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1.
September 1, 2004
As Media Coverage of Crosses on GOP Podium Ramps Up:
Karl Rove Belittles Concerns About Crosses at GOP Convention
New York, NY: Amidst a deluge of press stories covering the reaction of American
Jews and others to the appearance of crosses on the podium of the Republican
National Convention, Karl Rove yesterday dismissed concerns about the message of
exclusivity sent by the podium design. When asked about the appearance of
crosses by CNN White House correspondent John King yesterday, Rove replied,
"My God, where do they come up with this stuff? Does it look to you like
it's a cross? I don't -- I don't think so," he added, pointing over his
shoulder to the wooden cross on the podium.
"It is astonishing that Karl Rove would so glibly dismiss the concerns of
American Jews and members of other minority faiths who are turning on their TV's
and seeing waist-high wooden crosses on the podium of the Republican
convention," said National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira
N. Forman. "Let me get this straight: for years the GOP has focused like a
laser on its Evangelical Christian base, and top GOP have boasted about how
carefully they have micro-managed every tiny element of the design of this
convention [see below]. And then they assert that a three-foot tall wooden cross
at center stage has no significance whatsoever? Karl Rove and his ilk have no
shame.
"The only debatable point is whether these crosses were intentional or not,
as they are clearly crosses. And as top GOP leaders have noted, they have left
virtually nothing to chance regarding the design of this convention,"
Forman added.
Yesterday's New York Times reported, "Mr. Bush's team is leaving no image
to chance. It is hyperaware of every image it sends out -- and the symbolism
that may accompany it." The same article quoted Bush chief media and
convention advisor Mark McKinnon saying, "We assume that every image says
something, everything communicates.... So we want to make sure that everything
communicates something that reflects the character of the president."
2.
September 1, 2004
Media Round-Up: Coverage of the Cross Story at the RNC
Below are excerpts from a sampling of the various press stories today
covering the story of the placement of a cross on the podium of the GOP
convention.
New York Times
"Terminator Talks Tough"
FOUR years ago, Democrats claimed they saw the word "rats'' pop up on the
screen in a Republican advertisement, a coded message, they argued, to turn
voters away from their candidate, Al Gore. Now some people are suggesting they
see a cross in the geometric wood patterns of the convention lectern and wonder
whether it is a subliminal message from Mr. Bush's campaign to Christian
conservatives.
"It is the very height of insensitivity for the Republican Party to feature
a cross at the center of the podium of this convention for the
duration of the opening night of the convention," the executive director of
the National Jewish Democratic Council, Ira N. Forman, said yesterday.
"This wooden cross must be at least three feet tall, and it sends a signal
of exclusivity loudly and clearly."
-----------------------------
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
"Heard at the Convention: A Reporter's Jewish Notebook"
Jewish Democrats are complaining that a slab of wood adjacent to the speaker's
podium at the Republican convention resembles a cross. ... A spokesman for the
Bush/Cheney campaign had no comment on the podium flap. The set is expected to
be the one Vice President Dick Cheney will speak at Wednesday, but will be
changed before President Bush speaks Thursday.
-----------------------------
New York Sun
"Mr. Subliminal, Call Your Office. A Cross Has Been Sighted"
Mr. Subliminal, call your office. Some Republican National Convention-goers are
buzzing over the design of the podium at Madison
Square Garden, which includes a pattern in the shape of a Christian cross.
...The cross touches a nerve with some observers, who see it as injecting
Christian symbolism into an otherwise ecumenical event that has included Jewish
and Muslim speakers. It provides potential fodder for Democrats, who are trying
to paint President Bush and the Republican Party as captives of the religious
right. ..."The Republicans are very good at stagecraft," said a
spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, Matt Bennett. "My sense is
that nothing goes on that podium that isn't very, very carefully considered. It
would be surprising to me, when they were putting it up, that nobody
noticed."
