Another Congressional Bigot

17 March 2003


Congressman Moran Quits for Anti-Semitic Remark

Virginia Congressman James Moran, a Democrat, was hoist on his own petard this week for claiming the looming war with Iraq could be stopped but that Jewish leaders wanted it. Leaving aside for a moment the age old "blame-the-Jews" mentality it betrays, Mr. Moran's didn't even get the Jewish position right. He has had to resign as regional minority whip (rather a non-job), but he ought to reconsider membership in the US Congress on the grounds, not only of bigotry, but of being downright stupid and ill-informed.

America's Jewish community is, in point of actual fact, largely against the war. A search for pro-war Jewish leaders results in what geometry teachers call an "empty set." Perhaps they are all wrong, and the war will be a good thing. That is beside the point. The Congressman had his facts wrong, and in the case of war and peace, that in itself is irresponsible.

In the interest of fairness, here is what he said as quoted by CNN, "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this . . . . The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going and I think they should."

The fact is that the Jews of America don't have much influence with the Bush administration. The reason goes back to what Secretary of State James Baker said during the presidency of Mr. Bush's father, "F*** 'em. They didn't vote for us." Like father, like son.