Obama Backer Made Anti-Semitic Remarks

[quinnox]

A Jewish group criticized Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for accepting support from a former basketball player who said the Jews killed Jesus. New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer reported that ex-New York Knicks guard Allan Houston is hosting a fund-raiser Saturday at his home for Obama, an Illinois senator seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Houston drew fire from Jewish groups in 2001 when he said in a pre-game Bible study session that Jews had Jesus’ “blood on their hands” and were “stubborn.” Houston apologized, saying his remarks were taken out of context, but the American Jewish Congress said Obama’s association with Houston was still inappropriate. “I don’t think Barack Obama would make comments like that about Jews,” David Twersky, the group’s communications director, told the Intelligencer. But “if someone made those kinds of remarks against African Americans, he would eschew their support. It would be a different standard.”

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=14074


This doesn't reflect well on Obama, perhaps he should drop this particular fundraiser.

[Dawgs]

1. Oh, Jesus Christ.

Some of you are really desperate.

[CTLawGuy]

23. pun intended?

NT

[wtmusic]

2. What, we gonna do background checks on everyone who wants to kick in

some money to a qualified candidate? This is ridiculous.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

5. Exactly, however since this is now news Obama should cancel the fundraiser

I doubt Obama knew about Houston's background and certainly Obama is not an anti-Semite. However, now that his record is in the news and presumably the Obama camp has heard about it the fundraiser should be canceled. We are the party of equality. We should not associate ourselves with bigots like Allan Houston.

[Ethelk2044]

9. Fundraiser already happened and he did well

Hillary's team is really hurting now. I guess Obama needs to bring up Monica and Whitewater.

Oh I forgot, HE has too much class for that.

OBAMA
:yourock:

[SaveElmer]

16. No need for him too...

Many of his supporters around here will do it for him...present company excluded

[draft_mario_cuomo]

27. Monica and Whitewater are sadly issues that should be discussed

They are huge liabilities for us if HRC wins the nomination. They are part of the baggage HRC brings with her. Let us not forget the damage "Clinton fatigue" did to us in 2000...

[SaveElmer]

61. On the contrary...

It is precisely that type of over the top attack that turns voters off the most...the more they are attacked in this way, the more popular the Clinton's get...

Nice to see Democrats jumping on the Freeper bandwagon though!!!

[Jai4WKC08]

63. Talk about your wishful thinking....

Listen up. Voters may say they are turned off by negativity, attacks, gossip, and all that shit. But in reality they eat it up with a spoon. And mostly it sinks in, especially if there's a pre-disposition to believe it.

[SaveElmer]

64. Yes lets see...

Action: Republicans impeach President Clinton over a BJ

Result: His popularity goes up, and the party in power gains seats in Congress for the first time in decades...

Action: Republicans smear Hillary Clinton, accusing her of everything from adultery to murder...

Result: She is now a highly popular second term Senator, and the front runner for the Democratic nomination...

[Ethelk2044]

67. If she can not take it from Dems

How in the Hell will she handle the repugs?

[SaveElmer]

3. Well according to the DU "Hillary" rule...

Anyone she knows that does something bad she is then responsible for...so it is only fair to apply that to all the candidates...right?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SaveElmer]

11. I'll take that as a compliment...

And oh btw...I was being sarcastic...

[Ethelk2044]

14. you are so funny

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SaveElmer]

17. My pro-Clinton posts are simply that...

Pro-Clinton...if you find that obnoxious...well...that is your problem not mine...I can see why people with so much vitriol toward her would take any pro-Clinton statement as obnoxious...

However, I do try and stay away from the name calling and distortions that characterize so much of the Hillary criticism around here...not 100% successful there, but certainly have a better batting average than the other side!

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SaveElmer]

26. Not a single portion of that post was accurate...

As they are anti-everyone else.

Links...my posts generally concentrate on what is going right in the Hillary campaign. I rarely post negatively about other candidates, and when I do, I try to concentrate on policy or tactics. And I don't believe I have ever called any of them a "whore", "neocon" or Republican lite.

Tactics just like these. Thanks for quickly proving my point.

Apparently anyone not supporting Hillary Clinton in the primary has "vitriol" towards her, even if they will vote for her as the nominee.

Show me where I said anything of the kind

No you don't. You're hip-deep in it. Claiming I have "vitriol" towards Senator Clinton, for example. Congratulations - you shot down your own argument.

You are a candidate for President? And I don;t believe I referred to you in any of my posts. I certainly attack back when attacked, but try not to initiate attacks of this kind...

Not 100% honest, either.

Links?

And who's "the other side"? I thought as Democrats, we are all supposed to be on the same side. Are you painting everyone outside the Hillary camp with the same broad brush, perhaps?

