Tommy Thompson

This has got to be one of the most egregious cases of digging yourself deeper that I've ever heard of. Tommy Thompson is speaking to a Jewish group and says:

"I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money," Republican hopeful and former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson said Monday. "You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition."

Okay, bad move. But one could imagine a recovery. But not like this:

After being made aware that his remarks were problematic, Thompson returned to the podium and told the several hundred activists assembled, "I just want to clarify something because I didn't in any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things.

"What I was referring to ladies and gentlemen is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion and the Jewish people. You have been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that and if anybody took what I said wrong, I apologize. I may have mischaracterized it. You are very successful. I applaud you for that.

But it actually gets worse:

During the speech, Thompson also called himself the governor of the first state to buy "Jewish bonds" -- presumably meaning Israel Bonds -- and said his friend who persuaded him to buy the bonds was also a big supporter of the "Jewish Defense League" -- probably meaning the Anti-Defamation League, not the militant group.

The JDL is something of a terrorist organization, for the record. See also Shmuel Rosner's thoughts.

UPDATE: For the record, I'm much more inclined to put Thompson into the "morons" file than the "hates Jews" one, unless there's some kind of longer record out there.

UPDATE II: Spencer Ackerman picks up the damn phone.

Comments

Give the guy some credit. At least he didn't say "Jew bonds."

This incident falls into the Joe Biden category, which is to say that it makes no difference if the guy is a total mensch deep down; anyone this prone to gaffes obviously has no shot at the presidency.

Posted by Steve | April 16, 2007 5:22 PM

ROFL. Why was he running for president anyway?

Posted by Gary Sugar | April 16, 2007 5:25 PM

It's almost as if the Republican field is actively trying to lose to each other.

However, the thing I really don't get is how this happens to politicians. Sure, everyone misspeaks at some point, but one of the strenghts of a good politician is being able to not misspeak as often or as egregiously as a normal person would. Saying something as stupid as Thompson said really shows that the guy isn't cut out for politics and it's kind of surprising that he would even begin to think he would make a half-decent candidate for President. I guess these guys' egos and ambitions get a head of them, but I still always find it puzzling when these guys say the things they are carefully trained to not say.

Posted by Eric the Political Hack | April 16, 2007 5:28 PM

"White people were blessed with the gift of structure and organization. You guys do a good job of building businesses and things of that nature and you know how to tap into money pretty much better than a lot of people do around the world. Hispanics are gifted in family structure. You can see a Hispanic person and they can put 20 or 30 people in one home... If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch."

-- Reggie White, to the Wisconsin State Assembly, 3/25/98

There must be something in the water there in Madison.

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | April 16, 2007 5:35 PM

What blows my mind is that Mr. Thompson is, first and foremost, a professional actor. How could he break character so badly? This is assuming, of course, that the character he's playing is the wise, authoritative, yet oh-so-friendly patriarch (ala Reagan). However, perhaps we're seeing the development of an alternative take on the "presidential candidate" character here: the rambling, bone-headed, borderline-racist type (ala Tancredo?). This is also evidenced by Mr. Thompson's blog posts, by the way (search Redstate for 'em; I'm too lazy to link).

Posted by LawBoy | April 16, 2007 5:40 PM

Secondary comment: to tell the truth, the "rambling, bone-headed, borderline-racist type" could be as easily applied to Reagan, now that I ponder it. Maybe Mr. Thompson is taking his method acting too far.

Posted by LawBoy | April 16, 2007 5:42 PM

And worse yet, after his 3rd strike, Thompson decided -- since he wasn't pandering very effectively in prose, he may as well resort to song and immediately broke into the Kinky Friedman song, "They Ain't Making Jews Liek Jesus Anymore", dedicating it to Don Imus.

They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore

Well, a redneck nerd in a bowling shirt was a-guzzlin lone star beer
Talking religion and-uh politics for all the world to hear.
they oughta send you back to russia, boy, or new york city one
You just want to doodle a christian girl and you killed gods only son.

I said, has it occurred to you, you nerd, that thats not very nice,
We jews believe it was santa claus that killed jesus christ.
you know, you dont look jewish, he said, near as I could figger
I had you lamped for a slightly anemic, well-dressed country nigger.

No, they aint makin jews like jesus anymore,
They dont turn the other cheek the way they done before.
He started in to shoutin and a-spittin on the floor,
lord, they aint makin jews like jesus anymore.

He says, i aint a racist but aristitle onassis is one greek we dont need
And them niggers, jews and sigma nus, all they ever do is breed.
And wops n micks n slopes n spics n spooks are on my list
And theres one little hebe from the heart of texas is there anyone I missed ?

