Media attempts to smear Brat reveal desperation
The media left was caught unawares by the victory of David Brat, so their initial attempts to smear him are particularly pathetic. Mollie Hemmingway does an excellent job in The Federalist demonstrating how shameful and ignorant they are. Needless to say, the fact that Eric Cantor is Jewish was seized upon to claim anti-Semitism:
One common theory proffered by media geniuses, from the New York Times to theNew York Daily News to Politico, was that Republican voters in Virginia’s 7th District had suddenly developed a raging case of anti-semitism.
I’m not joking. This was an actual theory that was treated as legitimate.
Keep in mind that Eric Cantor was first elected to Congress by these folks in 2000. They re-elected him six times. He lost this week by 10 points but just two years ago he won his primary by 58 points. Heck, he’s been representing many of these voters since he was elected by them to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1992! But many political reporters are pretty sure that what made this election so different was good old-fashioned Jew hatred. A hatred that was — for mysterious reasons — latent for, what, 22 years?
And not just the voters were smeared. Hemmingway cites this:
John Podhoretz at Commentary notes, in his blog post “An Appalling Cantor Meme“:
Reid Epstein of the Wall Street Journal proffered his own version in this cute set of sentences: “David Brat, the Virginia Republican who shocked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Tuesday, wrote in 2011 that Hitler’s rise ‘could all happen again, quite easily.’ Mr. Brat’s remarks, in a 2011 issue of Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, came three years before he defeated the only Jewish Republican in Congress.” How Brat’s invocation of Hitler relates to Cantor’s Judaism is not clear, but Epstein decided to link them, and the link is suggestive, and not in a good way.
This is repulsive. People who falsely cry anti-Semitism are as bad as those who falsely cry racism.
Hemingway also covers the anti-Christian bigotry that is invoked against Brat simply because he is a believing Christian.
While disgusting, these attempts also reveal the desperation of the left. They see a new star rising and they’ve got nothing. Less than nothing, in fact.
Hat tip: Hot Air