"I believe it is an image of two crosses," said the Rev. James Forbes
Jr. of the left-leaning Riverside Church in Manhattan, which hosted President
Clinton on Sunday. "This is an unusual and inappropriate use of religious
symbols in a political campaign," he told the Associated Press.
"That's very strange. That's upsetting," said the president of the
Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, when shown a photograph of the
podium. A spokesman for the Bush campaign, Kevin Madden, dismissed the
controversy. "What will they come up with next?" Mr. Madden said.
-----------------------------
Newsday
"Odd ways to show compassion"
It was Compassion Night at the Republican National Convention. Sadly, the
special design of the convention podium didn't bridge these gaps in political
compassion. Or should I say the convention pulpit? The lines have grown a little
vague at the Garden this week, and I'm talking carpentry here - not just
philosophy. Several keen-eyed observers in the hall couldn't help but notice
what appeared to be two clear crosses in the wood design of the podium.
Was that a hidden message, linking Bush and Jesus? Was it a subliminal sop to
the Religious Right? Or was it a mere art-deco design flourish, more a tribute
to the Empire State Building than to Christianity? Convention organizers brushed
aside such queries as far-fetched. "A Rorschach test," scoffed one
Republican spokesman. "Sometimes," said another, "a cigar is just
a cigar."
But eyes did not deceive easily - on either side of the political aisle. It sure
looked like a smaller cross on the left front of the podium, a larger one to the
right. "It does kind of look like a 'T' a small 'T' - or I guess you could
say a cross," said Utah delegate James Evans, a state senator from Salt
Lake City. "What are you guys trying to read into that?"
"Wow! I hadn't noticed that!" Democratic Party chairman Terry
McAuliffe declared when someone showed him a color photo of the opposition
party's podium. "Sure looks like a cross, doesn't it? Just another way
they're trying to twist the message at this convention." Like being
compassionate?
-----------------------------
Dow Jones International News
"CONVENTION NOTEBOOK: Sharp-Elbowed Humor In NYC"
GOP convention officials denied Tuesday morning they had salted the Madison
Square Garden podium with religious symbols. Prompting the questions was a
photograph in the New York Times Tuesday morning of Mayor Michael Bloomberg
speaking at the convention. In the photograph, the hardwood lectern behind which
Bloomberg is standing bears a striking resemblance to a church pulpit.
While just about any elaborate podium looks like a pulpit, the effect is
enhanced by a stand to his right for the convention's official gavel. On the
stand's face are alternating rectangles of light and dark wood which - at least
in the photograph - form a stylized cross.
A GOP convention aide said the photograph completely mistakes the podium's
aesthetic intent, which was to mimic the blocky texture of New York City's
skyline. Still, convention spokesman Mark Pfiefle said he'd "check it
out." But, Pfeifle said, "it sounds a bit like a Rorshach test,"
referring to the amorphous ink-blots used by psychologists.
3.
Below please find excerpts from a Jewish Telegraphic Agency story noting the
uphill battle that GOP officials face in trying to attract American Jews. For
the full story, please see:
http://jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=14445&intcategoryid=3
"Convention shows Jewish strides in GOP, but social issue gap remains"
NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (JTA) — Call it the tale of two Mellmans. Mark Mellman, one
of John Kerry’s top four advisers, launched a talk with Jewish Democrats in
Boston last month with a drasha, or short sermon, on the meaning of Tisha B’Av,
the Jewish fast day that happened to fall during the party convention. Then,
with nary a comment from the crowd, Mellman glided into the case for the
Massachusetts senator. Contrast that with the introduction this Sunday for
Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman at a similar Jewish event.
“One of us, Ken Mehlman — let me repeat that, one of us, Ken Mehlman
— is running the Bush-Cheney campaign,” said Morris Offit, a Republican and
the president of the New York federation, barely containing his grin as he
emphasized Mehlman’s Jewishness. The contrast could not be starker between the
run-of-the-mill references to Yiddishkeit in Boston and the frissons of glee in
New York at the mere mention of a Jewish name. It illustrates how far Jews have
come in the Republican party since the 1970s — yet how far they have to go to
equal Jewish Democrats in number and influence.