Well, I hits him with everything I had right square between the eyes.
I says, Im gonna gitcha, you son of a bitch ya, for spoutin that pack of lies.
If theres one thing I cant abide, its an ethnocentric racist;
Now you take back that thing you said bout aristitle onassis.

No, they aint makin jews like jesus anymore,
We dont turn the other cheek the way we done before.
You could hear that honky holler as he hit that hardwood floor
lord, they sho aint makin jews like jesus anymore!
All right!

Posted by Stan Czyk | April 16, 2007 5:43 PM

LawBoy: Wrong Thompson. This Thompson is the retard from Wisconsin. He was the Governor there for a good chunk of my life. Dumb as a sack of hammers, but people thought that he was a "good guy", which puts him right there next to W.

Posted by paul23 | April 16, 2007 5:43 PM

LawBoy, Fred Thompson is the actor, Tommy Thompson is the former governor of Wisconsin.

Are there no Jews in Wisconsin? How did he go so long and remain so ignorant?

Posted by Misplaced Patriot | April 16, 2007 5:45 PM

LawBoy: Tommy Thompson, not Fred Thompson. They're different people. Tommy is officially running for President, but no one has any idea why. Fred hasn't officially declared yet, but is still beating John McCain in the polls.

Posted by Korha | April 16, 2007 5:47 PM

^^ Fuck both of you.

Posted by Korha | April 16, 2007 5:47 PM

Thompson continued, "...and you people really do such a great job running Hollywood. I gotta tell you, my wife and I, we really, really miss that Seinfeld show. By the way, just between us, can you tell me what's going to happen with those castaways on Lost? Do they get off the island? And what's the deal with 'the Others'? C'mon, you can tell me."

Posted by SoCalJustice | April 16, 2007 5:50 PM

Are there no Jews in Wisconsin?

Yeah, this is weird. Both of Wisconsin's senators are Jewish, and Golda Meir was from Milwaukee (the UW-Milwaukee library is named after her). You'd think Thompson would be past the "Jews make money, haw haw" stage.

Posted by Matt Weiner | April 16, 2007 5:51 PM

Oops!

This is pretty conclusive evidence for me that the dual Thompson campaign (Fred/Tommy) will lead to nothing but headaches, confusion, and embarrassment for political hacks like me (the one thing you can say about Mr. Giuliani's candidacy is that there is no confusion with anyone else).

Posted by LawBoy | April 16, 2007 5:52 PM

Please please PLEASE let there be a Youtube.

Posted by Sam L. | April 16, 2007 6:01 PM

$5 says he did this on purpose. It strikes me the kind of thing someone might do if a) they desperately needed to get their name out there, b) didn't really care if Jews voted for them (but didn't want to be the really bad kind of anti-semitic), and c) took Sarah Silverman's "I love chinks" bit seriously. Also if they were incredibly dumb, which Tommy is.

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra | April 16, 2007 6:03 PM

LaFollette Progressive: to be fair, Reggie White spent the majority of his life being hit on the head for a living. That sort of thing will take its toll.

Posted by Doctor Memory | April 16, 2007 6:12 PM

Matt, what does it say that the new New Republic Ahmedinejad cover doesn't have fangs?

Posted by Gabriel | April 16, 2007 6:16 PM

Yeah, it IS really weird, because Milwaukee has a good-sized Jewish community that has a lot of political clout. When I was interning at the Chicago Jewish Federation, the Milwaukee Federation was mentioned as one of the better-run in the Midwest (Chicago, of course, being the best). Once had a charity dinner where several tables were purchased by Milwaukee machers, who obviously knew all the right people to know.

Posted by burritoboy | April 16, 2007 6:26 PM

I'd thought it was Fred for second when I saw this at Politico, kind of makes this less of a story. Guy with no shot ends his non-existant chances...

Posted by AJ | April 16, 2007 6:31 PM

I caught Tommy Thompson on CSPAN recently giving a campaign speech in Iowa. I knew he was the former Governor of Wisconsin and an ex-cabinet secretary, was running for President but not a whole lot more. He was scary. He was dishonest. He took credit for the hard work of other people. He saw cause and effect where there was no connection. He was a typical Republican.

What a waste.

Posted by milo | April 16, 2007 6:32 PM

"Are there no Jews in Wisconsin?"

I grew up there (Ashwaubenon, a suburb of Green Bay), and while it's true both senators are Jewish, that's pretty much the case through much to most of the state. In my Catholic catechism classes we attended a small Jewish mass once, but besides that, I didn't meet a Jew until I went to college in Illinois.

