For decades, the Democrats have held themselves out as the political home of American Jews while accusing Republicans of harboring bigotry.
Both recent events and history expose these assertions as lies.
Yesterday, Freddy Burgos, a member of the Virginia Republican State Central Committee tweeted that “Having a preference for Christians over non-Christians as political leaders is not bigoted. It is a preference and a duty we are allowed.”
The response from Republican leaders was swift and pointed. Republican Party of Virginia Chairman John Whitbeck immediately called Mr. Burgos and demanded that he both remove his “offensive and bigoted post” and resign. Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (R-VA) released a statement stating that Mr. Burgos’ “bigoted, backwards views have no place in the Republican Party” and calling on him to resign. Numerous other Republican leaders from across Virginia issued similar statements.
This response in Virginia mirrors the response of Republican leaders in Illinois who are dismayed that an open antisemite Holocaust denier is poised to win a Republican congressional nomination because he is the only person seeking that nomination in the heavily-Democrat district. The Republican Party of Illinois and party leaders across the state have unambiguously renounced him, and the Republican Party of Illinois has stated that he will receive no support and that they are trying to recruit an independent candidate to support against him.
Meanwhile, the Democrats last year selected a man with a decades-long history of antisemitism to be the Vice Chairman of the Democrat National Committee. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is a longtime friend and acolyte of notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam hate organization. He has vigorously defended prominent antisemites on numerous occasions.
In 2006, when Ellison first ran for Congress, he wrote an open letter renouncing his past association with the Nation of Islam and made a symbolic visit to Israel. Once elected, however, he amassed one of the most anti-Israel records in Congress.
Today it was revealed that in 2013 – seven years after purportedly renouncing Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam – Keith Ellison had an intimate private dinner with not only Farrakhan but also the President of Iran, the world’s foremost sponsor of Islamist terrorism and the most belligerent enemy of the Jewish State of Israel. Not one prominent Democrat has yet condemned Ellison for this meeting or called on him to resign.
Unsurprisingly, none of the establishment “news” media have reported this story, and as long as they are able to keep the story suppressed, their Democrat allies won’t face any pressure to renounce Rep. Ellison. They certainly won’t do so as a matter of principle.
These are, after all, the same “news” media who suppressed a photograph recently released of then-Senator Barrack Obama meeting with proud antisemite Louis Farrakhan. I have included that photo with this article to do the job the “news” media chose not to do.
The Democrats were the party of slavery from the time of the party’s founding through the Civil War. Then, for another century, the Democrats were the party of Jim Crow, fighting for segregation and other laws to keep black people “in their place.”
Meanwhile, it was the Republican Party that was founded to oppose slavery, that succeeded in ending slavery, that amended the Constitution to ensure equal rights for blacks, that again amended the Constitution to guarantee the right of women to vote, that opposed Jim Crow, that voted in larger margins than the Democrats for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, that appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court, and that appointed to the Supreme Court the justice who wrote the opinion declaring marriage equality for gay couples to be constitutionally mandated.
In my thirty years as a political activist, I have attended scores of political events on both the left and right. I have seen firsthand that at liberal events antisemitic literature is handed out routinely without any objections. I have never seen any bigoted literature handed out at a conservative event.
The Democrats talk a good game about tolerance, but as we sit here today they still have an antisemite as their number two leader at the Democrat National Committee. The fact is that throughout history and through today, it is the Republicans who have been walking the walk.
Author: Ken Falkenstein
Ken Falkenstein is the Managing Editor of Committed Conservative and brings a wealth of experience and expertise in public affairs to the job. Ken served in the U.S. Army in the last years of the Cold War as a Russian linguist for military intelligence and the NSA. After leaving the Army, he earned his degree in Secondary Education from Old Dominion University, where he also wrote a popular column in the student newspaper.
Upon graduation, Ken worked as a Legislative Aide to two Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates. Ken also served as Corresponding Secretary of the Young Republican Federation of Virginia, managed several successful political campaigns, and managed governmental affairs operations for a local Realtor association.
In 1995, Ken moved to Washington, DC to serve as a Legislative Assistant to Sen. John Warner (R-VA). While working for Sen. Warner, Ken attended law school at night, earning his J.D. with honors from the George Mason University School of Law (n/k/a The Antonin Scalia Law School). Since that time, Ken has practiced as a civil litigation attorney, including serving for three years as an Associate City Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Ken previously was a contributor to the highly-regarded political blog Bearing Drift and was a weekly co-host of The Steve Batton Radio Program. In 2016, Ken ran unsuccessfully for the Virginia Beach School Board. Ken is also a former President of the Down Syndrome Association of Hampton Roads.
Ken now lives outside of Denver, Colorado with his wife, Kim, and three sons, Adam, Dylan, and Joshua, who has Down syndrome. Ken’s writing is motivated and informed primarily by his concern for his kids’ future.
