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Unacceptable Smear from the Tennessee GOP
Please take a look at this press release published today from the Tennessee Republican Party.
No matter your feelings on Obama or on the Russert line of questioning from last night, I think we can all agree that this is beyond the pale. Hateful, deceptive, and, frankly, un-American. This is the same party that smeared Harold Ford Jr. with the miscegenation innuendo, and their latest salvo (complete with turban picture and "Hussein" jab) is no less shameful.
I encourage you to contact the communications director of the Tennessee GOP, Bill Hobbs. His info is listed at the bottom of the press release, and I'll print it here as well:
Bill Hobbs
Communications Director
Tennessee Republican Party
2424 21st Avenue, Suite 200
Nashville, Tennessee 37212
Phone: (615) 269-4260
Email: billhobbs@tngop.org
Here's the e-mail I just sent to Mr. Hobbs:
Dear Sir,
Regarding today's "Anti-Semites for Obama" press release: You should be
ashamed. There is no place in America for this sort of fear-mongering
and race-baiting. Do not trivialize the very real problem of
anti-Semitism by using it as a smear tactic against Senator Obama.
As an observant Jew, I am offended by the way that these
guilt-by-association games are played every time an African-American
runs for office. This is nothing more than a cynical ploy to create
fissures in the historic Jewish-Black alliance and to undermine
progressive gains made in recent decades by our country. This time your slander will not
work. Retract your remarks. Apologize for your deceptive, manipulative,
and, yes, racist, misuse of quotes, innuendos, and photographs.
Sincerely,
Comments (5)
Whoops, I guess I got beat by Eric by about 30 minutes on this one. But I think the point still stands.
February 27, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Next thing you know the Repubs will be making anonymous phone calls asking folks would vote for Barack Obama if they knew he had fathered a black child.
February 27, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for alerting me to this. I just e-mailed him as well. It is hard to believe that he thinks this will look good for the Tennessee GOP.
February 27, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought I'd include the email address of the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party:
chairman@tngop.org
February 27, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, tpmgary.
My blood has cooled a little bit on this since first posting this, but I remain concerned, and I want to ask readers the question:
What is the best way to respond to junk like this? I am of a few different minds about it.
On the one hand, vigorous denunciations are in order--we can't let Obama be swiftboated, particularly not when the slanders mean to reopen and exploit our nation's racial and ethnic wounds.
On the other hand, do our responses just serve to spread and legitimize these whisper-campaigns? Do we just become a bunch of Nedra Picklers? After all, I don't particularly trust the MSM to handle insinuations like these with the skepticism and delicacy they demand (anticipate headlines like "Is Obama an anti-Semite?" "Obama's muslim roots: fact or fiction?" "Should Obama have repudiated Farrakhan more vigorously?" "Is Obama patriotic enough?" etc.).
How do you defeat viral rumors, once the cat is out of the bag? To mix metaphors, calling attention to slander can be like throwing water on a grease fire.
Furthermore, how do we make clear that race-baiting, guilt-by-association and whisper-campaigns are intolerable without seeming overly-sensitive, whiny, or censorious? (That last one is of particular concern. Censorship shoould be off the table.)
Ideas, anyone?
February 27, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
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