Jewish Virtual Library puts it at .5 percent, compared to 2.2 for the nation as a whole: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/usjewpop.html

Even those Jews disproportionately live in some areas more than others, I'm sure.

Not that this makes any excuses for Thompson (fmr. governor Thompson, not actor Thompson!). The guy's been around forever and ought to know some basic decency, especially if he wants to run for president.

Posted by Robert VerBruggen | April 16, 2007 6:33 PM

So what is Tommy doing in the private sector? Let me guess. He's in DC most of the time gladhanding and lobbying. Old fashioned GOP welfare, as opposed to the wingunt kind. Maybe not, I'd love to know. It would be so beautiful to find out he was a K Street boy.

I'm in Michigan and when Engler called it quits he said he hoped he would stay in Michigan to live and work. I laughed out loud. The guy was a shoe in for a lobbying firm. (I think he's a lot smarter than Thompson) There was zero chance he was staying here. In the easiest prediction ever I told many people at the time he was moving to Farifax county to be a lobbyist. Sure enough. He couldn't get out of here fast enough and as far as I know doesn't even come back.

Posted by rapier | April 16, 2007 6:37 PM

Was alcohol being served? Thompson doesn't have a history of Jew bashing, but he's been known to speak three sheets to the wind and landing himself in semi-hot water (the press covered for him like no other). Google his famous "Stick it to 'em!" quote.

Posted by Rob | April 16, 2007 6:41 PM

It's true that Thompson is from rural Wisconsin, but he went to UWis. and lived in Madison for 30+ years. And he's been living in DC for the last few years. While no one would say Madison is precisely overflowing with Jewish people, we're hardly any sort of rarity there. The man currently works for Akin Gump Strauss Strauss Hauer & Feld, for god's sake! His "boss", to some extent, is Bob Strauss!

Posted by burritoboy | April 16, 2007 6:46 PM

Maybe the simplest explanation is that Thompson thought that the Jews would not be so thin-skinned about being complimented on their economic success? American politicians are more conditioned to walk on egg shells around blacks.

Posted by Fred | April 16, 2007 6:46 PM

About ten years ago, there was an klan/anti-klan rally in town and somehow I was asked by some JDL folk if I could help them out finding a place to stay. I didn't know what the JDL was at the time, I heard ADL or assumed ADL anyway. I still didn't know what I'd done until years later as to who they were and what they were about.

I don't think most people would *say* ADL vs. Jewish Defense League though, that's REALLY specific.

Posted by Ed Marshall | April 16, 2007 6:49 PM

Wow, Fred gets more loathsome every day. Maybe he's thinking of the time when Jews got all thin-skinned after Mel Gibson complimented their military prowess.

Posted by Steve | April 16, 2007 6:49 PM

Clearly the best thing to come from this is that people are going to think Fred Thompson said this. Two commenters already have.

Posted by Jack | April 16, 2007 7:03 PM

My jewish roots are in Wisconsin, so I know we have a good-sized presence there. I'm not offended by Thomson's flubs, which sound well-meaning, not based in antisemitism. I thought he was trying to say that Jews are good economic citizens, not that Jews are moneygrubbing. I'd put him in the clueless, not the bigoted category.

Posted by Barry | April 16, 2007 7:08 PM

the first thing that comes to my mind is, this is the type of thing someone with a drinking problem would do.

kind of like jimmy the greek.

i mean, how else do you explain it? retardation? being a closet heavy-duty racist?

what?

it's mystifying.

Posted by lyle | April 16, 2007 7:12 PM

I am honestly mystified at what it is that he said that was offensive. That the Jewish people on the whole have been uniquely successful in business? Does anyone honestly contest this characterization?

Posted by Anon | April 16, 2007 7:35 PM

Gosh, you black folks sure did work hard in the cotton fields. No seriously, let me clarify, I really think your hard work built the southern economy. I don't think anyone could claim to have worked harder than you guys did. Wait, I'm not trying to be offensive, I was right there behind King Martin Luther, protesting at the gas stations during the cold war!

So, now that I've used a "positive" stereotype to characterize a group of constituents, and then showed a complete and utter ignorance of their fairly recent history, am I qualified to be president?

But seriously, there's a fair amount of scholarship about the insidious aspects of the "model minority" myths. Saying that Asians are good at math or Jews are good with money doesn't really help out those groups so much.

