SC GOP Explains That Jim DeMint is Like a Penny-Watching Jew (In a Good Way!)
I think someone’s going to have to get these fine fellows a copy of Norm Podhoretz’s new book. Until then Rachel Weiner reports:
After a Democratic state senator wrote that DeMint didn’t bring enough money back to the state, Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer responded that he was just looking after the nation’s pennies — like a Jew would.
“There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves,” Ulmer and Merwin wrote. “By not using earmarks to fund projects for South Carolina and instead using actual bills, DeMint is watching our nation’s pennies and trying to preserve our country’s wealth and our economy’s viability to give all an opportunity to succeed.”
Admittedly, once upon a time Jews and reactionary deep south politics really did go well together.
27 Responses to “SC GOP Explains That Jim DeMint is Like a Penny-Watching Jew (In a Good Way!)”
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October 19th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
South Carolina: keeping North Carolina in jokes since 1719.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
You mean Jews don’t count their pennies? Damn! I only started because I thought that they did.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves.”
It was a phrase so familiar to Andrew Carnegie during his childhood in Dunfermline, Scotland, that when asked to recite a proverb in school one day, those were the first words that came to mind.
Carnegie was a Jew?
October 19th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
It was a phrase so familiar to Andrew Carnegie
really Doug? With the Jewish part included too?
October 19th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
This is one of those situations where, in response to the entirely justified hailstorm of condemnation these two chaps are about to suffer through, they will plead that being frugal is a good thing, so how can attributing miserliness to Jews be racism? One thing is certain: They will never understand why this is racist. And they’ll probably apologize for the presence of hurt feelings, rather than for the more specific offense of saying something racist.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Saw A Serious Man this weekend and this goy gives it two thumbs up. Very funny movie.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Carnegie was a member of my tribe – a Presbyterian. In church doctrine – it’s a sin not to be rich, but also a sin not to be generous and philanthropic.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
The correct phrase is “niggardly Jew.”
October 19th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
No, I added the Jewish part. I had always heard that phrase as a Scottish one and remembered some story about Carnegie with it.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I don’t know why we need one Carolina, let alone two.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Carnegie was a member of my tribe – a Presbyterian. In church doctrine – it’s a sin not to be rich, but also a sin not to be generous and philanthropic.
That’s news to this Presbie. Actually, it’s a sin not to engage in disciplined pursuit of one’s calling; wealth is a by-product–unless your calling is something non-remunerative, like, say, the ministry. The generosity and philanthropy part is OK, though.
Oh, and, Matt, the nexus between [some] Jews and reactionary white southern politics is a lot more recent than Benjamin. For much of my growing-up years in SC the dominant political figure in the state was the long-serving Speaker of the House, one Solomon Blatt. Ethnicity aside, he was a thoroughly typical Black-Belt oligarch.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
The English-old-style-currency version was “Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.” It was well enough known for Lewis Carroll to parody in Alice in Wonderland as “Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.”
October 19th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Judah Benjamin was very much a moderate in the context of the politics of the confederacy.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
For reasons having to do w/ race, Republicans are a small minority in Bamberg & Orangeberg counties, & the party chairmen’s remoteness from responsibility may loosen their tongues.
October 19th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Er..Matthew left out the part about Bernard Baruch bragging about his father being on Robert E Lee’s staff and having a Ku Klux Klan uniform. See Baruch’s autobio.
For the youngsters, Baruch was a superwealthy financier, major counselor to Woodrow Wilson and the guy at Versailles who Woodie put in charge of designing the Weimar buttfucking . Which ..er.. helped New York recover on those British loans but had some ..uh..unfortunate blowback later.
(Waiting for SLC: 1..2..3..)
October 19th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
PS Bernard Baruch grew up in South Carolina (Camden?) and later bought a coastal estate there after making his bundle in New York City.
October 19th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Re Marshall at 13: “Judah Benjamin was very much a moderate in the context of the politics of the confederacy.”
———–
I’m kinda fascinated to hear the definition of a “moderate” Confederate.
