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Friday, February 10, 2006

MD-Sen: Fuck You, Michael Steele

Posted by DavidNYC

I'm not sure I've ever used profanity in the title of a post here, but I am beyond outraged right now. Beyond outraged. This is what Republican Maryland Senate candidate Michael Steele said about stem cell research to the board of the Baltimore Jewish Council:

"You of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool."

You goddamn motherfucking sonofabitch. You dirty, filthy, rotten scumbag. That you would dare, DARE make this comparison tells me that you are a warped, crippled, self-hating human being. You think nothing through, you say anything for political gain, you have no sense of right and wrong and decency.

Let me put it another way. My father is a Holocaust survivor. My fiancee has Type I diabetes. Do you think for a fucking SECOND that my dad doesn't want to see stem cells used to cure the love of my life?

Of course not, you fucking asshole. You don't know what my father - "of all folks" - knows, but I'll tell you. He hates to see life cut short. His father was murdered - murdered! - when my dad was just 11 years old. He'd hate more than anything if my bride-to-be was taken from me prematurely because of illness - especially if something could have been done to prevent it. You not only fail to understand that, but you presume the opposite.

A rabbi once told me something very interesting. In Jewish tradition, if you harm someone, only that person can forgive you. Not a rabbi, not God, not someone else - only the person you've wronged. Michael Steele, you've desecrated the memory of people who can no longer speak. Only they may forgive you. But I don't expect you'll ever be able to ask them for forgiveness, because I don't believe you'll be joining them up in Heaven.

Posted at 04:42 PM in 2006 Elections - Senate, Maryland | Technorati

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Comments

I can't wait to see JEWISH Congressman Ben Cardin take this bastard to town on this. We must do whatever we can to make sure Steele never sets foot in the U.S. Senate

The money raised here will go to whoever wins the primary.

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/8459

Posted by: jkfp2004 at February 10, 2006 05:11 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

amen

Posted by: yomoma2424 at February 10, 2006 05:50 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I am a Jew and a laboratory scientist, working toward a PhD in neoro sciences, with a career goal of working in reconstruction of neural synapses after traumatic injury or event. I have a 10 year old nephew, Sam, and a 6 year old niece, Sara, both of whom have type one Diabetes Melitus.

If this worthless human offal, this waste of skin, thinks he can compare the experiences of my grandparents and aunts and uncles with pre-sentient blastocysts he is barking fucking mad. We won't stand for it.

Before he speaks to a group of Jews he would be well served to be reminded that of the elders in the room, many were circumcised two days before they were named. Not that I'm going to educate my enemies about my faith tradition...

Posted by: Global Citizen at February 10, 2006 05:52 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Global,

Are you a Maryland resident? You might want to contact the Maryland Democratic Party and get your story told.

Posted by: jkfp2004 at February 10, 2006 08:06 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

No, I am a Missouri resident, with Jim Talent squarely in my crosshairs.

G.C.

Posted by: Global Citizen at February 11, 2006 02:12 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

It seems that you have annointed yourselves as the arbitors of the definition of what is human and what is sub human. What if your wrong? Also, where do we stop this type of research? Should we clone humans for harvesting? We seem to be heading down a path to cure the now without much thought to the then.

Posted by: Mark at February 13, 2006 01:18 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

The outrage of "DavidNYC" and his uncontrollable profanity is outrageous!

Michael Steele, the first black skinned American to win state wide election in Maryland as our Lt.Governor continues to make history.

Steele is a fine man,who clearly holds a deep concern for all human life. It is an unbiased concern for all races, colors, creeds and nationalities. It is a concern that has been developed over Mr. Steele's life time, and from his personal experiences, education, and obviously from the guidance of his Mother from an early age.

In our history just over 150 yrs. ago blacks were enslaved by our own government, and our own people. Shamefully, for years blacks were not even considered human by our government, in spite of the ideals expressed by our Declaration and the Constitution.

History reminds us, as Mr. Steele was referring, that in Europe, the Jewish people were used for experiments,and their lives devalued and taken during the Holocaust. Nothing like that should have ever happened, and should never happen again.

Whether you hold as dear Mr. Steele's concern for life; and, irrespective of whether you believe in the use of stem cell research, Mr.Steele's concern for the Jewish race and his views of protecting life against discrimination of any kind should be applauded.

