Ilhan Omar apologizes

[Yosemito]

Link to tweet

My two cents? Democrats apologize too much.

[guillaumeb]

1. An excellent response.

A money driven and controlled political system is the main problem.

[Power 2 the People]

4. +1000

[elleng]

10. Yes

[LovingA2andMI]

15. This....

[Tom Rinaldo]

18. It really is perfect n/t

[Hermit-The-Prog]

22. not quite perfect

Nobody sent me cash. The perfect apology always involves cash coming to me. Or some nice boiled chicken for the dog; that saves me cash.

I don't see many perfect apologies, for some reason.

[Tom Rinaldo]

34. Nice reply...

By the way our cat can use some treats if you have some you can throw our way

[In It to Win It]

2. I'm not sure what I missed on this one...

What are the words that she’s apologizing for?

I read a few articles and I didn’t see anything that was worth an apology.

[ck4829]

3. Conspiracy theories invoking George Soros get people killed... Republicans brush it under the rug

A lot to learn about the differences in the parties here.

[Yosemito]

5. Omar didn't mention Soros

AIPAC isn't Soros.

[ck4829]

6. I know...

https://forward.com/fast-forward/412652/house-majority-leader-kevin-mccarthy-deletes-tweet-saying-george-soros-tom/

[Yosemito]

7. Got it

I misunderstood.

[Kurt V.]

8. my 2 cents agrees with your 2 cents

[elleng]

9. "accurately describing how the Israel lobby works is not anti-Semitism."

[scarletwoman]

40. Thank you, absolutely agree!

It drives me crazy when criticism of AIPAC gets equated with anti-Semitism. It has the same feel of absurdity as when the right wing sees George Soros conspiracies behind every activity undertaken in service to liberalism.

[leftynyc]

11. Thank you, Rep Omar

Looks like many right here on DU could use a little of the listening and learning.

[theboss]

12. I'm glad she apologized. I don't get why adults in public service need to "learn" so much

This seems to be the new part of public apologies in recent years - the teachable moment.

If you have the intelligence and drive to run for Congress, you should know that saying Jews buy off politicians is a bad thing.

[marble falls]

13. Fair enough.

[LovingA2andMI]

14. What You Said...

n/t....

[Marengo]

16. Oh please...as if she needs an "education" on anti-semitic tropes. Disingenuous bullshit.

[ck4829]

30. She actually does. She should have attacked our government's Emmanuel Goldstein instead

You know, The One Jew who apparently funds the Democrats, the SPLC, pays black people to have the audacity to say their lives matter, pays for some sort of "antifa supersoldier" project, kids to say they don't want to be shot in school, pays for a migrant caravan to travel on foot (Especially mind boggling when plane tickets would be easier), etc.

She really messed up by not attacking George Soro... Emmanuel Goldstein.

[question everything]

37. Of course it is. Her district has many inluential and, yes, affluent Jews

who, no doubt, contributed to her campaign. She already got in trouble when, during a pre-primary debate, at a synagogue, no less, said she supported a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict and that the BDS movement wasn’t helpful in trying to achieve that goal. Pressed by moderator Mary Lahammer to specify “exactly where you stand on that,” Omar replied that the BDS movement was “counteractive” because it stopped both sides from coming together for “a conversation about how that’s going to be possible.”

http://www.startribune.com/u-s-rep-elect-ilhan-omar-statements-on-israel-return-to-spotlight/500437501/

But as soon as she won the primary, she changed her tune, angering the Jewish community.

So she has to think about next year campaign.

[tritsofme]

17. Nice that she publicly apologized, but I am still very done with her.

She is an adult, she knew exactly what was she saying with her giant dog whistle.

If she draws a primary challenge, I will open up my checkbook.

