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Some of my best friends are . . .

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hakr100

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Apr 18, 2010
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ANOTHER SETBACK IN THE GOP OUTREACH TO MINORITY COMMUNITIES.... Ordinarily, who gets elected Speaker of the Texas state House would only be of interest to those in Texas. But the current dispute in Austin has a larger significance.


The current state House Speaker is Joe Straus, a conservative Republican leading a conservative Republican majority. He's currently facing a challenge from state Rep. Ken Paxton, who appears to agree with Straus on nearly everything.
So what makes this noteworthy? Straus is Jewish, and some far-right activists in Texas have a problem with that.


A few weeks ago, a coalition of Tea Party and right-wing Republican groups began lobbying for Paxton to replace Straus, with coalition activists circulating anti-Semitic emails. The message from conservatives was that the GOP state House needed a "Christian conservative" leader.


This week, the Texas Observer reported on an email exchange between two members of the State Republican Executive Committee, which governs state GOP affairs. One of the two party leaders, John Cook, insisted in a message, "We elected a house with Christian, conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it."


The Observer's Abby Rapoport connected with Cook to ask about his efforts to replace the current state House Speaker.
"When I got involved in politics, I told people I wanted to put Christian conservatives in leadership positions," he told me, explaining that he only supports Christian conservative candidates in Republican primary races.
"I want to make sure that a person I'm supporting is going to have my values. It's not anything about Jews and whether I think their religion is right or Muslims and whether I think their religion is right. ... I got into politics to put Christian conservatives into office. They're the people that do the best jobs over all."
Ah, I see. It's not "about Jews," it's just that Cook doesn't think Jews can do the job well because they're Jews.


He added that he prefers Christian candidates, but isn't anti-Semitic. "They're some of my best friends," he said of Jews, naming two friends of his.


Someday, folks will have to understand that "some of my best friends are [fill in the blank with a minority group]" is a cliche repeated by bigots. I would have hoped that was obvious by now.


As for the bigger picture, I'm inclined to consider this yet another setback in the Republican Party's minority outreach efforts.


 
How do you get from requiring someone to be of a certain religion to race?

Anyone can belong to the Jewish religion. It isn't limited to Jews. Alternatively, Jews aren't all Jewish.


As for the bigger picture, I'm inclined to consider this yet another setback in the Republican Party's minority outreach efforts.

One Republican politician's position on an issue, any issue, isn't a setback for the entire party.

That would be like saying one Democrat who drove drunk, drove off a bridge, climbed out of the car, swam to shore, and left a young girl to drown, didn't report it, and then after police discovered the car, reported it to police... would be a setback for Democrats with upstanding non-murdering citizens...


Speaking of bigotry though... isn't one of the first rules of bigotry that you judge an entire group of people as a whole instead of individuals?
 
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What?

Who mentioned race as an issue here besides you?

If you "belong to the Jewish religion," you are Jewish. If you are referring to "Jews for Jesus," they aren't Jewish. They are converts to another religion. Jews do not accept Jesus as their saviour, no matter what the Jews for Jesus claim.

And it isn't "one politician's" position, as the article clearly states.

Did you read this part?

A few weeks ago, a coalition of Tea Party and right-wing Republican groups began lobbying for Paxton to replace Straus, with coalition activists circulating anti-Semitic emails. The message from conservatives was that the GOP state House needed a "Christian conservative" leader.


This week, the Texas Observer reported on an email exchange between two members of the State Republican Executive Committee, which governs state GOP affairs. One of the two party leaders, John Cook, insisted in a message, "We elected a house with Christian, conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it."
 
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What?

Who mentioned race as an issue here besides you?

If you "belong to the Jewish religion," you are Jewish. If you are referring to "Jews for Jesus," they aren't Jewish. They are converts to another religion. Jews do not accept Jesus as their saviour, no matter what the Jews for Jesus claim.

A Jew is both a racial description and a religious description. You seem not to understand that.

You are correct Jews that follow Judaism, absolutely could not be Christian.

Jews that follow Christianity, however, are.

The problem that you are having a hard time overcoming is that when someone converts to Judaism, they are welcomed as part of the Jewish race.



And it isn't "one politician's" position, as the article clearly states.

Did you read this part?

A few weeks ago, a coalition of Tea Party and right-wing Republican groups began lobbying for Paxton to replace Straus, with coalition activists circulating anti-Semitic emails. The message from conservatives was that the GOP state House needed a "Christian conservative" leader.


This week, the Texas Observer reported on an email exchange between two members of the State Republican Executive Committee, which governs state GOP affairs. One of the two party leaders, John Cook, insisted in a message, "We elected a house with Christian, conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it."

Yep... and I noticed a couple of other things as well. First, the "antisemitic " emails couldn't be accessed at this time.

There was no breakdown of how many groups or how many emails were sent.

There was no independent verification of the identities of the senders of the emails.

I comment on what can be verified, not what is speculation.
 
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How do you get from requiring someone to be of a certain religion to race?

Anyone can belong to the Jewish religion. It isn't limited to Jews. Alternatively, Jews aren't all Jewish.




One Republican politician's position on an issue, any issue, isn't a setback for the entire party.

That would be like saying one Democrat who drove drunk, drove off a bridge, climbed out of the car, swam to shore, and left a young girl to drown, didn't report it, and then after police discovered the car, reported it to police... would be a setback for Democrats with upstanding non-murdering citizens...


Speaking of bigotry though... isn't one of the first rules of bigotry that you judge an entire group of people as a whole instead of individuals?
He is judging a whole group of people. He is judging a group of people based on their religious beliefs. He is saying only people of the Christian faith should be in charge. Other than the guy being Jewish he don't have a problem with his work.
 
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A Jew is both a racial description and a religious description. You seem not to understand that.

