So, after
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4703427">telling us for a couple of days that he meant what
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x233136">he said, it seems Steve Cohen has succumbed to the pressure and offered an apology.
Cohen Statement on Health Care Debate
Thursday, 20 January 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today released the following statement on the health care debate:
“There has been considerable media attention regarding comments I made during Special Orders on the House floor as part of a colloquy Tuesday evening. While I received no comments or responses from my colleagues on the floor at the time or, for that matter from anyone until midday on Wednesday, someone posted a small portion of the speech on the internet. Taken out of context, I can understand the confusion and concern. In speaking about the Republican message of “government takeover of health care” that has been drummed into the heads of Americans and the media for more than a year, I referenced the non-partisan, Pulitzer prize-winning Politfact.com judgment that named the Republican message as the “2010 Lie of the Year.”
While I regret that anything I said has created an opportunity to distract from the debate about health care for 32 million Americans, I want to be clear that I never called Republicans Nazis. Instead, the reference I made was to the greatest propaganda master of all time. Propaganda, which is called “messaging” today, can be true or false. In this case, the message is false.
I would certainly never do anything to diminish the horror of the Nazi Holocaust as I revere and respect the history of my people. I sponsored legislation which created one of the first state Holocaust Commissions in America and actively served as a Commission member for over 20 years. I regret that anyone in the Jewish Community, my Republican colleagues or anyone else was offended by the portrayal of my comments. My comments were not directed toward any group or people but at the false message and, specifically, the method by which is has been delivered.
It is disappointing that my comments have been used to distract from the health care reform debate. It is my hope that we can return our focus to the matter at hand—health care for 32 million Americans.”
Why did I mention J Street?
Well, because they are big supporters of Steve Cohen and raised
http://jstreet.org/campaigns/jstreetpac-raises-over-30000-rep-steve-cohen">over $35,000 from over 300 JStreetPAC supporters for his re-election campaign.
They also issued a public letter asking him to apologize.
J Street Statement on Rep. Steve Cohen’s CommentsPosted by: Amy Spitalnick | January 19th, 2011 4:50 pm
J Street strongly opposes the use of Holocaust imagery and Nazi metaphors in American political debate. We have spoken out strongly in the past when it was used by those who we oppose politically, and we also ask our friends to refrain from using such language.
We call on Congressman Cohen to apologize for these remarks, and urge him and all American political leaders to refrain from the use of such imagery in the future.
http://www.jstreet.org/blog/?p=1378 Hopefully the apology he gave will suffice and J Street will be happy.
BTW, just caught this
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/20/5886955-steve-cohen-makes-a-statement">on Maddow's blog, it's the kind of crap Cohen has to put up with where he lives....