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Biden Gets Another Free Pass
Townhall.com ^ | September 19, 2014 | David Harsanyi

Posted on 09/19/2014 10:28:02 AM PDT by Kaslin

Remember when the media freaked out for three days over Sarah Palin's completely innocuous use of the term "blood libel"?

Nearly every major media outlet took a deep dive on this critical outrage. Millions of Americans learned more about how Jews in the Middle Ages were sometimes falsely accused of kidnapping and murdering Christian children so they could use the blood for ritualistic baking. But more significantly: What did Palin mean? Was she sending a veiled message to evangelical voters? Was it just anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head again?

There will be no such national conversation over Vice President Joe Biden's recent comments. While extolling the virtues of his son Beau at a speech at Legal Services Corp., our Clouseau-esque vice president launched into one of his folksy populist rants. "When he was over there in Iraq for a year," he explained, "people would come to him and talk about what was happening to them at home in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being -- I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas."

Immediately, the voice of America's aggrieved Jewish community, the Anti-Defamation League, jumped into action with this rather mild condemnation from its national director, Abraham Foxman:

"When someone as friendly to the Jewish community and open and tolerant an individual as is Vice President Joe Biden uses the term 'Shylocked' to describe unscrupulous moneylenders dealing with service (members), we see once again how deeply embedded this stereotype about Jews is in society."

There's no need to overreact. It's not as if Biden said, "You cannot go to a bagel store unless you have a slight Yiddish accent." He certainly didn't say, "You Jews are so productive. I don't think you're smarter than anybody else, but you've convinced a lot of us you are." Was he intending to insult bankers as moneylending Jews? Is it an insult? Is there anything wicked about usury? I find it unlikely. I find it improbable he even knew Shylock had anything to do with Jews.

Anyway, Biden apologized. They almost always do. "Abe Foxman," he said in a statement, "has been a friend and adviser of mine for a long time." If only we all had advisers to help steer us from saying stupid things. (It is worth pointing out that as often as the ADL gets overexcited about minor slights, it is equally fawning for no reason. What on earth has Biden done to make himself a "friend" of the Jewish community? Wear a yarmulke once a year? Sign on to work for the least Israel-friendly administration ever?)

When William Shakespeare wrote "The Merchant of Venice" and created the character Shylock, there hadn't been any Jews in England for hundreds of years, not since they were expelled in 1290 -- and they wouldn't really return to full rights until the mid-1800s. Shakespeare knew nothing about Jews. There's no need to be offended. Shakespeare is long dead. The Jews are still alive. (Not to mention, I'm strongly pro-Shylock; he was a legitimate businessman screwed over by a technicality.)

So it's not a big deal. Or, I should say, it's as big a deal as the dozens of stories we've had to endure about GOP gaffes. Is there any question that the repercussions for these sorts of mistakes are meted out asymmetrically? There is simply no way a Republican could get away with the buffoonery Biden peddles almost daily. Is the lack of genuine scrutiny over Biden's mistakes a reflection of the media's handling him like an unserious person? If that's the case, then shouldn't the president be open to far more criticism for putting the country in such a precarious position? Or is it that Biden finds himself in the right party. Either way, it reflects poorly on the media.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: antisemitism; joebiden; stereotypes

1 posted on 09/19/2014 10:28:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
He look to tell crowds about talking to "Leak-On-You"; as if the crowds don;t get the insult.
2 posted on 09/19/2014 10:29:57 AM PDT by Yosemitest (It's Simple ! Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Kaslin
Damned auto-correct function makes more mistakes every day:
3 posted on 09/19/2014 10:31:10 AM PDT by Yosemitest (It's Simple ! Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Kaslin

To this day Dan Quayle is misaligned for misspelling potato.

But leftists will go to the mat to cover for Biden. I’ve even read them saying stuff like it’s so “refreshing” that “Joe” speaks off the cuff.

Many of them are pretending because they had to look up this phrase, that it isnt a big deal to use it. Just pathetic.


4 posted on 09/19/2014 10:31:29 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: Kaslin

Joe Biden is King Obama’s Court Jester


5 posted on 09/19/2014 10:33:51 AM PDT by Iron Munro ("If you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: VanDeKoik
To this day Dan Quayle is misaligned for misspelling potato.


6 posted on 09/19/2014 10:38:27 AM PDT by Iron Munro ("If you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: Yosemitest

I guess the auto correct function did not work because the word was not misspelled :)


7 posted on 09/19/2014 10:48:19 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

It corrected a misspelled word “LOVKS” into “LOOK”, instead of”LOVES”.


8 posted on 09/19/2014 10:50:09 AM PDT by Yosemitest (It's Simple ! Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Kaslin

I don’t like the evil clown, Biden, but xalling predatory merchants who take advantage of service members overseas “Shylocks” is NOT anti-Semitic.
The ADL needs to grow some thinker skin and the author needs to get his priorities straight.


9 posted on 09/19/2014 10:59:03 AM PDT by Little Ray (How did I end up in this hand-basket, and why is it getting so hot?)
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To: Kaslin

I suppose if you can’t contain your racist buffoonery, and you intend to run for office, you’d damn well better register as a Democrat. It is the only way the press and the other race hustlers out there will give you a lifetime free pass to offend every minority person under the sun, and the only way you’ll achieve any kind of longevity in politics.


10 posted on 09/19/2014 11:08:52 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: Yosemitest

oh ok, but that was a misspelled word


11 posted on 09/19/2014 11:09:40 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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