Two South Carolina Republican officials have apologized for defending U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint by likening him to Jews who “take care of the pennies.”
Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer wrote the Orangeburg Times and Democrat to defend DeMint, also a Republican, after a Democratic politician said he didn’t help direct enough funds to local projects.
“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,” the chairmen write. “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.”

These guys said something stupid and something which many will find hurtful, but is it hateful? Are they really guilty of anti-Semitism? And have they not tapped in to a myth in which many Jews take pride, at least privately?

Of course I don’t mean the part about being cheap. But what about Jews ability to do well financially? Isn’t that something about which many Jews speak with pride? Could it be that the real issue here is more akin to those who argue that it’s okay for black people to use the N-word, but not for whites to do so?
I have no need or desire to spend time defending two small-time South Carolina GOP leaders, but I think that people who fail to distinguish between stupidity and hatred are making a very bad mistake themselves. Such mistakes undermine the ability to confront genuine anti-Semitism, and provide cover for those within the Jewish community whose understanding of Jewish pride actually feeds the very perceptions which discomfort them when articulated by those who are not Jewish.