Gingrich’s Anti-Semitic Dog Whistle: Saul Alinsky

[Behind the Aegis]

When Newt Gingrich is called out for using the phrase “food stamp president,” he fiercely defends the idea that he is simply pointing out the obvious: that under Obama more people signed up for food stamps. Simple as that. He is not gently plucking racist tropes for the benefit of his base, but just telling it like it is. The man has plausible deniability. He can wink and then say he was just blinking.

So I’m sure that will be the case when I bring up Gingrich’s fondness for mentioning a certain Saul Alinsky. The former speaker is just stating a fact.

And boy does he bring Alinsky up. I’ve heard Alinsky’s name mentioned by Gingrich in a handful of debates, usually by way of characterizing the president, as in Obama is a “Saul Alinsky radical” or “the centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.” But what really struck me was the number of times Gingrich brought up Alinsky in his victory speech when he won the South Carolina primary: three.

Now if you aren’t in that subsection of the “east coast liberal elite” that is closely following every twist and turn of this primary season, you might be asking yourself at this point, “Who the hell is Saul Alinsky?”


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[Bolo Boffin]

1. The way conservatives hate on Saul Alinsky

he must have been quite the guy. And turns out he was.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. I just find the entire thing very disconcerting.

It is amazing how entrenched anti-Semitism actually is in the US culture. Too many try to down play it or are critical of Jews who comment on it.

[Bolo Boffin]

3. I definitely see the anti-Semitism dog whistle there.

Particularly the "leftist Jews that agitate the black folks" dog whistle going all the way back to the 1960s. I think Saul's a great way for modern red meat conservative slingers to hit the anti-Semitism thing while avoiding direct implications against Israel - the "good Jews" versus the "bad Jews." The whole thing is toxic BS.

Plus, the way that George Romney promoted Saul Alinsky makes this a triple win for Newt Gingrich. Newt is really a foul little piece of work.

[Paladin]

9. As Do I. Reprehensible. (n/t)

[ellisonz]

4. The repitition is a dead give-away.

Newt knows no shame...

[MarianJack]

5. And, as is typical of the rethugs,...

...they choose to attack a man who has bee dead for some 30 years.

PEACE!

[KharmaTrain]

6. Going For The "Good Ole Boys"

I heard that dog...or make that wolf whistle loud and clear. Notice how Gneut plays it in the South...where some of the biggest anti-semites reside. Cadrich is throwing the worst scortched earth campaign in American political history bringing demogoguery to a high pitch. I'll bet Gneut thinks he's insulated by taking all of Adelson's money...a person I consider a greedy self-hating Jew/Likudnik who tolerates and encourages all this race and religious baiting. Shameful! And a sad indictment of where both the south and the rushpublicans have gone to tolerate this kind of hatred...

[MADem]

7. This article NAILS what I was thinking. Oddly enough, though, the networks completely soft-pedaled

the "anti-semitic" aspect of the dog whistle. They babbled on about "activist" and "Marxist" but not much if anything on the "Jewish" side of Mister Alinsky.

I truly think they were afraid of suggesting that Newt --golly gee-- just might be a bigot, in case in he finds a way to run the table and make it all the way to the big show.

[COLGATE4]

8. He uses it because 'Saul Alinski' in

mouth-breather speak = 'Communist Jew'. Really subtle, isn't he?

[LeftishBrit]

10. Indeed

Antisemitic and red-baiting - could have come out of the mouth of Joe McCarthy or his cronies.

[Matariki]

11. Unfortunately this article repeats Gingrich's lie about food stamps without even blinking

Fact check before writing: http://www.factcheck.org/2012/01/newts-faulty-food-stamp-claim/

[hedgehog]

12. The irony here is that Gingrich's sugar daddy is a rabid Zionist!

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10249298-gingrich-funder-isnt-trying-to-buy-the-presidency-aide-says

[Behind the Aegis]

13. I don't wether to call it "irony" or "duplicity."

I see shit like this all the time.