NJDC Challenges GOP Candidates to Condemn Coulter
Listed in: Other Foreign Policy, NJDC News, Press Releases
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, with all the leading GOP presidential candidates slated to address a Jewish Republican audience on Tuesday (10/16), the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) challenged Republican presidential candidates to publicly condemn Ann Coulter for her anti-Jewish comments and reject any assistance from Ms. Coulter to the RNC or their campaigns.
"Paying lip service to a Jewish audience is all well and good, but Jewish voters want to know from the Republican candidates: will you have the courage to stand with us by criticizing one of your most vocal supporters?" said NJDC Executive Director Ira N. Forman. "Several GOP leaders were quick to condemn MoveOn.org, but that was easy for them because they are all at odds with MoveOn politically. Will they have the guts to condemn Ann Coulter, a prominent political ally?"
The GOP presidential frontrunners - Mayor Giuliani, Senators McCain and Thompson, and Governor Romney - have all publicly condemned MoveOn.org for running the infamous "General Betray-us" advertisement.
While Republicans are reluctant to criticize their own, Democrats have proven willing to break with fellow party members when necessary. President Clinton, Speaker Pelosi, and DNC Chairman Howard Dean, for instance, strongly condemned former President Jimmy Carter's book about the Arab-Israeli conflict. In a further example, the House Democratic Leadership recently condemned comments by Democratic Congressman Jim Moran which implied that AIPAC pushed strongly for the Iraq War. NJDC criticized the Carter book and Moran comments as well.
Several Republican presidential candidates are slated to attend a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 2007. In 2006, despite a massive GOP advertising campaign targeting Jewish voters, Republican congressional candidates received the lowest percentage of the Jewish vote in the recorded history of exit polling.
NJDC is circulating an online petition asking news organizations to stop inviting Ms. Coulter on as a guest. The petition is available at http://www.njdc.org/stopcoulter.html
The following is an excerpt from Media Matters for America on Ms. Coulter's comments:
During the October 8 edition of CNBC's The Big Idea, host Donny Deutsch asked right-wing pundit Ann Coulter: "If you had your way ... and your dreams, which are genuine, came true ... what would this country look like?" Coulter responded, "It would look like New York City during the [2004] Republican National Convention. In fact, that's what I think heaven is going to look like." She described the convention as follows: "People were happy. They're Christian. They're tolerant. They defend America." Deutsch then asked, "It would be better if we were all Christian?" to which Coulter responded, "Yes." Later in the discussion, Deutsch said to her: "[Y]ou said we should throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians," and Coulter again replied, "Yes." When pressed by Deutsch regarding whether she wanted to be like "the head of Iran" and "wipe Israel off the Earth," Coulter stated: "No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. ... That's what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws."
After a commercial break, Deutsch said that "Ann said she wanted to explain her last comment," and asked her, "So you don't think that was offensive?" Coulter responded: "No. I'm sorry. It is not intended to be. I don't think you should take it that way, but that is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews. We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to live up to all the laws. What Christians believe -- this is just a statement of what the New Testament is -- is that that's why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don't believe our testament." Coulter later said: "We consider ourselves perfected Christians. For me to say that for you to become a Christian is to become a perfected Christian is not offensive at all."
