According to the Michigan Republican Party, it's okay to be anti-Semitic if you're supporting their candidate - especially on TV.
It wasn't even three weeks ago when CNN punted Rick Sanchez for similar remarks. But today, on the Flint Journal's website, in an article about the increasingly heated campaign for the state's Attorney General position, the mother of a 25-year old, slain in Flint four years ago, took an anti-Semitic turn in her comments about Leyton, the prosecutor of Genesee County, Michigan.
For those unfamiliar with the geographic outlay of Genesee County, the city of Flint is the county seat, making the prosecutor's job undoubtedly one of the toughest prosecutor's jobs in the nation.
After Leyton convicted her son's murderer, his office was unable to prosecute the accomplices due to a lack of evidence.
Fast forward to this election cycle, where the mother of the murdered man takes Leyton to task in a recent television ad. But then, she begins taking the Flint Journal to task for not reporting on what she felt was an inadequate prosecution. And what, pray tell was their motive?
how dare the FLINT URINAL not show me the respect to get my side of the story, instead of ONE SIDE,,,oh A JEWISH OWNED PAPER,,,,and lEYTON IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION
That stunning bit of ignorance aside, it didn't end there. After Leyton's campaign demanded that the state GOP repudiate this woman's comments, and remove the television spot featuring her from the air, the state GOP issued a predictable response.
"Mr. Leyton should apologize to Mrs. McIntosh for such awful accusations. The Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party is Jewish."
It's either okay to be anti-Semitic if you're a Republican, or it's okay to be anti-Semitic because you have Republican friends, according to GOP logic.
But, it gets better.
The campaign for Bill Schuette, the GOP nominee for Attorney General, one-upped the state party.
While I feel a great deal of sympathy for the woman who lost her son in such a tragic fashion, her loss is no excuse for anti-Semitism. But the woman in question isn't even the biggest part of the story.
It's the fact that the Michigan Republican Party and the Schuette campaign engaged in all sorts of political acrobatics to justify her anti-Semitism, because apparently, it's okay if you're a Republican.
Michigan Kossacks, please get out the word. David Leyton is a good, honest public servant who has fallen victim to the most vile forms of character assassination by Michigan Republicans, and we should not stand idly by and let the Republicans get away with it.
And if brief, unscripted moments of anti-Semitism cost Helen Thomas her job, and Rick Sanchez his job, we should dedicate our resources to make sure that embracing anti-Semitism costs Bill Schuette this election.
Vote for David Leyton.