Religion Irrelevant Amid the Summer of Filner, Spitzer and Weiner

[cbayer]

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/08/21/religion-irrelevant-amid-the-summer-of-filner-spitzer-and-weiner

By STEVEN NELSON
August 21, 2013


Anthony Weiner, right, and Eliot Spitzer, center, are seeking citywide office in New York City after dramatic falls from grace. Bob Filner, left, is seeking to retain his job as mayor of San Diego.

Three politicians whose political ambition and sexual misconduct have enraptured Americans this summer – San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner and the city comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer – all happen to be Jewish.

That's been irrelevant so far, and just about everyone agrees it should stay that way.

"Scandals recognize no race, religion or ethnicity, however they do sometimes provide fodder for the bigot," Abraham Foxman, national director of the prejudice-policing Anti-Defamation League, told U.S. News. "Although they do not need facts in order to engage in their bigotry, we have not seen the religion of these three play any significant part in the criticism."

Previous scandals, such as the implosion of a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme operated by Bernard Madoff in 2008, elicited an outpouring of anti-Semitic commentary that "painted all Jews as thieves willing to do anything to satisfy their greed," the ADL previously documented.

more at link