbyist firm where he can talk only to the corporate cheerleading section to which he belongs, not in Congress. Let's retire Kirk and give him the job he'd probably prefer.
Good point, Ellen. Kirk is sure acting like more of a lobbyist for special interests than an elected representative of his entire District.
I think he's angling for a job with the China lobby after 2008 -- he either gets clobbered or quits soon after being re-elected.
If members of Congress had logos of their sponsors on their jackets like NASCAR drivers, what would Kirk's jacket look like?
Just wanted to post this from a previous post re:
Kirk and "legislation."
Kirk also tries to mislead the public by giving the impression that the bills he's proposing are passing, even when they aren't.
I received several pamphlets from Kirk last fall before the 2006 election, and Kirk was listing bills he had sponsored or co-sponsored that were stuck and lost in committee as if they had been signed into law.
Kirk wanted to create the "impression" he had passed these bills, but then Kirk has never been hesitant to mislead his constituents whenever he got the chance.
Yes he does mislead. And look for him to dangle a carrot to those in the Democratic Waukegan/North Chicago area - he'll bring up possible funding again, and then yank it after the election. No funding for harbor cleanup or the VA hospital. The only thing he brought to the area is huge debt with their efforts to raise matching funds.
Durbin, Emmanual and Daley have actually gotten things done in the past unlike Kirk. Having to Kirk as doing anything is a tough sell.
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