Those who routinely call Hillary a "whore", "corporatist" "bitch" "neocon" "warmonger" "Republican lite" and names that get them suspended...point to a single instance where I have made a comment remotely as offensive as these

[Alexander]

30. "Accurate" to you is more like "truthiness", so no thanks...

"...I can see why people with so much vitriol toward her would take any pro-Clinton statement as obnoxious..."

"Links...my posts generally concentrate on what is going right in the Hillary campaign."

You DLC guys really like to ask for links a lot.

Well, here you go. You started these not five days ago:

"Kerry getting a primary challenge from the left?
Topic started by SaveElmer on May-18-07 05:44 PM (150 replies)"

"Opinion Dynamics: Hillary ahead by 16...very bad news for Edwards...
Topic started by SaveElmer on May-17-07 08:10 PM (30 replies)"

I notice you personally wrote the bolded part of the headline.

Here are the links.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3270657

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3269275

"I rarely post negatively about other candidates,"

Oh yeah, sure. :eyes:

"and when I do, I try to concentrate on policy or tactics."

Interpretations of polls and primary challenges are "policy" and "tactics"?

"And I don't believe I have ever called any of them a "whore", "neocon" or Republican lite."

Like I have? Show me one case, I dare you. You can't. You love to ask for links so much, maybe you can provide a few where I called her any of those things.

Tactics just like these. Thanks for quickly proving my point.




"Apparently anyone not supporting Hillary Clinton in the primary has "vitriol" towards her, even if they will vote for her as the nominee."

"Show me where I said anything of the kind."

Okay.

"...I can see why people with so much vitriol toward her would take any pro-Clinton statement as obnoxious..."

That's a reference to me, because I referred to your tactics as "obnoxious". Which they are.


This...

"You are a candidate for President?"

makes no sense,

and this...

"And I don;t believe I referred to you in any of my posts."

Is not accurate. You did so with your "vitriol" comment.

"I certainly attack back when attacked, but try not to initiate attacks of this kind..."

So falsely accusing me of some deep-seated loathing of Hillary Clinton isn't an attack? :eyes:

"Links?"

Links? You really want links that you are not being 100% honest with your debate tactics? You post inaccuracies about what I think of Hillary Clinton, and of what you accuse me of thinking about Hillary Clinton, and you want links?

""Those who routinely call Hillary a "whore", "corporatist" "bitch" "neocon" "warmonger" "Republican lite" and names that get them suspended...point to a single instance where I have made a comment remotely as offensive as these"

You claimed I had vitriol towards Senator Clinton. Are you lumping me in with people who call Hillary Clinton those things? Maybe you'd like to point to a single instance of me using any of those words about your dear St. Hillary?

You can't, because I haven't.

Newsflash: Just because I don't support Hillary for the nomination and feel she would be defeated in the general election does not mean I harbor any vitriol towards her.

[SaveElmer]

34. Well I am about to say something negative to y ou...

Why is it you just make shit up?

So much wrong and so little time.

Let me sum it up this way...as I have been told time and time again...

If it's true its not a smear.

How does posting an article, taken verbatim from Politicalwire and MyDD, on a challenge to Kerry, constitute a negative post...? And if you had bothered to read down thread a bit, you would see I was supporting Senator Kerry and thought the challenge was a bad idea...

As to the Edwards post...exactly what was untrue about it?

I guess I am only allowed to post truthful articles as long as they are all sunshine and light huh?

[Alexander]

36. No surprise there.

You claimed you rarely post anything negative about other candidates.

I provided those precious links you like so much, showing it was nonsense.

I also quoted you, telling me I had "vitriol" towards Senator Clinton. You later claimed you said nothing of the kind. Another crock.

Don't like it when someone uses your own words against you? Then shut the hell up. :eyes:

[SaveElmer]

47. Your links were nonsense...

I simply posted truthful headlines from other sources...one of them progressive.

If you can't handle the truth...shut the hell up! Or better yet, use that handy feature provided by the mods...the ignore button...it is your friend!

[Alexander]

49. And yours were non-existent.

Maybe you'd like to show me where I displayed "vitriol" for Senator Clinton, in the middle of all your backtracking. :eyes:

"Or better yet, use that handy feature provided by the mods...the ignore button...it is your friend!"

Sorry, I'm not as thin-skinned as you. I can take a few insults from some DLC crybabies without having to ignore them.

[SaveElmer]

50. For the last time...

I was not referring to you specifically...as I have said now 3 times I think...I was referring to the general tendency of many on this board...if I did not make myself clear I apologize.

[rinsd]

38. That;s the dirt on SaveElmer? LOL

""Links...my posts generally concentrate on what is going right in the Hillary campaign."

