Rahm Emanuel's racist dad

[Eugene V. Debs]

Wow, surprised I haven't seen this here yet. I mean I know there are plenty of people who don't like Arabs or Muslims here but there are even more people who love pointing out the hypocrisy and other failures of Democrats-- so to all of you, here's a gift from yer ole pal "Gene"...

I'm a member of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. I don't agree with all of their policies but nowadays I kinda view them the same way as I do the NRA or the ACLU-- a "necessary evil" so I throw them what meager cash I have on hand every now and then. Anyhow I receive occassional e-mail updates from them and a few days ago I got this in my inbox:

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(not gonna bother formatting all the links in the original so here's the link to the ADC press release: http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=3381

Emanuel Calls ADC to Repudiate Negative Comments About Arabs


Washington, DC | November 13, 2008 | www.adc.org | Today, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, recently appointed White House Chief of Staff to President-Elect Barack Obama, called American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) President Mary Rose Oakar to repudiate negative comments about Arabs made by his father Benjamin Emanuel .

In the phone call, Congressman Emanuel said, “From the fullness of my heart, I personally apologize on behalf of my family and me. These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family.” During the phone call, Emanuel added, it is unacceptable to make remarks such as these against any ethnic or religious group.

ADC President Mary Rose Oakar said, “We cannot allow Arabs and Muslims to be portrayed in these unacceptable terms. I welcome Rahm’s apology and his pledge to meet with our Community. I also thank our members and friends who responded who expressed concern about this matter. ”
MEDIA COVERAGE:

NEW YORK TIMES: Emanuel Apologizes for Father’s ‘Arab’ Comments


TIME: RAHM EMANUEL'S FATHER PROBLEM

ABC NEWS: AMERICAN-ARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE ASKS RAHM TO REPUDIATE HIS DAD'S COMMENTS

JEWISH TELEGRAPH AGENCY: ARAB-AMERICAN GROUP BLASTS EMANUEL’S DAD



TEXT OF NOV. 11 ADC LETTER TO CONGRESSMAN EMANUEL
View letter online at: www.adc.org/PDF/rahm.pdf
Dear Congressman Emanuel:

I am writing to you on behalf of the largest American‐Arab Civil Rights group in the United States, with members in every State of the Union, founded in 1980. We work in coalition with all civil rights organizations.

This has been an historic election, one which energized our Country and gave many people the reason to vote for change. I know the Arab‐American community was very involved in this presidential election, and voter turnout in the community was exceptionally high. We wish to congratulate you on being named, by President‐Elect Obama, White House Chief of Staff. We were, however, deeply disappointed by comments made by your father, Mr. Benjamin Emanuel, on the momentous occasion of your announcement as Chief of Staff. According to numerous news stories in the U.S. and in Israel, he made the following comments in an interview with Ma’ariv, “Obviously he’ll influence the President to be pro‐Israel. Why wouldn’t he? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to be mopping floors at the White House.”

The American‐Arab Anti‐Discrimination Committee (ADC) views this characterization of an Arab as an unacceptable smear. One can readily imagine the justifiable outcry if someone made a similar remark about African‐Americans, Jews, or Hispanics, concerning cleaning the floors of the White House. Do the normal standards of decency and civility not apply when talking about Arabs? ADC asks you to disavow and repudiate these remarks publicly. We sincerely hope you will distance yourself from any demeaning characterization of any ethnic, religious, or racial group. President‐Elect Obama pledged a respect for the diversity of this Nation, and Arab Americans certainly add, in a positive way, to our Country’s diversity.

Sincerely,
Hon. Mary Rose Oakar, ADC President
Kareem Shora, JD. LLM., National Executive Director

Cc: President‐Elect Barack Obama
# # #
NOTE TO EDITORS: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which is non sectarian and non partisan, is the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States. It was founded in 1980, by former Senator James Abourezk to protect the civil rights of people of Arab descent in the United States and to promote the cultural heritage of the Arabs. ADC has 38 chapters nationwide, including chapters in every major city in the country, and members in all 50 states.

The ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI), which was founded in 1981, is a Section 501(c)(3) educational organization that sponsors a wide range of programs on behalf of Arab Americans and of importance to all Americans. ADC-RI programs include research studies, seminars, conferences and publications that document and analyze the discrimination faced by Arab Americans in the workplace, schools, media, and governmental agencies and institutions. ADC-RI also celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Arabs.
__________________________________________________ __________
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee | www.adc.org
1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW | Washington, DC | 20007
Tel: 202-244-2990 | Fax: 202-244-7968 | E-mail: media@adc.org

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Now I've always considered Rahm Emanuel to a be a bit of an Arab-hater and I'm not at all credulous about his attempt to distance himself from his dad's comments-- politically speaking he's pretty much got to. But this is reinforcing my extreme annyonce at Emanuel getting the Chief of Staff position from Obama. He's a good choice from a purely political standpoint-- known as a Party loyalist and fierce enforcer of Party discipline which Obama will need, and appointing an anti-Arab dick like Emanuel will help Obama burnish his "I'm not Muslim/I'm not Arab" cred. But it's also kinda a big "fuck you" to his core supporters who voted for him over Hitllery on the promise of "change". Yeah, bringing back an old gun-grabbing, Arab-hating, Clintonite political enforcer is real "change" and if he does end up choosing Hillary for Secretary of State that'll be an even bigger "fuck you" to his supporters who were promised a different foreign policy than what Hillary would pursue.

Every election it's a question not of whether or not we will get screwed over, but how much and on which issues exactly, and which group gets screwed the most. Obama's picks for his Cabinet will show me exactly how much we're gonna get screwed. I'll be especially interested in his pick for the Department of Labor so I can see how bad he'll screw us in the unions (less than McCain, but no guarantee by how much exactly). And those of you who are worried about Obama because he's "too left-wing" take heart in the fact that Obama will almost certainly end up fucking over his left-wing supporters-- he is a Democratic President after all and they pretty much all do that. Make promises to your base and every advocacy group under the sun then promptly break half of them when you get into office-- both right and left should not lose sight of the fact that for all the promises and rhetoric, Obama is still just another politician.

[jahwarrior72]

forgive me if this sounds naive, but why would a man apologize for his dad making asshole statements? if i had to go around apologizing to Dominicans and Jehovah's Witnesses, i'd never get any typing done. so his dad doesn't like arabs. big whoop.

[Eugene V. Debs]

forgive me if this sounds naive, but why would a man apologize for his dad making asshole statements? if i had to go around apologizing to Dominicans and Jehovah's Witnesses, i'd never get any typing done. so his dad doesn't like arabs. big whoop.

Good point, but this is politics after all. Anything said by anyone related in any way to a politician will be analyzed and criticized by the left, right and center.

I guess my point without the long-winded rambling is: I always thought Rahm Emanuel was a prick and I guess it turns out the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

[Willie D]

Militant Zionists don't like Arabs? Never heard that one before...


Former member of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun

[Eugene V. Debs]

Militant Zionists don't like Arabs? Never heard that one before...


Former member of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun

Lehi made those guys look like the Center for Religious Tolerance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehi_(group)

They split from Irgun because they didn't think Irgun was racist or right-wing enough. They even attempted to collaborate with Nazi Germany against the British. That makes your head spin.

At least two Israeli PMs I can think of (Begin and Shamir) were members of those groups, Irgun and Lehi respectively.

[762xIan]

The sheep voted for change....So here we have a man who has dual citizenship and is an army vet...

Not the US army mind you, the Israeli army. Yeah, our foreign policy will change and our troops will come home.

[Robert Kayland]

Being surrounded by 100 Million people that would be happy to see you and your nation eradicated from the face of the earth would tend to make someone feel less than full of the milk of human kindness.

I don't mind another man's sense of racial pride and his zeal to have his kind survive and prosper...

But then he better not try to corrupt my people, or paint us as inhuman for having the same feelings.

Face it folks... in most of the world there's a war going on, in which your faith and your skin is your uniform.

It's going to happen here too in another generation or so. Prepare or perish.

On a side note: So, the mighty O man, Mister Change, appoints a Zionist as his chief of staff. Well, if nothing else, it shows he at least knows what's good for him.

[adymond]

I guess my take on it is I don't care what his father's thoughts were. I think it shows that we on the "right" are more intersted in self governing and what another does reflects on us only so far as how we react. He appologized for his father's words and repudiated them, I accept that. I still think he is scum and a slimeball and it gives me a bit of insight into why he may have turned out the way he did, but I don't hold him responsible for his father's racism (I don't really think that is the right term though, maybe ethnicism or something like that).

[Legion_Prime]

I especially like the "These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family." bit. Is his father not family? If his father did not raise him who did?

[Philbert]

I especially like the "These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family." bit. Is his father not family? If his father did not raise him who did?

Not everyone teaches their kids to behave the same way they do.