John Conyers apologizes for Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitic remarks

[geek tragedy]

Source: Detroit Free Press

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, apologized today for Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic comments during a talk he gave in a Detroit church last week.

Conyers, who attended Farrakhan’s speech Friday night at Fellowship Chapel, issued a strong statement that distanced himself from the Nation of Islam leader’s remarks, which were blasted earlier this week by a Jewish civil rights group and others.

“Farrakhan made unacceptable racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic statements, which I condemn in the strongest possible terms,” Conyers said. “It was my expectation that Minister Farrakhan’s speech would focus on the many challenges facing the city of Detroit. In previous days, he had discussed efforts to revitalize our city by purchasing property and investing in blighted neighborhoods. Regrettably, he used this opportunity to promote views that have no place in civilized discourse.”



Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20130523/NEWS01/305230119/John-Conyers-apologizes-for-Farrakhan-s-anti-Semitic-remarks

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Good on Conyers for making this statement, but expecting Farrakhan to avoid hate speech is kind of like expecting Louie Gohmert to avoid saying something stupid.

[11cents]

1. I wonder whose pocket Louis F. is in now

Gaddafi, his old sugardaddy, is dead. But I'm guessing Iran's mullahcracy has picked up the slack.

[MNBrewer]

2. Reminds me of that story about the frog and the scorpion.

[The Magistrate]

3. Good For Him, Sir

[premium]

4. Good for him.

I was hoping he was going to do this.

[alp227]

5. In fact, John McCain has also disavowed a controversial religious figure who endorsed him in 2008.

McCain disavows pastors (LA Times 5/23/08)

At a late-afternoon rally in Stockton, McCain said he rejected the endorsement of John Hagee after learning of a recording in which the San Antonio pastor portrayed Adolf Hitler as being sent by God to force Jews "to come back to the land of Israel."

And in 2011, Texas Gov. Rick Perry distanced himself from a controversial endorser, pastor Robert Jeffress, who called Mormonism (the religion of Perry's primary opponent Mitt Romney) a "cult."

[premium]

6. I knew this about McCain,

but I didn't know this about Perry, still can't stand Perry though, McCain, I tolerate him due to his service in Vietnam.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Conyer's defenders on DU already told me that Farrakhan is a huge hero and his hate does not matter

just as the hate speech of his followesr does not matter, for Louis is a god and those he attacks are just gays and Jews and if we don't understand the million man march, well we are a bunch of freepers.
I am sick of the vile hate speech against others that is tolerated in certain quarters of DU and of the world. I mean, John Conyers KNOWS what the is hate monger sells, for him to say he thought the bigot would stick to subjects other than hating those unlike himself is just insulting. Why be there at all? 'Sure I vacationed with Hitler, but who knew he'd be such a Jew hater'? Is he serious? Conyers should be ashamed of himself. He attended a cross burning.
If the shoe was on the other foot, he'd want heads on plates. Hypocrites like Conyers enable the haters. I've had it with the cheap excuses for horrific things. They are so casual about what is done to others, Conyers gives no weight at all to the human price his friend's hateful screeds exact in society. He does not care about those unlike himself,not a bit.

[SoCalMusicLover]

8. Thank You For That

You don't buy a ticket for a Yanni concert, unless you're into his music. The views of Louis are no huge secret, and Mr. Conyers is not fooling me.

No big surprise that he's issuing a statement, that's what politicians do. I once admired this man for standing up to "W," who I despised, but sometimes the enemy of your enemy is not your friend, nor someone you need to respect.

I have none for Mr. Conyers at this point. If he had any reservations about Louis' beliefs, he would not have attended a speech where Louis was the lead speaker.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. It's the endless hypocrisy and constantly seeing that Conyers types really don't think hate speech

is bad unless it is against them. He basically says it's no big deal that he attended. Someone mislead him as to the subject matter the Grand Dragon had in mind for the evening. He does not even own his own actions.

[7962]

10. Amen to both you and Blue,

How could he be surprised? Its not like there arent 100s of previous examples of Louis slamming Jews and "white devils".

[XemaSab]

25. Word

n/t

[John2]

13. Do you say

the same about conservatives that spit out the same hate speech about other races? I do not support Farrakhan because I'm not religious. Farrakhan is a Muslim who follows that religion. Conyers needn't apologize for anybodyelse views because this is America, and people have freedom of speech. The man was speaking his own views just like Jews speak their views about what they believe about Islam. I don't think anybody should attach the views of Farrakhan to Conyers just like the Jews who attended conservative rightwing events to the views of Jews. So do not tell me some Jews do not attend events held by racists or even the country of Israel supported such regimes. People keep bringing up Iran but do any of these people also expose the racial hatred among Jews? I ask this question, because I came upon an article recently entitled Palestinians in Hebron: " To Be Here Is a Form of Resistance", that was very enlightening to me. It had the picture of a large Gate in the middle of Hebron, where Israeli soldiers patrolled the streets, policing Palestinans. There was a lot of racism exposed from jewish settlers within that article and the oppression by Israeli soldiers. The article gave the insinuation, the U.S. knew about these conditions but keep it silent. Do any of you know anything about this situation, that criticize Farrakhan apparent venom towards Jews? I only ask for the Truth and not accusing anyone before I take a position.

[geek tragedy]

17. You managed to smear both Muslims and Jews as bigots in that post.

Farrakhan's bigotry is not shared by any Muslim I've ever met, and no Jew I've met talks about Muslims the way Farrakhan talks about Jews.

[leftynyc]

14. Perfect post

I mean that very sincerely.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. You mean you went to one of his speeches...

and didn't the something anti-Semitic would pop up? John- have you been paying attention the last 30 or so years?

[kitt6]

12. Honestly, If I had

a choice between listening to Conyers or Farrakhan; then Farrakhan it would be. I don't have to agree with everything he says, but what can a congressman tell me that I don't already know?

[MotherPetrie]

16. What can Farrakhan tell you that you don't already know? Answer: NOTHING. Farrakhan is a BIGOT.

And that is well-known, but you would STILL choose to listen to him?

What do you think that says about you?

[Javaman]

15. I'm always amazed when...

other people have to apologize for a stupid comment that someone else makes.

I know how the news/politician/image things works, but it still is weird to me.

[geek tragedy]

18. What Conyers was really apologizing for was lending public

support to Farrakhan by attending that speech in the first place.

[Javaman]

24. I know.

but why attend when he knew Farrakhan was going to be there?

meh. It matters very little in the grand scheme of things.

[yurbud]

19. "Gohmert" sounds like the past tense of saying something stupid

He will gohmer

He gohmers.

He is gohmering

He has gohmert.

[geek tragedy]

20. Or "I'm all gohmert" ala "I'm all verklempt." nt

[yurbud]

21. It's the opposite of verklempt. It's like "I tried to hold it in, but I gohmert my pants."

[geek tragedy]

22. I went all gohmert on his asparagus, nt

[yurbud]

23. maybe someone can do to his name what Dan Savage did to Santorum