Anti-Semitism Rears Its Head in Attacks on Elena Kagan

Conservatives and Republicans are no strangers to the use of code words and bigotry in their attacks on progressives. What's rare is when they unveil those vile tendencies for the world to see.

That is exactly what leading conservative judicial activist Manuel Miranda did in an Accuracy in Media podcast:

MIRANDA: I think the real concern is, the question has to be, is Elena Kagan still a socialist? And the reason I say that is because in her early writings, in her early life, in the formation of her political sense, it is pretty clear that she is an American socialist. She comes from that background. I grew up in New York, she grew up in New York. I'm very familiar with the sort of Jewish socialist culture in New York, which has an enormous pedigree, has done wonderful things in promoting a way of life and developing American society, but at the end of the day is still socialist.

(FYI: the idea that Elena Kagan is a socialist has been thoroughly debunked.)

Is Miranda an anti-Semite? I have no idea what he truly believes.

Is he willing to use anti-Semitic canards to attack Elena Kagan? That is clear.

 

 

 

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Comments

[beninabox1]

09:13 AM on 05/17/2010

Unfortuntately, Ari, on Huf-Po, most of the anti-Semitism I read about is couched in anti-Zionist rhetoric. According this some vocal 'liberal' (yes, in quotes - the give real liberals a bad name) huf-posters AIPAC is infecting our entire government and Kagan is just another example of it obeying the Zionist Lobby. Also trotting out the idea of dual loyalties to the US and Israel. The nuts on the right and the left both degrade into this paranoia. Just watch the responses to this post and you'll get the the idea.

[RealisticallyOptimist]

02:43 AM on 05/17/2010

GOP has become a safe haven for the anti-semites, anti-muslims

[RealisticallyOptimist]

02:35 AM on 05/17/2010

When repubs find no weaknesses in people they hate, they instinctly resort to lies

[shivasquest]

02:17 PM on 05/16/2010

I dont think its anti -semitism so much as just trying to get an angle on what her inner core is.Is it anti-catholic to have wondered about Scalia and Roberts core beliefs?Their being conservative catholics was a turn off for me. Who knows what she really believes shes been so careful not to leave any crumbs.

[bubbepenny]

03:55 AM on 05/17/2010

its always antisemitism. always.

[shivasquest]

04:20 AM on 05/17/2010

LOL!

[IFany]

01:54 PM on 05/16/2010

One can only hope that the world and the political view of the Republican can be eradicated to the point of near or utter extinction, I find it as a cancer on the body politic, and does nothing more than eat away at the democracy we as a nation seek.

[EbonBear]

08:29 AM on 05/16/2010

Ugh. Leaving aside the ridiculous claim of (shock, horror, the sky is falling!) "socialism", this is the second article I've seen on Kagan today where she is being attacked on completely irrelevent grounds. There are good reasons to oppose or be wary of a Kagan nomination that have more to do with her actual record than her ethnicity, sexuality, looks or family background. I realise that I may be too late in asking but is there any chance that we can talk about the real issues with her?

[upbeatdem]

07:12 AM on 05/16/2010

"What's rare is when they unveil those vile tendencies for the world to see." I don't think it is rare at all. There have been nothing but "vile tendencies" coming out of the "conservatives" for years. They have become even more vile, and open about it, since the 2008 election. I am not surprised at all.

[Dogs And Cats]

12:36 AM on 05/16/2010

You can't win. If you're a liberal, then you're a socialist, an evil word according to some. If you're a capitalist, like good ol' George W. then it's some Jewish banking conspiracy. Two years ago, you were gushing for love over George W. He was more pro-Israelis policy than any president.

These aren't consistent. It is racist.

It's just like complaining Obama hasn't done enough with the oil spill. If he had done more, you'd wouldn't hear the end of something like: it is a socialist take-over of the oil industry.

[Rich Zubaty the Rude Guy]

12:19 AM on 05/16/2010

I hope she IS a socialist. Free market capitalism certainly isn't working. The most vital things in our society cannot be ruled by profit. Nationalize the oil companies. That'll put the fear of Lenin in them. Let's have some REAL socialism.

[pangborn]

12:12 AM on 05/16/2010

This column is just plain wrong. From Jimmy Carter to Barock Obama, Israel has had few friends among some Dems.. Who really cares that Kagan is Jewish. We should care about the fact that for weeks Obama and Dems have been stating they want a highly qualified nominee with judicial experience--why did they change their minds?

[beninabox1]

09:19 AM on 05/17/2010

Don't drink the Kool-Aid pal. Lots of well-regarded justices had no time on the bench. William Rehnquist, Lewis Powell, Bron White, Earl Warren, William O. Douglas, Louis Brandeis.

http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/justices/nopriorexp.html

[IntellectuallyHonest]

11:22 PM on 05/15/2010

(This is not a complete sequitur to this article). There are definitely a lot of people out there that hate Jews and would love to see the Jewish people wiped out. There is a minor problem, however: The Jews are going to go down kickin and screaming and a'launching their nuclear weapons if their existence comes into question. They will not just fade away into long train caravans to their death camps. They are basically always ready for the end, and the gushing blood of the Holocaust is brought to memory about 20 or 30,000 times since 1948. Many of them feel that the entire world hates them, and of course their existence is rejected by most countries at the UN is it not? What I am saying is, as paranoid and as wrong as they are about the need to bomb Iran's nuclear stuff, they are just that: Very paranoid and very dangerous. Whenever anyone questions their power in the US, particularly in foreign policy and economics, they start to get weird and afraid. There may well be a Second Holocaust, as some Israeli thinkers and military people have suggested. But they will make sure that whoever aided and abetted it will be punished a thousand times over. This leads me basically to have no optimism for the future. The people that want Israel destroyed will not go away, and the Jews if they have to go away prefer the Samson Option. End of story

[SiberianRat]

10:51 PM on 05/15/2010

Quite frankly, I don't think it's that anti-Semitic. It's far more anti-socialism, and it's ignorant overall, but there are way worse truly anti-Semitic things being said than this.

[davidariley]

01:44 PM on 05/16/2010

which is WHY they also engage in coded bigotry. it's a softer sell to those on the fence.

[realitytrumpsbull]

10:26 PM on 05/15/2010

Ultimately, this lady is going to face the Ultimate Test, the jury of her peers who, also being Supreme Court justices, might have occasion/reason/authority/whatever to 'vote her off the island'. Can she do the job, is she up to the challenge, will she uphold the faith and trust placed in her by not only the Obama administration, but more largely, the American public? Is she a political person, does she have some kind of agenda, etc? Can she be impartial and do the job, if called upon?

[RobHunt]

11:40 PM on 05/15/2010

Reality trumps bull, huh? Not in YOUR post. You may be shocked to learn that SOME things DON'T work like Survivor. She won't face any tests, she will be confirmed in a walk, and nobody will ever challenge her ever again. "Vote her off the island" - get real!

[BoyInBOYCOTT]

10:05 PM on 05/15/2010

That's WAY more coded than the anti-semetic crud I see thrown at Jon Stewart at Breibart TV, we're talking Mel Gibson-uncoded.

[jeffgolin]

09:52 PM on 05/15/2010

The Caholics have a 5 member conservative majority on the Court right now and nobody shrinks from mentioning this anomolous fact.

[beninabox1]

09:23 AM on 05/17/2010

Yeah, well I lived in the south and I can tell you there was a fair amount of spoken anti-Catholicism at the time.