'Jewish Money' Is Not A Good Way to Smear Political Candidates In 2010
Was the finance director of New York Rep. Mike McMahon's reelection campaign hired in 1927? Back then, it might have been a good idea to show how much 'Jewish money' your political opponent received. But not now! Not in 2010!
Democratic incumbent Mike McMahon is currently battling it out with Republican candidate Mike Grimm for their New York City district. McMahon's campaign finance director Debra Solomon, who is Jewish, somehow thought she was being helpful by compiling a list of Jewish donors to Grimm's campaign, labeling it "Grimm Jewish Money Q2,"and passing it to the New York Observer. This, she believed, was a good way to show that Republican Mike Grimm "lacks support among voters in the district," according to the Observer.
Except she forgot to account for two important things!
1) What?
2) The fuck?
Also, the fact that Jewish people live in the district and many non-Jewish donors live outside it, so why even point out "Jewish money" if you can just talk about out-of-district cash?
What's funnier here: Imagining Solomon dutifully trolling through the Grimm donor list using her finely tuned Jewdar, or imagining the face of the New York Observer reporter when the McMahon campaign gleefully turned over a fat manila folder with "Grimm Jewish Money Q2" scrawled on it in Sharpie? (Why not take it all the way? "Grimm Jewish Gold Q2.") This is like some scheme thought up by a cartoon villain, except even a cartoon villain would realize that nobody talks about "Jewish money"—especially if they're trying to say that's a bad thing. Hell, even if a Jew was holding some money, we would feel uneasy calling it "Jewish money." And we're Jewish!
Communications director Jennifer Nelson has been fired from the McMahon campaign, but we're grateful she stuck around just long enough to help oversee this hilarious misstep.