Kerry's Jewish roots

[cubsfan6969]

Today in my Chicago Sun Times (Repuke newspaper), the People column had a pic of Kerry with the blurb "Jewish heritage" written on the bottom of the pic. The story went on to depict Kerry's Jewish roots. Now is this my imagination but this seems to smack of Karl Rove and his smear machine. Is he playing towards some of the anti semitic independents?

[JI7]

1. not sure, but he does have jewish roots

his grandfather changed his name because of discrimination to kerry. kerry found out later in his life about it, i think about 15 years ago.

[pezcore64]

18. what?!?!

I heard he HATED jewish people!
















atleast thats what i heard when kerry and edwards supporters were calling Dean the Anti-Jew!

[WiseMen]

2. The Right-Wing propaganda machine of course. Most RW pundits now

now seem to be talking from a campaign script. It is hard to believe
that anything is accidental anymore.

[maddezmom]

3. do you have a link to the article?

this info has been out for a while now, don't see how it'll hurt Kerry.

[adadem]

5. It won't

the nutties who would not vote for a candidate based on ethnic or religious heritage are going to vote for shrub and the pugs anyway.

[JI7]

7. right

kerry doesn't try to hide it or anything. i mean, so what if he has jewish background? it's a shame it's considered something one should feel ashamed or afraid of discrimination because of it. it's that exact reason kerry's grandfather changed his name to kerry. one shouldn't have to worry about these things these days.

[adadem]

4. Smacks of

Bob Novak...a longtime employee of the Chicago Sun Times.

[xray s]

6. The "Kerry is a Jew" stuff started about 5 days ago

I heard C-SPAN callers mentioning it and posts showing up on the net.

Lovely.

Timed to coincide with a certain Hollywood "blockbuster" premier?

Would Rove stoop that low?

[JI7]

8. a woman said Kerry is a Jew so she wont vote for him

i heard it on cspan yesterday. there are still people like that out there though not many i'm sure. but they probably aren't likely to vote for any democratic candidate.

[cubsfan6969]

9. Here's the column

This is from Stella's column (people in the news) bullshit column. She's African american.




Thursday, February 19, 2004

Stella's column
, the Washington bureau chief for the Sun-Times, wrote a piece on Feb. 10, 2003, dealing with the maternal roots of Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic front-runner in the presidential nomination. That article revealed that Kerry did not know up until a year or so ago that his paternal grandfather, born Fritz Kohn, was Jewish and that while living in Europe, Kohn changed his name to Frederick Kerry to escape anti-Semitism. Kerry's grandfather later fled to the United States, winding up in Chicago in December 1905 and becoming a prominent businessman. Sweet mentioned that "Kerry is most often taken as a Boston Brahmin. People who are close to him have assumed -- in error -- that Kerry, a Catholic, is Irish-American."

[mastein]

10. RWers have been courting Jews for the last 10 years

It doesn't make sense to me that Rove or anyone else would want to encourage an anti-semitic vote. RWers have been very actively courting the Jewish population, especially the nuveau riche Jewish population since the Reagan revolution. Large numbers of Jews were "Reagan" democrats. Don't think for a moment that the Jewish community is a) a homogenious democratic block, b) the Reagan democrats of 20 years ago wouldn't bolt back if they sensed the slightest bit of anti-semitism or a lack of support for Israel (beyond a dislike of Sharon's current hardball tatics, and the fact that the road map, is one to hell)

The number of Jewish voters is much greater than the number of antisemitic voters.

The numbers of anti-semites even in some of the most scary places for Jews has shrunk, and as travel becomes easier for all it is becoming easier for former antisemites to meet Jews and become educated about Jewish life etc, which usually ends their hatred.

Suffice to say, as a Jew who lived in Iowa and has traveled to some of the above mentioned "scary" areas. I know from whence I speak.

PS, Love the Cubsfan6969 handle. I have been a Cubs fan since the mid 1970s.

[11cents]

11. Correction

>Large numbers of Jews were "Reagan" democrats.

Not really. The percentage of Jews who vote Democratic shrank a little during the Reagan years, from around 80% to around 70%, but the shift was significantly smaller among Jews than it was among other erstwhile heavily Democratic demographics, like "white ethnic" Catholics. Latest polls and studies show that BushRove's attempts to sway the Jewish vote haven't made a dent.

[Crunchy Frog]

13. I thought that Kerry was Irish

on his mothers side, or does the one drop rule now apply to people with Jewish ancestry?

[JI7]

15. yes he is from his mothers side

he has some irish from his mothers side.

[Crunchy Frog]

12. This is a taste of how far into the sewer

the right wing is willing to dig in order to attack our candidate. They are really going to show an ugly side that will go way beyond what we have ever seen before in politics. That is what I think this is an indication of.

The anti-semites will have a field day if it is a Kerry/Clark ticket. I say bring it on and let them show the American people just how slimy and sleazy they really are.

[chyjo]

14. shoot And I was hoping for a piece of the pro-Hitler vote

wait a second........ no I wasnt.

[Bad Thoughts]

16. Neutralizes the RNC argument that Dems allow anti-semitism ...

... to spread throughout the world. This seems to have been a theme of several NYTimes articles in December: that there is a new wave of anti-semitism in Europe and the Arab world that only the republicans are confronting. I doubt that they will bring up this argument again.

[tobius]

17. No, Kerry has been accused of playing up people's

assumption that he was Irish in his home state. And this finding of Jewish ancestory is a running joke in the press. Hillary and Wes both found opportunities in their campaigns to find a Jewish connection in their family tree.

[Crunchy Frog]

19. Kerry is of Irish descent

on his mothers side. Why is his Irish ancestry any less important than his Jewish ancestry? This is just another way in which the media twists things around.

[tobius]

20. This is from January-

Kerry dodges thorny issues but Irish ancestry is a load of blarney ....

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2004/01/22/story677954717.asp

sorry