Democrats Will Not Condemn Ilhan Omar or Even Antisemitism, But Will Instead Vote on the Proposition That "Hate Iz Bad"

Rahm Emanuel wrote an opinion piece for The Atlantic stating that Ilhan Omar is antisemitic, straight-up, and should be acknowledged as such.

I'm all for new voices in the U.S. Congress. But lately, some of those new voices have been voicing some very old canards.

I'm talking about Representative Ilhan Omar, one of the newly elected Democrats who populate the 116th Congress. Omar has attracted much news coverage, and the condemnation of most of her fellow Democrats, for promoting some ugly tropes about Jews.

First, when questioning long-standing congressional support for Israel, she blamed the campaign money provided by pro-Israel supporters. "It's all about the Benjamins, baby," she tweeted.

After apologizing for that comment and acknowledging her need to be "educated," she followed with another tweet, questioning the "allegiance" of supporters of Israel, intimating that we place the concerns of Israel above those of the country that we call home.

No one is questioning the right of members of Congress and others to criticize Israeli policies. But Omar is crossing a line that should not be crossed in political discourse. Her remarks are not anti-Israel; they are anti-Semitic.

Whether consciously or not, Representative Omar is repeating some of the ugliest stereotypes about Jews--tropes that have been unleashed by anti-Semites throughout history. She is casting Jewish Americans as the other, suggesting a dual loyalty that calls our devotion to America into question.

Meanwhile, some on the "right" remain firmly convinced of the left's Better Angels while also being very willing to believe and signal-boost any evidence-free, bad-faith trash-accusation (Smiling While White!) their leftist Twitter pals lodge against the right.

Well you were stupid to have believed that in the face of so much contrary evidence. I have faith, however, that you will continue believing that.

Because the party has two sorts of people in it:

1, actual conservatives who believe in conservative positions and, get this, like other conservatives.

2, people like Seth Mandel and Allahpundit and most of the NeverTrumpers -- disaffected liberals who are disappointed by their party and wish them to be better so that they can rejoin it, and are only temporarily part of the (liberal wing of the) conservative movement in an effort to establish a critique of the parts of the left they don't like in order to influence it from the outside.

Thought: I think Seth Mandel's tweet is NeverTrump in a nutshell: "We're always getting the left 100% and believing their lies and getting played by them. Now make us your leaders again and do everything we tell you to do."

posted by Ace of Spades at 12:18 PM

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