Was that one who thought that if you hung a Negro, you should cut him down at sunset instead of leaving him to swing in the breeze for a few days?
October 19th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Man, that’s anti-Semitic. Not as anti-Semitic as, say, Stephen Walt’s writings, but still…
October 19th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Jim DeMint also made his fortune selling matzoh made from Gentile babies.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
OMG. Just, OMG.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Re Don Williams
Er..Matthew left out the part about Bernard Baruch bragging about his father being on Robert E Lee’s staff and having a Ku Klux Klan uniform. See Baruch’s autobio.
Gee, Baruch pere was on the staff of General Robert E. Lee, in many respects, one of the most incapable commanders in chief in history.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
You’re as right as someone who is right can be right. I’ve already seen one comment posted somewhere defending them on this basis.
Considering the fact that so many people are grossly ignorant, I want to say that it’s likely that most people who spout this stereotype are unaware of its history and how intimately it’s embedded in antisemiticism as a body of thought. On the other hand, the fact that it is so intimately embedded, important, and ubiquitous, it’s hard to imagine how anyone utilizing this stereotype wouldn’t be aware of much everything else that’s involved with it. I have a hard time believing that anyone using this stereotype wouldn’t also have at least heard what’s implicit in it—that Jews lurk behind the scenes wielding influence via money. And at that point you’re practically already to the Protocols of Zion.
This is what makes this similar to, but much worse than other bigoted/racist stereotypical traits which are nominally “positive”. It’s not just “positive” in a “damning with faint praise” sense that other bigoted stereotypes are; though it is that. And it’s not just “positive” in an alienated “they do this well and it frightens us” sense, either; though it is also that. No, what makes this so malignant is that it plays a key role in how Jews have so successfully been vilified and persecuted from the Middle Ages onward. It whispers “They are stealing our money”.
Assuming for the sake of argument that any of these stereotypes are excusable, it’s for this reason that this particular example is not. It’s inexcusable from anyone, anywhere, anytime.
October 19th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Re: Gee, Baruch pere was on the staff of General Robert E. Lee, in many respects, one of the most incapable commanders in chief in history.
Not to mention, a man who went to the wall fighting for his right to enslave Black men. Scr*w Robert E Lee with a rusty nail, and he should have faced a firing squad for treason.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Lee & Benjamin wanted to arm emancipated slaves. Stupid doesn’t even begin to describe it.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Re Hector
Now Mr. Hector, let’s be fair about this. Robert E. Lee was a gradual emancipationist who believed that slavery was an unsustainable system that should be phased out. As Mr. PanAmerican points out Lee proposed to Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States, that slaves be invited to join the Confederate forces in exchange for their freedom. His proposal, which was backed by General Pat Claybourne, was unceremoniously turned down by Davis as the issue of slavery was, as General Fuller points out, the most important cause of the secession, nonwithstanding latter day arguments relative to tariffs. To accept the emancipation of slaves in any way, shape, form, or regard would have negated the entire Confederate enterprise in Davises’ eyes. If the Southern states had accepted Lees’ arguments in the 1850s, the Civil War could have been avoided.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Re Hector
I would also point out to Mr. Hector that Lees’ decision to resign from the US Army and join the Confederacy had nothing to do with preserving slavery. His loyalty was to his native State of Virginia rather then to the federal government, a very common concept in the 19th century. Had Virginia voted to remain in the Union, is is likely that Lee would have accepted the offer of General Scott to become the commander of all US forces.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Stereotypes, however malignant, all have some basis in fact. Many blacks do like fried chicken and watermelon, and the Irish do have a propensity for drinking. But, cheapness is a deplorable trait and I can understand why Jews especially would find it invidious. But, in their (Jews) defense…as a working member of (sic) The Industry – few industries reward their skilled employees more handsomely. That includes the guilds, behind the camera artisans, technicians, stunt men and women, etc. People will tell you how wonderful you are in San Francisco but they stiff you all the same. Company town L.A. may have a fascist hierarchy but for the most part – the Studios and their ancillaries pay very well.