Posted by Sam L. | April 16, 2007 8:02 PM

I'm a Jew. And I like Thompson. And I'm glad he said it was good that Jews make money. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Maybe someone else will say that we make excellent lovers. Go ahead! I have a thick skin.

I can't wait to see who will come in and play the Rabbi Sharpton role (is that you, Foxman?) to avenge this horrible slur.

gimme a fucking break

Posted by c | April 16, 2007 8:05 PM

I can't wait to see who will come in and play the Rabbi Sharpton role (is that you, Foxman?) to avenge this horrible slur.

Well, if the Jewish audience had shrugged it off then I might agree with you. But as it is, apparently there was enough of a contemporaneous hubbub that Thompson felt compelled to return to the podium and issue a clarification/apology. It's not a manufactured controversy if the people who actually heard the statement were like "wow, can you believe he said that?"

Posted by Steve | April 16, 2007 8:07 PM

Fair enough Steve but I don't see how the clarification only made things worse as MY would have it.

Posted by Anon | April 16, 2007 8:20 PM

OK, this is an odd question, but I’m hoping other commenters can give me some insight.

When I first read the above quote I assumed Thompson’s phrase “that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition” referred to being “in the private sector… for the first time in [his] life”--NOT to “earning money”. In other words, I thought he was making an, admittedly very strange, reference to some sort of “entrepreneurial spirit” in the Jewish community.

Based on his “clarification”, it’s now clear that the word “that” was indeed referring to making money (just not in the international Jewish banking conspiracy sort of way, I guess).

But here’s my question: Imagine Thompson had come out with a clarification saying “I was simply referring to my recent work in the private sector and how there’s traditionally been a great entrepreneurial spirit in the Jewish community.” Would that have been any better?

Posted by Anonymous | April 16, 2007 8:22 PM

Better, but not good. Even if you choose to buy that the Jewish culture or, weirder, religion resulted in business success, telling a group of people of a specific ethnicity that "they" should be commended for something that people generally stereotype their ethnicity for is a mistake. And that is if we totally ignore the negative way in which the Jew-money connection is usually made.

I'm half Jewish, but if (for a different example) someone told me they really respected me because white people had been responsible for so many scientific, cultural and artistic advances, I would be mighty freaked out.

Posted by Sam L. | April 16, 2007 8:36 PM

"What I was referring to ladies and gentlemen is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion and the Jewish people."

He could have easily stopped here, but no...

"You have been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that and if anybody took what I said wrong, I apologize. I may have mischaracterized it. You are very successful. I applaud you for that."

How fucking stupid do you need to be?

Posted by Reality Man | April 16, 2007 8:50 PM

I'm from the Midwest, I've lived in NY for 35 years, my wife is Jewish, I'm not, etc. I think part of this (only part) is that people in the Midwest don't think about Jews, really. They sort of like Israel, the Holy Land, you know, but they don't really think about Jews. Except that maybe the two or three kids in the high school they went to were the children of the people who owned the stores downtown (actually my case). So when they've got to say something about Jews, they don't have much to go on, and what they say can sound pretty bad but is not necessarily malevolent (I saw this a fair amount visiting home after my marriage).

On the other hand, however, this guy was running for President, for heaven's sake, and would presumably like the Jews he was talkng to to give him money. It probably behooved him to think about what might offend them -- even if it was really money on his mind. Puts him well into moron territory, but probably not anti-semite, in my view, and morons only get to be President every 75 years or so, and we've filled that quota very recently.

Posted by David in NY | April 16, 2007 8:57 PM

Sam L. above, who never lived in the midwest until very recently, but is my son, takes a different view.

Posted by David in NY | April 16, 2007 9:01 PM

I think part of this (only part) is that people in the Midwest don't think about Jews, really.

There's something to this (although I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in Detroit, so what do I know). One of my East Coast colleagues commented on how Midwestern people have this tendency to talk to Jews like they're space aliens or something. I mean, I know it's good form to bond with the audience by pointing out something you have in common, but if I were introduced to someone from India, for example, it would never occur to me to start gushing about my love for curry. Or, for that matter, about how I enjoy shopping at 7-11.

The guy from Ha'aretz put it well: Jews don't like being reminded that other people view Jewishness as an observable characteristic, the sort of thing they self-consciously note. When you start going on about how many Jewish friends you have, the mental comment is "so you keep track, eh?"

Posted by Steve | April 16, 2007 9:11 PM

Just to clock in the rest of the family, Sam, JBL says that Thompson is just "incredibly tone deaf," and your Mom agrees that midwesterners don't get Jews (quoting my mother in a less offensive vein than Thompson), but, Mom adds, Thompson should avoid alluding to stereotypes that "caused millions of people to lose their lives."

