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Inside Today's Bulletin
Blaming The Jews
By John R. Cohn, For The Bulletin
09/23/2008
Mr. Matthews was demoted over concerns about the appearance of bias and its effect on MSNBC's reputation as a news outlet.
It is relatively easy to discount a journalist as being in a candidate's camp. Mr. Matthews is not alone in that regard.
But earlier this summer, and largely unnoticed, Mr. Matthews took his devotion to Barack Obama in a potentially more dangerous direction, asking on his Sunday morning news show, "Could Jewish voters be what stands between Barack Obama and the White House?"
Mr. Matthews introduced the discussion with a video clip by comedian Jon Stewart of elderly Miami Jews discussing the Democrats' candidate.
Mr. Stewart, of course is a comedian. Mr. Matthews considers himself a serious journalist.
Mr. Stewart's correspondent introduced the segment, saying, "I was sent down to talk about this election and what we can do to bridge the gap between Jews and blacks..."
An elderly Jewish Floridian bluntly observes, "A lot of Jewish white people here will not vote for a black man."
According to Mr. Matthews, recent polling data showed, "Only 60 percent of Jewish voters backed Obama," That compared with 75 percent who backed John Kerry in 2004 and 79 percent who supported former Vice-President Al Gore in 2000 when he ran with Sen. Joe Lieberman. Sen. Lieberman was, of course, the first Jewish American on a major party national ticket. He is very publicly supporting John McCain this year.
In 2004, John Kerry was running against George Bush. Neither Mr. Bush nor Sen. Obama have the record of service to America of Sen. McCain or Sen. Kerry.
There are good reasons for Americans to carefully consider both candidates this year. That is the democratic process. But votes are not a politician's entitlement. They supposed to be earned. Mr. Matthews and his panel should know that.
Sixty-percent support among Jews is a far higher level than Sen. Obama has among other large, white, demographic groups. If all the Jews stayed home, Sen. Obama would be in worse shape. And if every American voted as the Jews did, he would win in a landslide.
Mr. Matthews suggested reduced Jewish support reflected racism, ignorance, concerns about his Muslim background, or even his middle name. "We asked the Matthews Meter, 12 of our regulars, will Obama get as much of the Jewish vote as Kerry did? Seven say no, Obama will fall short of the Kerry level; five say he'll eventually get there," Mr. Matthews observed.
"I don't know how he got to you two guys," Mr. Matthews went on in addressing two apparently Jewish members of his journalist panel, "But anyway let me ask you this question. I was thinking, is it his name, Hussein? Is it the fact that he was raised - he had an Islamic father? Is it because he was raised in Indonesia? Is it because he's black? What combination of these things is causing trouble?"
None of Mr. Matthews' panel could articulate a legitimate reason for Jews not to more overwhelmingly support Obama.
Time magazine's Joe Klein volunteered, "The fact is that there is a growing number of Jewish Americans who are buying into Republican arguments, especially neoconservative arguments, for the sake of Israel because the, you know, neoconservatives are very strong on attacking Iran and there are a lot of Jews who see Israel's existence threatened by Iran."
That struck a chord, as Elisabeth Bumiller, of The New York Times, chimed in, "So the question is, is he going to be with us when Israel does something that's not popular around the world, will he stand with us, like America has in the past?"
Mr. Klein suggested that Jews are "hardwired" with a sense of irony after 4000 years of oppression. Ms. Bumiller volunteered that she knew "a number of extremely sophisticated Jewish voters... who think that Barack Obama is a Muslim or was a Muslim at one point".
Most American Jews love this country and admire those who have served to defend it and them. They also think when Iran and its proxies in Hezbollah and Hamas say they want to destroy Israel, they mean it.
What they are trying to decide is what Sen. Obama means when he says, "The world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," adding he would take "no options off the table."
That is important not just for Israel but for the United States, too. Oceans no longer protect us from committed killers. Terrorists with nuclear devices threaten not just the Little Satan but the Great Satan, too. Jews know no nation is invulnerable. They have been there too many times.
Mr. Matthews' and his panel's implication that Jewish prejudice, or Jews putting Israel's interests ahead of America's, may prevent an Obama victory is not supported by even his own data. It could encourage anti-Semitism if Sen. Obama should lose.
It would be reason for Sen. Obama's supporters to blame the Jews. "Blame the Jews" is, unfortunately, a not very original concept. That phrase is also hardwired into 4000 years of history. Unfortunately, it is all too often followed by bad things happening.
A transcript of the July 28, 2008 broadcast can be found at
www.thechrismatthewsshow. com/index.php
John Cohn is a physician and Professor of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. He has been a frequent writer and an invited speaker on media and the Middle East.
The Evening Bulletin 2008
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20132969&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8
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