"Kerry getting a primary challenge from the left?
Topic started by SaveElmer on May-18-07 05:44 PM (150 replies)"

"Opinion Dynamics: Hillary ahead by 16...very bad news for Edwards...
Topic started by SaveElmer on May-17-07 08:10 PM (30 replies)"

Umm that poll was bad news for Edwards and Kerry may get a primary challenge.

"Just because I don't support Hillary for the nomination and feel she would be defeated in the general election does not mean I harbor any vitriol towards her."

Yes yet another freak out by you because someone brings up the obvious dislike of Clinton in some parts of DU.

You're a hater. You come onto pro-Hillary threads looking for fight with Clinton supporters.

At least be a man about it.

[Alexander]

46. "You're a hater."

Got any LINKS? Otherwise you can shut the hell up, too. :eyes:

[dae]

66. Can you explain to me why you are continuously...

posting against that poor Name Removed poster...just kidding!
:dem::evilgrin:

[ripple]

55. A number of us don't operate by that rule

Ridiculous attack posts like this (particularly when they are followed by the manufactured outrage and apparent glee of Hillary supporters) do more to make me dislike Hillary as a candidate than she could possibly accomplish by her own words or actions.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Allen Houston is a dumb jock; there's no political angle here

:boring:

[Ethelk2044]

6. Let me get this straight

This happened in 2001. Now you are trying to blame Barack. You are really trying to stretch it aren't you. You do not have anything on THE GUY so you are grasping at straws now. We do not have

:rofl:

[illinoisprogressive]

7. Is Barack all his Backers keeper???

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AtomicKitten]

12. ah, okay

Unless Obama is this guy's personal hand-puppet - which he is not - this is really, really reaching.

[nevergiveup]

13. All donors should

be required to pass a psychological test before giving to any candidate. Those holding fund raisers should also be stripped and searched. Maybe the Justice Department could handle this. :sarcasm:

[kestrel91316]

18. KKKarl or Limpballs been sending out more memos???

[Name removed]

19. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Colobo]

20. Poor Barack... he can't get a break...

[Forkboy]

21. Is today "Desperation Day" around here or something?

Yeesh

[Colobo]

22. Why are they so desperate if Barack is fading?

[Clark2008]

24. Oh, for Pete's sake. Allen Houston is not anti-Semitic.

And, yes, I know him. I went to UT with him. His opinion, while stunted, is more misguided than hateful.

He's really a sweet guy who doesn't deserve this shit - but, thankfully, he apologized and we should just move on.

BTW, I'm not supporting Obama and I'm not NOT supporting Obama. I just know Allen and he's not anti-Jew, nor is he exactly stupid. His parents were both teachers and so is his wife.

[The Magistrate]

56. Unfortunately, Ma'am, Stating 'Jews Have The Blood Of Christ On Their Hands' Is Anti-Semitism

That really is not open to argument on any level.

[IndianaGreen]

58. It's a basic tenet of Christian theology

The blood libel is still in the Christian Gospels. Those that call themselves fundamentalists, believe in what Falwell called the "inerrancy of the Bible." I don't see any of those morons removing the offending text from their precious holy books.

The hateful theology that drove the pogroms and the Holocaust is still part of the Christian canon. Despite the healing and most welcomed words from the late Polish Pope, a rarity among Popes I may add, the offending text still remains, and the teaching is still taught in some quarters.

[The Magistrate]

59. That, Ma'am, Is Not My Problem

Being a hard old pagan, myself....

[IndianaGreen]

60. Ahhh, you are one of those that still believe in reason

I guess this means you don't believe that Noah had a couple of T-Rex in his Ark, or that poor Mrs. Noah had a pet raptor.

[Clark2008]

68. He may have SAID something anti-Semitic, but he doesn't hate Jews.

I say stupid stuff all the time, but it doesn't make me anti-something. It just means I said something stupid.

And, in the particular case, many people are taught that the Jews killed Jesus; therefore, his statement was more one of being misled by his church or pastor than being a bigot.

[zulchzulu]

28. David Twersky has a lot of political ties to Hillary Clinton...hmmmm...

So a basketball player made alleged "anti-semitic" remarks 6 years ago and...Barack Obama has to take the heat for it?

The New York-based American Jewish Congress has backed Senator Clinton on a number of occasions when she ran for the Senate and are linked in the Draft Hillary web site (do a google) efforts for 2008.

It's funny that they make a big issue of this fairly vacuous "issue"...

Just when you thought it was just another case of the "Ol' Accuse 'Em of Being Anti-Semitic" routine, it turns out there's some additional layers with the link between Rabbi David Twersky and his Barack attack.

