Did you really think she was done? Rep. Michele Bachmann, the political gift to Democrats and the media that keeps on giving, has now insulted Jewish voters who she says sold out Israel’s interests to vote for Barack Obama for President.
In American politics it’s not unusual for politicians and political parties to compete for voting blocks. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don’t. They analzye why they didn’t, and try to make sure they win sometimes. But this is 21st century America where you have to impugn the motives of those who disagree with you or vote against your party. It’ll be interesting to see how many Republicans are willing to say they agree with her that American Jews who voted for Obama (and presumably who vote for Democrats in the future) are selling out rather than simply casting a vote based on who they prefer because they may not be single issue voters — or voters willing to have a politician shove the single issue the politician believes is the important issue down their throats:
Michele Bachmann is deeply disappointed with the American Jewish community for supporting President Barack Obama, whose policies she believes will reduce Israel to “rubble.”
The Minnesota Republican on Monday took particular issue with President Obama’s recent deal with Iran after he successfully lobbied Congress to temporarily hold off on additional sanctions in hopes of reaching a larger deal on nuclear weapons.
“The Jewish community gave him their votes, their support, their financial support and as recently as last week, 48 Jewish donors who are big contributors to the president wrote a letter to the Democrat senators in the U.S. Senate to tell them to not advance sanctions against Iran. This is clearly against Israel’s best interest,” Bachmann told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, as quoted by Right Wing Watch.
Bachmann also chided organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which boosted Obama by backing off its push for a swift vote on new sanctions.
“What has been shocking has been seeing and observing Jewish organizations who it appears have made it their priority to support the political priority and the political ambitions of the President over the best interests of Israel,” she added. “So in some respects, they sold out Israel.”
I suspect we’ll now hear some on the right agree with Bachmann.
So the new given among some partisans will be that if a majority of a religious, ethnic or other group votes FOR a candidate they like, they must be “selling out,” somehow morally bankrupt, betraying their group and principles, not voting their consciences — or even for someone who they consider to be the lesser or two evils.
Casting a vote for or against someone because you think it’s the right way to vote?
It’s soooooooooooo 20th century (unless it’s for the side you like).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.