Jewish Democrats have strongly criticized a Mitt Romney’s (Republican presidential candidate) choice of a museum honoring auto pioneer Henry Ford to officially launch his presidential campaign. The critics were angered by Ford’s history of anti-Semitism.
Mitt Romney, who has scheduled the formal announcement of his candidacy on Tuesday from the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan, was taken to task by the National Jewish Democratic Council.
The council “is deeply troubled by Governor Romney’s choice of locations to announce his presidential campaign,” executive director Ira Forman said in a statement.
“Romney has been traveling the country talking about inclusiveness and understanding of people from all walks of life,” Forman said. “Yet he chooses to kick (off) his presidential campaign on the former estate of a well-known and outspoken anti-Semite and xenophobe.”
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24 Responses
Oh, give me a break. These supposed spokesmen for the Jews forget that it’s not all about us.
sure hope they aren’t using IBM computers/products , or driving damlier-Chrysler cars (or japanesse cars -part of the axis) or Ferraris/lamborghinis (Italian).
I hope that they shun mr KKK senator byrd and ex-pres. carter.
They should boycot at all cost arab controlled land oil and oil byproducts as well as venezuelan oil etc. we wouldn’t want this loony group to be hypocritical would we?
I know many fine Jewish families that drive aerostar and winstar vans – yes they are ford products. so is/was the taurus. most of these families would most likley prefer Gov Romney over suha kisser hilery or anyone named “hussein” obama’s middle name.
this whole thing is much ado about nothing. Hey ira – call home and tell mom you finally got your 15 minutes of fame.
what a tipish!
They are complaining only because they are Democrats, not because they are Jewish.
Bill Clinton praised Ford, too, as a great innovator (which he was). You didn’t hear the Jewish Democrats kvetch then.
Ofcourse this is ALL ABOUT POLITICS!
The world of mud slinging, scrutinizing and cheap shots ! you really think a party which supports Hillary cares about Ford’s publishing the ‘Protocals of Zion’ UNER THEN
…under the name o’The international Jew’?
These nominally Jewish liberals only carew about their Jewishness when it affects thier liberal agendas. To quote the great Bob Grant: “They are a bunch of fake, phonies and frauds…”
I agree with the NJDC on this one (although I have never heard of them until today).
Ford’s Anti-Semitism was unique in terms of both it’s intensity and its scale. At its peak (before it was shut down as a result of a lawsuit by a Jewish lawyer), Ford’s newspaper — The Dearborn Independent — had a circulation of over 700,000. It ran such discredited gems as the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.
I’m not saying that Ford products should be boycotted; that’s a personal choice for people to make. But this is different. Someone who buys a Windstar is not necessarily identifying themselves with the ideals of the Ford Motor Company (whatever those may be). However, someone who launches the presidential campaign at a specific location is consciously identifying with the symbolism of their chosen site.
I don’t buy MDLEVINE’s comparison to IBM, Daimler, or any Japanese or Italian cars. In these instances, it is true that the corporations or countries in question have black marks on their records. In Ford’s case, however, Anti-Semitism was his essence. A “biography” of any of MDLEVINE’s examples would include the Anti-Semitic acts in question as a chapter near the back. In Ford’s case, it belongs on the front cover.
the “protocols” has been a best seller in Japan for years. Additionally, I work with many Chinese nationals that have come to America. they want to know how to get into the diamond and tap into the NY money – they are taught in China that the Jew controls these items. As for Ford and other tycoons of industry, he may have been more vocal in his anti-semitism, however, I doubt he was the only one.
Regarding Mitt Romney choosing this place to announce, if it is really out of a deep hatred of Jews, it will come out in other avenues as well. Time will tell.
Charedim – as for the other examples that I listed, it was just to show the hypocracy of ira and his group – hilary, a democrat gets a pass. byrd gets a pass. all the companies that collaborated with those seeking to destroy us – past and present, get a pass. A republican conservative – instant condemnation.
CKY
You may be right. Ford WAS a notorious anti semite. But dont you think that
implicating the party as anti semitic because they launched their campaign from this museum is a gross exaggaration and just politically motivated?
i
I agree that the only thing that really bothers these Jews is that he is a Republican.
I wish they’d get more worked up about say, anti-Semitism on college campuses, where it’s called “anti-Israel criticism”, but its all the same.
Also, where are these people when ellen goodman writes in the Boston Globe that “denying Global warming is similar to Holocaust denial”?
Before you know it someone will be saying, “denying the quality of Starbucks coffee is similar to Holocaust denial”.
There is no end to trivializing Nazis and their rish’us.
