Yesterday, I received a robo-call from Marie Garibaldi (a Justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court appointed by Tom Kean, Sr., as I discovered when I Googled her) asking me to vote for Tom, Jr. In the split second that it took me to hang up on Justice Garibaldi, I wondered whether I was being targeted as an Italian-American, because my last name is Italian. Then I thought, no, couldn't be.
In the afternoon, when I received my mail, I found out how wrong I was!
In it was a postcard, purporting to be from an organization called the Filangieri Society for Justice and Good Government, and stating (try not to laugh as you read this):
BOB MENENDEZ BETRAYED HIS ITALIAN-AMERICAN CONSTITUENTS
He voted against New Jersey's own Sam Alito.
He supported a filibuster against Sam Alito.
He opposed every major Italian-American organization in New Jersey.
On the other side is this:
New Jerseyans Are Supposed To Take Care of Their Own.
Bob Menendez Betrayed Sam Alito.
20% of New Jerseyans are Italian-American.
Sam Alito, native New Jerseyan, was a highly qualified judge of good character worthy of Menendez's support.
Every major Italian-American organizaiton in New Jersey supported Alito for the Supreme Courtt.
Spread the word and send a message to all New Jersey politicians.
VOTE FOR TOM KEAN.
Not to be missed, and possibly the funniest part of this postcard, are the graphics, however. On one side is a picture of Bob Menendez in a circle with a slash. (Question, am I supposed not to vote for him, or am I supposed to rub him out? I'm really confused by this.) On the other is a large picture of Sam Alito, bespeckled and smiling sanctimoniously. (Note to WASPs and other stereotypers out there: He may be my deceased Italian-grandmother's dream, but he looks like someone any Italian person -- no, make that any PERSON -- living today would want to beat the shit out of. And I include women in that statement.) Finally, on the other side of the card is an American flag, and an Italian flag. Let's face it, we're not really Americans. We're really Italian!!!!
So the rather convoluted message of this postcard is that Italian-Americans in New Jersey are so ignorant that simply on the basis of our "ethnic pride," and the fact that Bob Menendez voted against Sam "I never met a Constitutional Amendment I didn't despise and want to shit on" Alito, we should vote, as a bloc, for the idiot son of an idiot patrician politician who refused to tell the truth about the Bush Administration's incompetence leading to 9/11. WHEW! Let me mull that over while I eat my spaghetti.
Now, forgive me for being suspiscious, but I seriously doubt that the Filangieri Society for Justice and Good Government at 1 Lori Road, Monmouth Beach, NJ 07750, has the resources BY THEMSELVES, WITHOUT HELP OR AT LEAST COORDINATION WITH THE KEAN CAMPAIGN, to:
1. Gather together names of Italian-American voters in New Jersey (and I'm not listed in the phone book, my husband is, and he's not Italian, ie., his name does not end in an initial, to the stereotypers out there);
2. Pay postage to send a postcard to thousands of Italian=American voters in New Jersey; and
3. Add the following legal disclaimer to the card: Paid for by the Filangieri Society for Justice and Good Government and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. (A smoking gun, if I ever saw one.)
Coming on the heels of the Politico attack ad against Menendez, I can only say that Harold Ford isn't the only one feeling picked on these days.