August 17, 2009

I Will See Your Hitler, and Raise You a Holocaust

By Harold Witkov

They're carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare.
- Nancy Pelosi (August 5, 2009)

Table talk at a poker game can sure get out of hand when the healthcare stakes are high, and it all began with Nancy Pelosi on August 5. Much to my chagrin, however, Jewish organizations across America (American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League, Simon Wiesenthal Center, etc.) have conveniently overlooked the galvanizing swastika table talk begun by Speaker Pelosi about average American citizens practicing their free speech rights at town hall healthcare meetings, and instead fallen into the familiar liberal line of condemnation for Rush Limbaugh. Leading the way on this front, in my opinion, has been the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC).

As a member of what the National Jewish Democratic Council refers to as a "small anti-Obama wing of the Jewish community," I must call the NJDC to task. The facts are Nancy Pelosi, the same Speaker Pelosi who last May accused the CIA of "misleading the Congress," started this recent Nazi finger pointing mess. Rush Limbaugh added to the volatile table talk on August 6, and upped the ante with his ongoing comparisons of Germany's National Socialism under Hitler to that of the Democrat's national healthcare agenda. The National Jewish Democratic Council, also seated at the poker table, then specifically accused Mr. Limbaugh of abusing "the memory of the Holocaust," and started a control-Limbaugh petition drive demanding he stop dirtying the memory of millions of Holocaust victims.

We in the Jewish community, like all Americans, are having enough problems trying to figure out the various 1,000-page reform bills floating around Congress. We do not want to be distracted from our mission. We do not enjoy distracting table talk, and we certainly do not need the NJDC or anyone else to confuse the issues by starting a new card game of their own called, I'll see your Hitler, and raise you a Holocaust.

To be sure, Mr. Limbaugh is a key leader in the conservative movement, and as such, I can understand why liberals stand against him. However, when it comes to Israel, it is important that all Jews should understand that, whether they are liberal or conservative, there is none more committed to a strong Israel than Mr. Limbaugh. One only has to listen to him speak about Israel to know he stands solidly with the tiny nation. I say this from personal experience. One day, while I was riding in my car (during the Clinton years) I was arbitrarily going through the various radio stations when I came upon the most inspirational speaker I had ever heard regarding the State of Israel. Articulating the need to avoid legitimizing Arab terrorists like Arafat, he made the case that America's most important mission in the Middle East should be to support democracy and our democratic ally, Israel. As I listened, I wondered who this Jewish man could be that so profoundly described Israel's history, people and vulnerable situation. As it turned out, he was not a landsman. He was Rush Limbaugh.

Knowing how committed Mr. Limbaugh is to the State of Israel, I find it very painful to hear liberal Jews denigrate a man so committed to Israel while they applaud the President, whose loyalty to the Jewish nation becomes more and more questionable every day. Now I find myself sorely disappointed to hear different Jewish organizations chastising the recent Rush Limbaugh commentaries while overlooking Nancy Pelosi's "They're carrying swastikas" diatribe.

Perhaps now would be a good time for all Americans to move away from the distracting table talk of swastikas, Nazis, and the Holocaust, and instead concentrate on the real game in town: President Obama's sleight-of-hand healthcare reform shell game.