It’s hard not to get whiplash these days while watching the modern GOP in action. On a day in which they made the most headlines by giving, in Jon Stewart’s words, the visiting Israeli prime minister “the longest blow job a Jewish man has ever received,” the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party was asked to resign because he was busted trying to discredit state Auditor Tom Schweich by launching a false whispering campaign that he is Jewish.
I should say was Jewish, not because he converted but because he responded to the nastiness of the allegation by committing suicide. It was especially noteworthy because Mr. Schweich was a candidate for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination.
In truth, Schweich, like former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, was an Episcopalian. Danforth is actually an ordained priest, and he gave Schweich’s eulogy. The eulogy was memorable in part because the Missouri Republican chairman, John Hancock, didn’t show up. More noteworthy, however, was that Danforth basically accused him of killing the deceased with his words.
“We often hear that words can’t hurt you … well how about anti-Semitic whispers?” Danforth said…
“Words do hurt. Words can kill,” he added. “That has been proven right here in our home state.”
Hancock didn’t deny that he had falsely spread the rumor that Schweich was Jewish, he just argued that it was an innocent mistake. He might just as easily have mistaken Schweich for a Presbyterian. But Danforth wasn’t buying that excuse:
“Someone said this was no different than saying a person is a Presbyterian,” the former senator said, as quoted by the Post-Dispatch. “Here’s how to test the credibility of that remark: When was the last time anyone sidled up to you and whispered into your ear that such and such a person is a Presbyterian?”
Now, I live in suburban Philadelphia which has a big Jewish population. No one would ever sidle up to me here to tell me that such and such a person is a Jew.
“Did you know that Arlen Specter was a Jew?”
“That Allyson Schwartz seems nice, but did you know that she’s a Hebe?”
“I was thinking of voting for Ed Rendell until I realized that he’s a hook-nosed kike.”
I’m sure if you dig around in the right circles you can encounter these kind of remarks in Eastern Pennsylvania, but they sure aren’t commonplace. We tend to judge people by different criteria.
Still, over in Missouri, and in much of the country, being a Jew is not something that inspires trust, let alone massive outpourings of thoughtless applause.
If you were focused on the Capitol Building in DC yesterday, you might have thought that Republicans love Jewish people almost to the point of derangement.
If you were focused on Tom Schweich’s memorial service in Missouri, you got a much more accurate picture.