http://thetandd.com/articles/2009/10/18 ... 566587.txtEdwin O. Merwin Jr., Chairman, Bamberg County Republican Party, and James S. Ulmer Jr., Chairman, Orangeburg County Republican Party wrote: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. 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.
I have little doubt that these two gentlemen were not intending to be anti-Semitic in these remarks. I am sure that they were not consciously invoking centuries-old extremely hurtful stereotypes. In fact, I bet if asked they would say that they meant to be complimentary to "the Jews" by praising "their" thriftiness.
This is the primary way that anti-Semitism manifests itself in America in this day and age. Thankfully, we don't often hear about the burnt synagogues and other overt examples of anti-Semitism that were quite common when I was growing up. But this type of thing shows how deep-rooted the attitudes about Jewish people is. And I want to emphasize that this is not a Republican thing; I have seen exactly this type of attitude exhibited by some of the most "liberal" people that I know.
Jews are still very much "other" to much of this country. Largely assimilated, but neither understood, nor trusted. The same attitude is reflected here that motivated my young classmates in the small town that I spent the early part of my childhood in to throw pennies at me and yell "Jew-begger, Jew-begger." Reading this editorial brings up all the same feelings of puzzled, painful alienation that I experienced in those long-ago days.