[wellst0nev0ter]

19. I doubt you were with her in the first place

[grossproffit]

21. Yep. Me too.

[George II]

24. I agree. That was bordering on "I apologize to anyone I may have offended". Lukewarm.

[IronLionZion]

20. It's good of her to apologize, but her point was GOP takes too much lobbyist money

That point shouldn't be lost in this. If it was NRA instead of AIPAC, would comments about money still be anti-Semitic?

When Donald J. Trump made money comments to a Jewish audience, it was excused of course.

"In this case he is speaking to a group of Jewish Republicans, a significant portion of whom are business people. We do not believe he intended his comments regarding negotiations and money to relate specifically to their Jewishness, but we understand that they could be interpreted that way.”

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/back-donald-trumps-tumultuous-relationship-jewish-voters/story?id=37811413

Plenty of Jewish-Americans in Minneapolis support Congresswoman Omar. Just like many Muslim-Americans support Jewish politicians. Dems should not be so easily divided by Republicans.

[calimary]

23. There is that.

[theboss]

25. No because there is no 2000 year old belief that the NRA is an evil group that buys people off

Also, there have been very few pogroms or genocides directed at the NRA.

[George II]

29. Yes, comparing a Jewish lobbyist organization to the NRA is offensive.

[IronLionZion]

39. AIPAC and NRA are both lobbying organizations

with the goal of influencing legislation and policy

[George II]

42. The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Rams are both "organizations" with the goal....

...of winning games. Is it reasonable to compare them?

[IronLionZion]

38. Lobbying organizations buy off politicians to influence legislation

NRA does exactly that on behalf of the gun industry. AIPAC does that for Israel and does NOT represent Jewish-American people. AIPAC is quite literally down the street from me, and most of the peace activists who protest outside their events are Jewish people chanting in Hebrew.

Congresswoman Omar is from Somalia, a country that did have genocide. None of which have to do with her comment about money influencing Republican politicians.

[scarletwoman]

41. Thank you! "AIPAC does that [lobbying] for Israel and does NOT represent Jewish-American people." nt

[PeeJ52]

26. I still would have tweeted like she originally did, without even a thought of anti-semitism.

It would have solely been based on the Republicans liking their money, no matter where it comes from. That's the thing about being a politician. Everyone is looking for some hidden meaning in your message, even when there isn't one.

[TCJ70]

27. They're apologizing for tweeting out a song lyric?

It's All About the Benjamins is a Puff Daddy song with the addition of "baby" in the actual lyrics. Did someone think that was anti-semitic somehow? It's a reference to Benjamin Franklin on money.

[PatSeg]

36. Oh

I knew it was a reference to Benjamin Franklin on money, but totally didn't get the lyrics reference. Thanks.

[George II]

28. Your "constituents"? Minnesota has eight members in the House, and about 25,000 Jewish residents...

...less than one-half of one percent - how many constituents is she talking about, like maybe 5,000?

I said elsewhere here, she should visit NYC, specifically Brooklyn, and learn something about the anti-Semitic language that Jewish people have to deal with day after day.

"Listening and learning, but standing strong"? I interpret that as "I had to say it but don't really believe it", which is confirmed by the last paragraph.

Just as disappointing as the original comments for which she's apologizing.

I operate on the premise that I think of what I'm saying before I say it, if it seems offensive I don't say it. That drastically reduces the need to apologize.

[melman]

31. This makes zero sense

She shouldn't apologize to her constituents because there aren't enough of them?

[George II]

33. Sorry, you missed the point of my post.

[Gothmog]

32. This is a real apology and is an example of the correct way to issue an apology

I am very impressed with Congresswoman Omar.

BTW, I am also Jewish

[RAAD2]

35. Omar Is A Statesman

And well spoken.

There are a lot of Jewish People who want peace and prosperity for them and the Palestinians.

Then there are the folks who get power from doing real bad things.

Kinda the same thing as here to some point.

[MadDAsHell]

43. We willingly elect a proud antisemite who proceeds to... say anti-Semitic things. SHOCKING!!