Especially the blacks and the Jews pt. 233231

TPM knocks Nikki Tinker's ad in which claims, "While he's in our churches, clapping his hands and tapping his feet ... he's the only senator who thought our kids shouldn't be allowed to pray in school." Turner's opponent Steve Cohen is Jewish, which leads TPM to claim that Tinkeris Jew-baiting. Maybe. It's clear Tinker is invoking bigotry--but I don't think it's that kind. It seems that the more salient fact is that Cohen is the only white person in Congress representing a majority black district. The "our" in question likely refers to the church--a bastion of voluntary segregation.

Frankly, I've always doubted the power of Jew-baiting as a method of scaring up votes in any black community outside of the tri-state area Gotham. That's not because blacks aren't antisemetic, it's because--in the words of the great Jimmy Baldwin--they're antiwhite. Jew-baiting against a white Jewish guy in a majority black district, is like attempting a 360 dunk. Why go through all that when the the plain-old race-baiting layup will suffice?