The fact that Mr. Steele a black American, who is not of the Jewish faith showed his concern for the Jewish people, during his remarks directly to the Baltimore Jewish Council should be commended.

"DavidNYC" the profanity used in your message is clearly harmful and offensive to those who read it. The Rabbi's I know would not condone such language. Do you feel an apology to those whom you have harmed by your vulgar language warranted?

If the kind of conduct you expressed by your profancity is indicative of the support Mr. Cardin desires, my vote is with Mr. Steele --- a man of integrity who will represent,without prejudice the lifes of all races, religions and creeds, including but not limited to Americans of the Jewish faith. Mr. Steele will represent the rights of even "DavidNYC", including his right to freedom of speech.

I'm voting for Michael Steele for US Senate in November 2006. I hope that those who read this will too.

Steele is for Maryland, US Senate.

Posted by: Steve for Steele at February 19, 2006 02:35 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

10 paragraphs after 2am is pretty impressive.

Posted by: RBH at February 19, 2006 04:12 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

scratch that.

1am is more accurate.

Posted by: RBH at February 19, 2006 04:15 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Wow. So you would rather that the hateful, racist excuses for politicians here in Maryland represented the people here as opposed to a genuinely caring individual? Your obtusity knows no bounds.

And on the subject of stems cells, it was extremely painful to learn that my beloved aunt who died of leukemia this past winter was unable to receive a transplant of differentiated stem cells from her sister and instead had to rely on an autologous transplant, the point being that those using the stalking horse of "pre-sentient blastocysts" are attempting to score purely political points at the expense of those they would "save."

Worth noting that the political philosophy you espouse is responsible for more death than any other in political history. I include not only the human toll, but the cost of what us old time naturalists would call "nature."

Finally, you correctly note that

In Jewish tradition, if you harm someone, only that person can forgive you. Not a rabbi, not G-d [edited for respect to Jewish tradition], not someone else - only the person you've wronged.

and I certainly hope that Steele can forgive the sin of lashon ha ra you have committed, because the Ineffable Name knows that I surely cannot. It was a sin that Talmudic scholars considered akin to murder to defame one without cause, a sin we now refer to as "character assassination" and one you apparently have no problem committing.

Posted by: EW1(SG) at February 20, 2006 10:12 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

So, who's linking to this post?

Posted by: RBH at February 21, 2006 12:17 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I find it ammusing that people use biggotry to attack what they call biggotry. It seems like if you are not a Jew, you are not allowed to reference the Holocaust without being labeled a hateful racist.

Posted by: wallstreethotrod at March 2, 2006 08:57 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Well, I find it amusing that you would interpret anything said here as saying "Only Jews can reference the Holocaust." From my opinion/perspective, there are appropriate ways and inappropriate ways to do this, regardless of your political leanings or religion or ethnicity. For example, I don't think you'd find any opposition from people here (or at least you wouldn't from me) if a conservative Christian compared what is happening to Christians and others in the Sudan at the hands of the Sudanese military government. To me, in this case the Holocaust (if we really mean "never again") can serve as a powerful reminder of ethnic and religious hatred. Further, I am always very critical of liberals who fippantly toss around the label "Nazi" when talking about their political opponents. While I can understand and respect different positions on a wide variety of issues (including stem cell research), I think Mr. Steele's equating this to the Holocaust was wholly inappropriate, and he deserved to be called on it. Now, would I have presented the case differently than DavidNYC did? Probably -- but then I'm now Jewish, and don't have the family history that he does that I think understandably provoked his anger.

Posted by: IndianaProgressive at March 2, 2006 11:26 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I'm not surprised right-wingers have missed the point I was making. Michael Steele could have said, "I think stem-cell research is akin to atrocities committed during the Holocaust." I would have thought he was especially stupid, but he's entitled to be an idiot.

My objection was that Steele was telling Jews what we ought to think. He said that Jews - "of all people" - ought to agree with his stance on stem-cell research because of what we went through during the Holocaust.

Like I say, Steele can think whatever he wants to himself. But he damn well has no business telling others what to think.

Posted by: DavidNYC at March 2, 2006 03:54 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment