#1
A protest and the letter; did NJDC help or
harm?
(String began August 8, 2007)
Please email your comments to
sdheritage@cox.net
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Editor, San Diego Jewish World:
I thought this* would interesting to you in relation to your
notation about Mark Kirk's attack on Footlik. I've met the man and was
very impressed and Ilinois needs someone like him.
—Lowell Fisher
Received 1:01 p.m., August 14, 2007
(Forwarded piece from Jay K. Footlik's campaign)
Once again, Mark Kirk
has shown he has nothing to offer the people of Illinois’ 10th district
other than more of George Bush and Karl Rove’s ugly politics of smear and
fear – and why we desperately need a change in Washington.
Instead of trying to end the catastrophic war in Iraq that he helped start,
or explaining why he voted last week to protect tobacco companies instead of
providing health care to millions of uninsured children or why he remains
silent on President Bush’s ill advised proposal to sell arms to Saudi
Arabia, all Mark Kirk can do is try to distract the voters with outright
lies.
This time, Kirk sent a lapdog to attack my strong connection to Israel and
to the Jewish people.
Let there be no doubt about my views and my record:
Unlike Mark Kirk, I have lived in Israel, and for much of my time there,
Israel was experiencing the most violent period in recent memory. Homicide
bombers were blowing up cafes and buses nearly every week. I worked
alongside Israel's leaders devising strategies to improve safety and
security – and help strengthen the US-Israel relationship. My wife, an
Israeli, wore the IDF uniform, serving in the Israeli Air Force. My family
and I were in Haifa when the first missiles hit during last year's
Israel-Hezbollah war. I know what security and peace would mean to Israelis
– and I will work my hardest to achieve it.
I have come face-to-face with anti-Semites, and in every instance – every
single one – I have condemned any form of anti-Semitic speech. Whether it
comes from the mouth of a blogger or a preacher, anti-Semitism – like
xenophobia, racism, and homophobia – has no place in the 10th district, in
Chicagoland, in Illinois, in the United States, and the entire world.
I suppose I should be astonished that the Kirk campaign would attack me – a
Jew and someone who has lived in Israel – on whether I am sufficiently
pro-Israel or sensitive to anti-Semitism.
Yet when it comes to saying the indefensible, supporting the unfounded, and
voting for some of the most failed policies we've seen in a generation, Mark
Kirk no longer surprises. The voters of the 10th district have seen it all –
this is just another sad display of Kirk’s politics of personal destruction
and division.
The fact is, Mark Kirk has done this for years. It's time to send a message
– the safety and security of Israel is much too important to be tossed
around in a partisan contest. It’s time for the Bush-Kirk-Rove lie machine
to end in 2009.
I call on Mark Kirk to denounce these types of divisive and dishonest
attacks.—Jay K. Footlik, Democratic candidate for Illinois' 10th
District
Editor, San Diego Jewish World:
Daily Kos is an extremist blog.
I'm saying this as a Democrat: The goal of Daily Kos is to convert the
Democratic Party into a lockstep, marxist vanguard party.
Check the roster of their middle east discussion. It's chaired by ...
Juan Cole, for cry'n out loud and featured ... Mearsheimer ...
And last week the counsel for the Democratic National Committee wrote a
disgusting letter to opponents of CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood front,
threatening to sue them just for speaking out against those miserable
fanatics.
The letter was a typical SLAPP tactic, and illegal in California.
What the hell is going on in the Democratic Party?
Stan Brin, Orange County
Received 1:04 p.m., August 8, 2007
**
Editor, San Diego Jewish World:
Mr. Lappin's letter, as the NJDC said, is absurd. Ascribing the
reprehensible characteristics of a few antisemitic/anti-Zionist/anti-Israel to
the entire community in which they air their views is patently ridiculous.
However, I'm even more upset by Lappin's personal attacks on the Democratic
candidates running against "his" representative. I happen to have known and
worked with Jay Footlik some years ago, when he served with distinction as the
Jewish Liaison in the White House. Accusing Jay of supporting or pandering to
antisemites is personally offensive to ME, not to mention near-libelous to him.
Unfortunately, the deplorable level of political dialogue in this country makes
Lappin's comments somewhat unsurprising, but they are no less censurable for
that.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Kirk does, in fact, repudiate the Lappin letter, and I
regret that I cannot personally cast a vote for Jay Footlik in the congressional
race.
Yiftach Levy, San Diego
Received 12:45 p.m., Aug 8, 2007
#1 A
protest and the letter; did NJDC help or harm?
(August 8, 2007)
(Editor's Note: In the press release below, the National Jewish Democratic
Council criticizes a supporter of Congressman Mark Kirk for a letter he wrote
suggesting the YearlyKos convention was a gathering place for anti-Semites.
In distributing the protest, the NJDC also distributed the supporter's letter
which sets out Kirk's record on Israel and Middle Eastern matters. We recommend
that you read the press release and the letter and then tell us whether if you
were a voter in Kirk's district, you would be more or less likely to vote for
Kirk as a result of what was presented in this material. If you care to
comment, send us an email at sdheritage@cox.net)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC)
called on Rep. Mark Kirk (Republican, Illinois) to repudiate a campaign-style
email sent by supporter Andy Lappin which implies that Democratic candidates Jay
Footlik and Dan Seals condoned anti-Semitic behavior by attending the YearlyKos
convention earlier this month.
Mr. Lappin’s email seeks to paint the 900 bloggers who attended the YearlyKos
convention – and the hundreds of thousands of bloggers in the DailyKos online
community – as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel because a handful of posters have
written objectionable comments. To defend his position, Lapin presents five
comments he finds objectionable, none of which were written by Kos or his
editors.
To blame all attendees and participants in the YearlyKos convention – which was
sponsored by JetBlue airlines, Warner Independent Pictures, the National
Education Association, and other mainstream organizations – for objectionable
comments posted by a small handful of people is the height of absurdity. If Lappin’s
logic were applied to the Republican Party, all its presidential candidates
would be deemed anti-Israel because they regularly participate in debates with
anti-Israel firebrand Rep. Ron Paul (Republican, Texas)
“Rep. Kirk should condemn this over-the-top email sent on his behalf of his
campaign by Andy Lappin,” said NJDC Executive Director Ira N. Forman. “Mr.
Lappin’s email seeks to deceive voters about the strong, pro-Israel candidacies
of Jay Footlik and Dan Seals and makes a ridiculous leap in logic that suggests
a few inappropriate comments posted on a blog somehow represent the opinions
held by hundreds of thousands of activists. There are some on both the far
right and the far left that hold anti-Israel views. The bloggers cited by
Lappin no more represent the views of most progressives than the views of Pat
Buchanan or Ron Paul represent mainstream conservatives.”
“This is
not the first time we’ve seen individuals tied to the Kirk campaign using sleazy
tactics,” continued Forman. “This is reminiscent of 2006 when a Kirk staffer
issued a veiled threat to cut off aid to Tel Aviv University because one of the
school’s backers supported Kirk’s Democratic opponent. If Kirk and his
political cronies want to do something truly productive for Israel they should
quit trying to use Israel as a partisan wedge issue and work on encouraging the
House Republican leadership to change their behavior and begin supporting full
funding for the foreign aid bill.”
THE ANDY LAPPIN EMAIL (Distributed by NJDC; links removed by San
Diego Jewish World)
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