For every gratified reference to the packed rooms Jews have filled at the
Republican convention, for all the invariable “we couldn’t fill a phone
booth 20 years ago” jokes, there has been an acknowledgment that the status of
Republican Jews in the party and the Jewish community is not anywhere near that
of Jewish Democrats.
The elephant in every Jewish ballroom at the convention is last month’s
[National Jewish Democratic Council] survey showing that Jewish preferences for
Democrats have hardly budged since 2000, when George Bush scored less than 20
percent in exit polls.
The poll was commissioned by Democrats, and no one here was buying into it
entirely. But they still were setting expectations lower than a few months ago,
when they believed Bush’s unprecedented closeness to Israel and his efforts
against terrorism would win the Republicans levels of Jewish support seen only
at the start of the Reagan era.
See the full story at:
http://jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=14445&intcategoryid=3
4.
September 1, 2004
More Intolerance Highlighted at GOP Convention
Anti-Gay Extremist Speaks for Republican Party
New York, NY: Sheri Dew, who has previously compared those supporting gay and
lesbian Americans with those who supported Hitler, offered an invocation here at
the Republican Convention yesterday. She has previously tried to defend herself
by commenting, "it may seem a bit extreme to imply a comparison between the
atrocities of Hitler and what is happening in terms of contemporary threats
against the family -- but maybe not."
"The fact that such a wildly intolerant speaker as Sheri Dew would be
called upon by the Republican Party to speak at their national convention speaks
volumes about the GOP, and it just showcases how far out of touch they are with
the values of most Americans and with the vast majority of American Jews,"
said National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira N. Forman.
"Dew's past comments regarding Hitler, gays and lesbians are nothing short
of disgusting and repugnant, and she should not be given a podium anywhere, let
alone at a national party convention," Forman added.
5.
September 1, 2004
GOP House Speaker Launches Wild Attack Against Jewish Philanthropist
Washington, DC: House Speaker Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) on Sunday launched a
volley of outlandish, unsubstantiated allegations against progressive Jewish
philanthropist George Soros. The Washington Times reports that Hastert said on
Fox News Sunday, "You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his
money.... I don't know where -- if it comes overseas or from drug groups or
where it comes from." Asked directly by Chris Wallace if Soros' wealth came
from drug cartels, Hastert said, "Well, that’s what he’s been for a
number years -- George Soros has been for legalizing drugs in this country. So,
I mean, he’s got a lot of ancillary interests out there. ...I’m saying I
don’t know where groups -- could be people who support this type of thing.
I’m saying we don’t know."
Soros has been repeatedly demonized by GOP officials and commentators, including
with anti-Semitic imagery. The Hill newspaper reports, "Conservatives have
sought to discredit Soros by attacking his foreign and Jewish roots and his
support of liberal causes, and by saying that his currency speculation actually
hurt the very people he claims to want to help. 'No other single person
represents the symbol and the substance of globalism more than this
Hungarian-born descendant of Shylock. He is the embodiment of the Merchant from
Venice,' wrote GOPAC, an organization that helps elect GOP candidates, on its
website last year. In William Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice,' Shylock was
the Jewish banker whose venality would not stop him from cutting human flesh to
repay loans."
"Wild, unfounded GOP attacks on George Soros -- including blatant
anti-Semitic canards in the past -- have got to stop, once and for all,"
said National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira N. Forman.
"It is in totalitarian and authoritarian societies -- not in America --
where leading government officials feel comfortable to slander, defame, and ruin
those who dare to disagree with their politics. The GOP spin machine has spun
itself out of control on this one. Clearly Dennis Hastert owes George Soros an
apology for his completely unacceptable rhetoric," Forman added.
Eric M. Colchamiro
Philadelphia Region Field Director
National Jewish Democratic Council
(202) 365-6612
Daniel E. LOEB,
eMail: daniel.loeb at verizon.net
