Dem Rep Fires Aide After Distribution Of 'Jewish Money' List

Nelson "stressed" also that some of Grimm's best friends were Jewish!

Grimm expressing shock that a Congresscritter would single groups out by ethnicity or religion? I can only imagine what he thinks about his own party. He must be in a constant state of outrage!

Stay classy, Jennifer Nelson.

Overreaction. I don't see what Jennifer Nelson did wrong. Did she get the numbers wrong?

Wow. That was painful.

The key take home point: When a Democratic staffer does something that is racially or ethnically insensitive, they are immediately excused from their position. The reaction from the leader was swift, decisive, and appropriate - the party will simply not tolerate this kind of thing.

Jennifer Nelson. What's the world coming to when you can't tell Jewish people by their names??

Evan, I feel a bit nitpicky here--not so much because there are any major screwups, but because there are quite a few minor errors that did not need to be there. No matter how much you rush to get the story through, don't rely on the spell checker to get the final wording right. For example, take this sentence, as written:

McMahon's finance director, who is Jewish, complied the list of donors who she said was Jewish to showcase the large amounts of one of his potential Republican opponents, former FBI agent Mike Grimm, has raised from outside the Staten Island, New York, district.

This is just one sentence from your text, but it has [all in bold]: 1) two wrong verbs (one is obviously a typo, switching two letters, the other messes up agreement), 2) two extra prepositions that should be taken out (again, one is a typo because you changed the structure of the sentence in midstream, the other look like poor style but is actually poor grammatical choice--there is no reason to include "from" when you already have "outside" as a preposition rather than an adverb), 3) a missing comma (after New York). There are some style issues here too--I would have used "claims" instead of "said" and would have changed the whole sentence structure because it is unwieldy (too many pauses in the subordinate clause), but these really are personal preference and they don't affect the grammar or the content. The other five are far more glaring.

This is damn sloppy. One can excuse it in an email or a blog post that's seen by 30 friends or a comment on a blog. But this is supposed to be a professional publication so it should have higher standards. And you are putting out a news story even if it is posing as a blog post.

I hate to be posting this in public, but there is no easy way to communicate such things directly to the author. And when I've sent correction at other times, they were simply ignored. If you correct the text, please feel free to remove this comment as well. But, for future reference, don't end the final review with a spell-checker. That's what I tell my friends and my students, so that's the lesson of the day. It's really not a big deal--all professional publications let a few howlers sneak through--but this suggests some potential bad habits that you may want to nip in the bud.

I think this donor money probably came from International Jews, and that it was all part of a plot revealed in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Where's Henry Ford when we need him?

Making a list of Jewish people in the context she was using is, at the very least, one of the dumbest things you could do in a campaign. I think it's appropriate to ask whether Rep. McMahon regularly received documents marked Jewish donors or Black donors, etc. I appreciate that he responded quickly, but, unfortunately, stories like this stick to you sometimes.

Anti Semitism is alive and growing in the liberal world.

I'm still confused about what is so offensive about this. It's helpful to know the demographics of the people who provide financial support. It is also helpful to know the information of your opponent. That way you know where you lack support and need to strengthen it, etc. She knows Jewish people. She picked out people she knew were out of district to highlight that the support was coming from elsewhere. The phrase "Jewish Money" is awkward. But try not to make something out of nothing.

I don't see anything offensive or "appalling" here. There are "jewish money" groups that will support a particular candidate if that candidate is supportive of jewish issues. For example, I doubt if any jewish person would support a candidate who favors cutting off US funding to Israel. Please let's not be naive here. We aren't that stupid!

It's all been said, I'm sure, but I want to say it, too. Once again. We're sensitive about the phrasing and concept because it implies an organization or fifth-column. "Jewish money" does not equal "Money from Jews or Jewish people." Although many still find it hard to believe, there is no Jewish central committee unless, of course, I am too unimportant to be informed. It's classic Jew-hating material, along with Jewish control of (fill in the blank). I understand that many non-Jews don't get it, but try, okay?

There is something off about this story. The New York Observer, IIRC, has a neo-conservative slant. McMahon's district covers Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn: it has a strong Jewish community. That McMahon's communications director could be so tone deaf doesn't make any sense.

The Observer IDs Nelson as a campaign spokesman, btw.

The REAL issue here is the number and type of "lists" that are being circulated. Our country has gone through this before and you have to be careful. A lot of people that end up on these "lists" end up there out of jealousy or petty spite. Lets face it, most Americans aren't happy unless they're in somebody else's business. It doesn't matter the religion or race of his constituents. That's the point everyone has missed. THink about it, your name could end up on a list. I know plenty of Americans that ended up on lists during the last administration and a few of them haven't been seen since. Mull that one over in your mind.