NAMELESS — I agree that the NJDC’s charge is politically motivated. That is their raison d’etre. But that doesn’t necessarily make it unwarranted. Sometimes, the people that one opposes do things wrong, and the fact that one opposes them doesn’t negate all criticism.
As far as whether it is a “gross exaggeration,” that depends. If you look at what the NJDC actually said, no, it is not an exaggeration. They said that they were troubled by it (as am I) and that it is out of step with Romney’s purported philosophy of inclusiveness.
However, if you look at how you characterized the NJDC’s comments (“implicating the party as anti semitic”) then, yes, they are a gross exaggeration.
MDLEVINE — Similar to my comment to NAMELESS … you’re right that Hilary and others get a pass. But it’s problematic to characterize that as hypocrisy. The NJDC is a partisan group. This is their job. Faulting them for not criticizing Hilary is akin to faulting a lawyer for not making the other guy’s case. The mere fact that they’re partisan doesn’t make them wrong.
Where I level the charge or hypocrisy is against organizations that are ostensibly non-partisan (e.g. the UN, Amnesty International) that criticize Israel, for example, to the exclusion of most others.
ESG78 — I’m not a fan of using any Holocaust metaphors, but accusing Ellen Goodman (very possibly a Jew) of trivializing the rishus of the Nazis is unwarranted and (to her, presumably) offensive.
I think it is clear to all that what she is saying is that denying global warming in the face of the mountain (iceberg?) of scientific evidence is similar to denying something as well documented as the Holocaust. If the quality of Starbucks coffee could be empirically proven, your example would work.
Again, I think that no Holocaust metaphors should be used, ever, but I’m trying to explain where she’s coming from, in my opinion.
I say that she is very possibly Jewish because, as someone once told me, if a name ends with “man,” it is more likely than not that the person in question is either Jewish (Goldman, Handelsman, Silverman) or a Superhero (Batman, Superman, Aquaman).
…so I went to the website for this so-called Jewish group. from their mission statement they are committed to such Jewish concepts like:
“reproductive freedom” – my comment: they are pro killing babies in the womb – doesn’t sound very Jewish to me!
“Fighting the radical right agenda at every turn” – my comment: no matter what position they take, whether supporting Jewish education (vouchers), freedom of land use (Shuls, Yeshivas), rights for the Shomer Shabbos employee. etc. if the “right” says it NJDC will always take the wrong position!
YES – I know that I only took a part of the statement. these are their positions, so what if they may have a point with this issue!
its a good thing that the protocols were a best seller in japan- it saved many yeshivos during ww2 thinking it would influence america
i do not know if it was popular during WW-2. it was popular in the 90’s
REAL KLUR — Have you read the Protocols??? Where is the Japan story from?
no I have not read it
I was wrong in my timeline it was published in Japan in 2004 see attached timeline (Link). I remember reading awhile ago that it was a bestseller in Japan. I am sure if you do some searches you will find stories.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007244
at the end of his life, ford regretted his stand on jews and claimed the protocols were fake. besides, democrats (especially jewish dems) dont care what they say or do as long as they can disparage republicans
National Jewish Democratic Council is a RJC (Republican Jewish Coalition) copycat.
The RJC has seen huge success and growth in membership thanks to the amazingly pro-Jewish President, GW Bush.
Unlike the RJC, the NJDC has a tough sell because most Jewish liberals are a) already staunch members of the Democrat party and b) don’t like being a part of any group with the label “Jewish” attached to it.
The hypocracy which flows from Ira (who by the way has a HUGE supporter in Zev Brenner, who regularly give them airtime to promote their agenda) should NOT be a surprise as most Liberals are the biggest hypocrits (sic?) ever.
Hi Nameless. Whats going on today?
Romney is originally from Michigan. He went to one of the most significant places in Michigan to make his announcement. Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village is a major landmark-tourist attraction. It is even one of the primary ‘Chol Hamoed outing’ destinations even for the chareidi olam there.
I don’t think the Goyishe velt looks at Henry Ford and thinks AntiSemite. We do, because we’re on the ‘receiving end’ of his support for our enemies. But the velt in general, now more than 70 years after his support for the Nazis y’sh, thinks of Henry Ford as the guy from Detroit who made cars. You can’t impute antisemitic motives onto him, when the issue was probably not even considered.
As an aside, I wonder if there is a connection between the home base of Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, and the very heavy Arab population in that same town, the largest concentration of Arabs in this country.
Pro Not Anti
I’m ok…and I’m SURE I MUST know you from somewhere….
midwesterner – good post!