You are correct Jews that follow Judaism, absolutely could not be Christian.

Jews that follow Christianity, however, are.

The problem that you are having a hard time overcoming is that when someone converts to Judaism, they are welcomed as part of the Jewish race.

Yep... and I noticed a couple of other things as well. First, the "antisemitic " emails couldn't be accessed at this time.

There was no breakdown of how many groups or how many emails were sent.

There was no independent verification of the identities of the senders of the emails.

I comment on what can be verified, not what is speculation.

Sorry. "Jewish" is a religion. There is no "Jewish" race. Jews can be any color of the rainbow and be part of any ethnic group. There are white Jews, black Jews, Asian Jews. These people share a religion, not a race.

There are no Jews that "follow" Christianity. If they do, they are former Jews who have become Christians; they are no longer Jews. The highest rabbinical authorities would agree on that. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are part of the Christian faith, not the Jewish faith.

When a non-Jew converts to Judaism, he or she is welcomed as a member of the Jewish religion, not as a member of the Jewish race. There is no Jewish race.

Incidentally, historically, one's Judaism was inherited from one's mother. Do you know why?
 
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He is judging a whole group of people. He is judging a group of people based on their religious beliefs. He is saying only people of the Christian faith should be in charge. Other than the guy being Jewish he don't have a problem with his work.


Amazing, ain't it? Some of those white Texas Christians want a religious test for political office. It's disgusting.
 
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actually from the excerpts that I read it appears they have a problem with his lack of devotion........ they didnt say he or his rabbi was bad for being a jew.... the emails pointed out his rabbi sits on a planned parenthood board.... and they pointed out that his opponents are good christians..... maybe if he were a better jew they wouldnt have a problem with him...... or maybe this is another case like Obama where he couldnt possibly believe the same things as the religious leader hes followed his entire adult life
 
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Sorry. "Jewish" is a religion. There is no "Jewish" race. Jews can be any color of the rainbow and be part of any ethnic group. There are white Jews, black Jews, Asian Jews. These people share a religion, not a race.

I can't help that you are ignorant of the duality of the word Jewish. It means both. Saying that it doesn't, doesn't really change that.

I don't like using Wikipedia as a source, but after reading this entry, I found it to be pretty thorough (full disclosure, I didn't finish completely reading it).

Who is a Jew? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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Yes it is but more sad that there is still people in this day and age will still discriminate over one thing or another. What's next you have to be a certain age or hair color? Why not just say he don't agree witch our political views?

Umm... there are already legal age requirements for office. the President must be 35 before he takes office. Other offices differ by state.



That being said, people want to be represented by politicians who share their same values. That includes religions. Black populations vote for black politicians 9 times out of 10. Why? Is it racism? They simply feel that black politicians will be able to understand their needs and represent them better.

I guess that's bigotry though. There's a whole lot of that going around though. I would look at politicians with primarily minority constituencies for a clear example of that.
 
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That would be like saying one Democrat who drove drunk, drove off a bridge, climbed out of the car, swam to shore, and left a young girl to drown, didn't report it, and then after police discovered the car, reported it to police... would be a setback for Democrats with upstanding non-murdering citizens..

LOL . . . I get the reference. Suppose Limbaugh did the same thing? I hope you are referring to Mr. Kennedy.

Bob Maxey
 
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actually from the excerpts that I read it appears they have a problem with his lack of devotion........ they didnt say he or his rabbi was bad for being a jew.... the emails pointed out his rabbi sits on a planned parenthood board.... and they pointed out that his opponents are good christians..... maybe if he were a better jew they wouldnt have a problem with him...... or maybe this is another case like Obama where he couldnt possibly believe the same things as the religious leader hes followed his entire adult life


A better Jew? You mean one who agrees with what passes for good Christians?
Now that is funny.
 
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Could you tell me the last politician you voted for that wasn't a Christian?


Believe it or not, here on the east coast, we have politicians who run for office and who win and who are not Christians.

On the other hand, we also have politicians who make a big deal out of their self-professed Christianity. I don't vote for them.
 
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I can't help that you are ignorant of the duality of the word Jewish. It means both. Saying that it doesn't, doesn't really change that.

I don't like using Wikipedia as a source, but after reading this entry, I found it to be pretty thorough (full disclosure, I didn't finish completely reading it).

Who is a Jew? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Let's just conclude this by agreeing that on this issue, you do not know what you are talking about. There is no Jewish race. Before and during World War II, the Germans claimed there was a Jewish race, and they worked very hard to kill as many Jews as they could and all those Jews had in common was religion and culture.

The wiki article is describing ethnicity, not race.
 
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Let's just conclude this by agreeing that on this issue, you do not know what you are talking about. There is no Jewish race. Before and during World War II, the Germans claimed there was a Jewish race, and they worked very hard to kill as many Jews as they could and all those Jews had in common was religion and culture.

The wiki article is describing ethnicity, not race.

Ethnic - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Racial is a synonym for ethnic...

Or doesn't merriam webster know what they are talking about either?
 
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>chortle<

So, what race are the Ethiopian and Oriental Jews? Oh...they're of the Jewish race. :D

Next time you come back with a clever comment, you might want to read back through the thread to make sure it hasn't already been addressed.

Jewish describes two things... a race of people, and a religion.

You have the Jewish religion, and the Jewish people.

Yes, it's complicated, but it isn't so complicated that you shouldn't be able to keep up with the conversation.
 
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Next time you come back with a clever comment, you might want to read back through the thread to make sure it hasn't already been addressed.

Jewish describes two things... a race of people, and a religion.

You have the Jewish religion, and the Jewish people.

Yes, it's complicated, but it isn't so complicated that you shouldn't be able to keep up with the conversation.


Heh heh heh. You're a funny guy..."the Jewish race."
 
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