“Republicans Post Anti-Semitic Video”
by tristero
“Republicans Post Anti-Semitic Video.” That was the print headline for this article in the NY. They weren’t kidding:
Dark clouds roll in while ominous orchestral music swells in a video posted on Wednesday night by the Rockland County Republican Party.
Large text flashes slowly across the screen warning that “a storm is brewing” and “if they win, we lose.”
The “they” are the ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents of the villages and towns just northwest of New York City, where tension has been steadily increasing between rapidly growing Hasidic enclaves and the surrounding secular and non-Jewish communities.
The anti-Semitic video was widely denounced by Democrats.
Indeed it is anti-Semitic. Its clear intent was to energize the neo-Nazi Republican base. And its deployment follows the standard Republican playbook:
1. Knowingly release a blatantly racist/anti-Semitic/anti-immigrant attack ad.
2. Wait for the uproar which turbocharges awareness of the ad among white supremacists.
3. Tepidly denounce the ad and remove it.
4. Pivot immediately to a racist attack while denying the intent is racist.
And sure enough, that’s exactly what they did here. Here’s the tepid denouncement:
Even the chairman of the State Republican Party, Nick Langworthy, said it was “an ill-conceived, bad mistake…”
Bullshit. Ill-conceived it was not. Nor was it mistake. It was part of a deliberate, carefully thought-through anti-Semitic Republican strategy:
Numerous Rockland County Republican elected officials in February previewed the controversial video put out by the party that critics have branded as anti-Semitic for warning of a “takeover” by the Hasidic Jewish community, The Post has learned.
The early look at the digital attack ad — some six months before its public release — shows that the targeting of the ultra-orthodox community was a well-thought-out, deliberate strategy, sources said.
No one in the room objected to it, a GOP source who attended the February meeting told The Post.
But back to the original article from the Times for the pivot to a blatantly racist attack (complete with obligatory denial that it’s not racist at all):
After the video was taken down, Lawrence Garvey, the chairman of the Rockland County Republican Party, defended it in a statement.
“Regardless of your thoughts of the video, there are facts that cannot be ignored,” he said. “This is not, nor has it ever been a religious issue. It is an issue of right and wrong.”
Racist message to the base (“we’re on your side, boys”) signed sealed, and delivered, courtesy your local Republican party.