The answer to the headline question is ... Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran.
You may have heard that in an interview with Al Jazeera after Obama's State of the Union address, Moran blamed the Democrats' 2010 electoral losses on racism.
As reported at The Weekly Standard, when asked about the losses, Moran responded as follows:
“It [the Republican successes in the 2010 elections] happened for the same reason the Civil War happened in the United States. It happened because the Southern states, the slaveholding states, didn’t want to see a president who was opposed to slavery. In this case, I believe, a lot of people in the United States don’t want to be governed by an African-American, particularly one who is liberal, who wants to spend money and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society….”Here is the video, which is dubbed over in Arabic, but you still can hear the question and answer in the background starting at the 2:50 mark:
So now we have covered the race card, one down, two to go.
Now Israel Lobby Derangement Syndrome, as detailed at HuffPo:
In the buildup to the Iraq war in 2003, Moran sparked a firestorm when he claimed that the pro-Israel lobby and Jews were driving the decision to engage Iraq militarily.
CNN reports on Moran's original comments, made at a local antiwar forum:Two down, one to go.
"If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this," said Moran, whose remarks were first reported by the Reston Connection newspaper. "The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should."In 2007, Moran again rankled the Jewish community when he lamented the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) by saying their influence was driven by their wealth.
In justifying Moran's recent comments to Al Jazeera, Moran’s spokeswoman, Anne Hughes defended the comments, citing a list of 1000 supposed "hate groups" in the U.S. as proof Moran was right:
“With nearly 1,000 identified hate groups in the U.S. and recent studies showing a majority of Americans believe racism is still widespread against African-Americans, it is no secret that our country has and continues to struggle with racial equality,” Hughes said. “The congressman was expressing his frustration with this problem and the role it played in the last election. Rather than ignore this issue or pretend it isn’t there, the congressman believes we are better off discussing it in order to overcome it.”Moran's spokeswoman almost certainly was referring to the hyperbolic hate group list published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been debunked in prior posts here.
So there we have it.
The Race Card, Israel Lobby Derangement Syndrome, and SPLC Hyperbolic Disorder all wrapped into one Democratic Congressman from Virginia.
How did Moran win in 2010? Can't Virginia Republicans find someone to beat this guy in 2012?
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Related Posts:
Southern Poverty Law Center Completes Its Descent Into Madness
What Does The "Israel Lobby" Have To Do With The Discovery Channel Hostage Taking?
Yup, Soros Is Behind J-Street
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The "blame the Jews" idea has been around for millenia. I don't understand why.
ReplyDelete"Can't Virginia Republicans find someone to beat this guy in 2012?"
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding? The best they could do against Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer in CA were two Democrats who never voted: Meg Whitman and Cary Fiorina.
Did you mean to ask "Can't Virginia Republicans find a REPUBLICAN to beat this guy in 2012?"?
So-called "Republican" bigwigs in CA and VA only want candidates who won't rock boats. No strong-willed politician need apply. It's OK to be rich, just don't be too heavily invested in freedom.
ReplyDeleteThis man is deeply insane. What does this say for his constituents?
ReplyDeleteMoran won for the same reason Pelosi won. Its the bluest district in VA & everyone knows it. The district is filled with federal employees, and seeing as often the Republican platform revolves around cutting federal spending, what reason would a federal employee have to support that? NoVa (Northern Virginia) is what pulled VA to Obama in 2008 & was the driving force behind the Warner/Webb victories in the Senate.
ReplyDeleteNot much can be done about it...
@John Lane; 100% correct. The NoVa corridor is filled with the bluest of liberals. It is California on the Potomac, IMHO. Arlington County, Fairfax County, and the rest of the 8th District is filled with DC government elitist commuters. The real estate in that area is the highest in VA, and one of the highest values in the country. No matter how strong a Republican (or RINOish) candidate, it would take a major miracle for him or her to win in that area. It has happened, but not for years. (Eric Cantor winning and holding his seat is an exception - more of him would be great! However, his district is much more rural than Moran's, so it is really apples and oranges to compare them.)
ReplyDeleteAs to the 2008 election, Richmond and the Tidewater (Norfolk and Williamsburg) areas were heavy on lib voters, which, when combined with NoVA, pulled the state to Obama. That might change in 2012; however, with the heavy gay vote and liberal elitist vote in NoVa, I don't see that area going red. The Richmond and Tidewater areas are heavy African-American voter areas, so it is going to be an uphill battle with those areas, too. Overall, it will be tough to turn VA back to a red state in 2012. If the economy does even a weak turn, it will be blue again, IMHO. Which is hard, since most of the state is Conservative. It is like many areas around the country - the high-density metropolitan areas control the overall state vote outcome for presidential elections.