It turns out that Twersky went to the White House in the waning days of the Clinton administration to get some pals pardoned for a multi-million dollar money laundering scheme:

Hillary Clinton has insisted she played no role in commuting the sentences of the four Hasidim, who stole more than $30 million in government grants, subsidies and loans, and that she did nothing unethical by attending two sessions with the leaders who sought their pardons. The first took place in the Rockland County village of New Square last August, while she was running for the Senate. State party operatives thought the tiny community--which had often voted in a bloc in the past--was a promising one for Hillary in her race against Republican Rick Lazio. Following Hasidic custom, Hillary covered her head and chatted about the village's health-care services from across a coffee table, on which a tall bouquet of flowers served as the traditional screen that Hasidim require between the sexes. As far as anyone knows, that was a campaign event only; no pardons were mentioned.
The next session came four months later, after the sect had delivered nearly 1,400 votes for Hillary and only 12 for Lazio. On the morning of Dec. 22, Grand Rabbi David Twersky and an associate went to the White House and tearfully appealed to the President to pardon Benjamin Berger, David Goldstein, Jacob Elbaum and Kalman Stern. Hillary attended the meeting in the White House Map Room but insists she did not participate in the conversation. "I did not play any role whatsoever," she told the Associated Press. "I had no opinion about it."

Clinton eventually commuted the sentences, but Hillary insists she never discussed the matter with her husband. A chat between President and Senator about pardoning a home-state constituent is no big deal. But federal investigators want to find out if the reduced sentences were traded for support at the ballot box.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,100549,00.html

Bill Clinton, of course, pardoned them. Hillary Clinton claims to have not known a thing about it...

There's more:

"One widely publicized case included laundering money through a phony yeshiva set up in Brooklyn.

Rabbi Twersky desperately wanted to win clemency for the four noted New Square residents who on Jan. 25, 1999 were convicted of 21 charges including conspiracy, embezzlement, and wire and mail fraud. Kalmen Stern, 42, was sentenced to 78 months; David Goldstein, 54, of Brooklyn, 70 months; Jacob Elbaum 40, 57 months; and Benjamin Berger, 30 months. They were ordered to pay back millions of dollars.

She met with Rabbi David Twersky, and afterwards, New Square officials began campaigning for Clinton, even outside the village, though Clinton's positions on such core issues as school vouchers, abortion and Israel were in opposition to New Square."
http://www.americandaily.com/nucleus/plugins/print/print.php?itemid=17059

I'm sure Twersky will be a foot soldier for the Clinton camp sniffing for any clue of "anti-semitic" links to her contenders' campaigns...

[flpoljunkie]

31. A must read post from zulchzulu.

[zulchzulu]

33. You can bet Twersky will be popping his head up again during this election season

Look for him to go after Edwards next...with about the same baseless garbage...

[Zodiak]

32. Man, this primary is already ugly

and I do NOT like the tactics being used by the Hillary camp....both on DU and in the national arena.

Remnds me of the tactic of the other side of the aisle. They saturate us with talking points that are divorced from the issues and attack the messenger instead of the message.

[Jed Dilligan]

37. Just goes to prove the corruption

of all religious freaks.

[IndianaGreen]

44. They expect Hillary to be the next rubber stamp for the Israel Lobby

The collective efforts of so many rubber stamps that paralyzed US foreign policy in the Middle East, and that turned our nation into enablers of israel, is what gave rise to Islamic terrorism culminating in the attacks on 9-11.

[zulchzulu]

54. Bingo!

We are in an endless loop of making more people radicalized for generations to come...

[sampsonblk]

29. This is garbage

nt

[IndianaGreen]

43. The garbage is all those politicians that crawl on their knees at the AIPAC Convention

What a pathetic lot!

[sabbat hunter]

35. alan houston

is a moron.

[Colobo]

39. Next: Obama Backer Took a Crap in Public!

[rinsd]

42. Its days like this that try your patience.

And its only going to get worse.

And before it does and the following is forgotten in the sea of anger and hurt feelings, I want to say I really respect your tireless advocacy of Obama. You have been a class act more often than not.

[rinsd]

40. Oh c'mon! what is this guilt by association day?

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ecstatic]

45. A dishonest, unfair criticism

Out of all the mud that's slung around to the different candidates, I find the accusations thrown at Obama to be the most unfair and dishonest.

[IndianaGreen]

48. It's par for the course for that group!

After all, look at what they did to Jimmy Carter.

[Big Pappa]

51. This is BS

n/t

[illinoisprogressive]

52. 2 Hillary backers : A Madam and A Porn star. there you go!

[rucky]

53. If Huston were a Republican...

he'd be running for President instead of supporting someone else.

[KingFlorez]

57. How on earth is he responsible for the words of an individual?

It's illogical to try and blame Obama for this, he can't control everybody's mouth.

[jcrew2001]

62. NBA players shouldn't go into politics - look at Bill Bradley

nt

[jcrew2001]

65. I think Obama shouldn't want to be associated with any Knick

hah hah