Identity Politics Fun Continues For The Democrats
So far, we have seen a number of flash points in the Democratic primaries for the presidential nomination over ethnic and gender politics. Now we have racial and anti-Semitic politics in a Congressional primary -- and once again, it involves Democrats. Steve Cohen wants to run for re-election in Tennessee's 9th District, but supporters of his opponent think he's too pale -- and too much of a Joooooooo:
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If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait 'til you get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area's 9th District of Tennessee, where a shockingly worded flier paints Jewish Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as a Jesus hater.
"Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus," blares the flier, which Cohen himself received in the mail -- inducing gasps -- last week.
Circulated by an African-American minister from Murfreesboro Tenn., which isn't even in Cohen's district, the literature encourages other black leaders in Memphis to "see to it that one and ONLY one black Christian faces this opponent of Christ and Christianity in the 2008 election."
Cohen's main opponent in the August 5 Democratic primary in his predominantly African-American district is Nikki Tinker, who is black. The Commercial Appeal wrote an editorial in Wednesday's paper condemning Tinker for not speaking out against the anti-Semitic literature.
Plenty of Democrats made cracks about Mike Huckabee and his supposed predilection for theocracy over the past few months. Where are those same critics now? Will they stand up and condemn the insistence that a black Christian represent TN-09, and will they call out Tinker for her tacit support for such tactics?
Once again, the Democrats find themselves in the position of playing racial, ethnic, and now anti-Semitic politics. We have seen it at the grassroots level now, and at the highest levels of the party, especially from the Clinton campaign. Small wonder that a relatively low-level officeseeker feels comfortable in using these tactics in 2008, given the example Bill Clinton has provided already this year.
We've listened to insults from Democrats for years for far less than this.
Posted by Ed Morrissey