There you have it -- the views of a Jew, a goy, and their offspring. Thompson is at least an insensitive moron who picked a historically unfortunate, not to say tragic, characterization of Jews.

Posted by David in NY | April 16, 2007 9:14 PM

Tone deaf sounds right. But I think even if their were no historical negative attributed to saying Jews are good with money, this would still be problematic. I would not say to an Asian person, much less a group of Asian-Americans, much less in a political context, that "I just took chemistry for the first time in my life, and I understand that science is part of the Asian tradition." I wouldn't blame anyone at being offended at that.

Posted by Sam L. | April 16, 2007 9:49 PM

There's a fair number of slack-jaws in the midwest that use jew as a verb.

The only good thing is that he didn't go up there a third time and ask them to not raise his interest rates.

Posted by daveNYC | April 16, 2007 10:46 PM

I've lived in the Midwest myself, but grew up in New York, and I can testify that this talking about Jews as if they were space aliens is a Midwestern thing. Its sort of like drinking lots of weak beer, or claiming to not mind absolutely horrible weather.

The only thing I can take away from this is that having two Thompsons run for President at the same time is going to be even more fun than I thought at first. Also, both of Wisconsin's Senators during the time Thompson was governor were Jewish, and one had the distinction of being one of the few Senators who is not rich. I'm not sure how ex-Governor Thompson coudl have come out with something like this.

Posted by Ed | April 16, 2007 10:56 PM

This is not out of character for Tommy!

This is the same Tommy Thompson that went upstate, I believe the Fox River Valley, and argued in favor of the new ballpark for the Milwaukee Brewers (to be paid for by a tax only on the MIlwaukee / southeastern Wisconsin area, but approved by a statewide referendum, because the GOP is so against taxes they bcan't let us tax ourselves) by arguing it was the chance for people upstate to "stick it to 'em" in MIlwaukee.

We can guess why Milwaukee isn't liked upstate, and it's not because Wauwatosa is so white, Irish and Catholic.

Posted by Lettuce | April 16, 2007 11:09 PM

DaveinNYC and Ed:

There's a fair number of slack-jaws in the midwest that use jew as a verb.

...

I've lived in the Midwest myself, but grew up in New York, and I can testify that this talking about Jews as if they were space aliens is a Midwestern thing.

Amazingly, I grew up in New York and live in Milwaukee and think there's a fair number of New Yorkers who think they know, but don't know, shit about the midwest or Wisconsin.

My adopted home, let me reiterate what you've missed: Both US Senators from Wisconsin are Jewish.

The only elected out-lesbian in Congress, Tammy Baldwin, she's from Wisconsin.

What you think you know you do not know. Making cracks about "the midwest" isn't going to help anything much, but it does make a lot of slack jawed bozos in New York feel superior.

Milwaukee, for example, is the largest city in America ever run by Socialists, and it was from the ealy part of the century until 1960.

The first socialist elected to Congress wasn't Bernie Sanders, it was Victor Berger, from Milwaukee.

You guys need to get out more.

Posted by Lettuce | April 16, 2007 11:15 PM

In my Catholic catechism classes we attended a small Jewish mass once, but besides that, I didn't meet a Jew until I went to college in Illinois.

What the hell's a "Jewish mass"?

Posted by Jasper | April 16, 2007 11:31 PM

the first rule of the quilting society is: you never talk about the quilting society.

Posted by JJClark | April 16, 2007 11:36 PM

Look, this isn't complicated, and does not require complicated analysis. The guy is clearly a moron, and shot his foot off, and is not going wherever it is he thinks he might be going politically. Period. Next blog post.

Posted by live | April 17, 2007 12:51 AM

I think we're going to have more fun with this pack of bozos running for office than I had previously realized.

The hilarious part about this is watching this guy dimly realize he might have said something "not quite right", trying to apologize/clarify what he meant, and just shoving his foot down his throat further....

Pass the popcorn.

Posted by grumpy realist | April 17, 2007 12:52 AM

Tommy Thompson led an HIV/AIDS research team from Johns Hopkins to Vietnam in early 2006. A small closing event was held at the end of the trip, with press, reps from NGOs and multilaterals, Vietnamese government officials etc. Thompson began by thanking the local head of UNAIDS, whom he called "Gladys". Her name was Nancy. He then began his speech: "If eleven 747s full of people crashed over Asia every month, surely world leaders would sit up and take notice..." Crowd reaction: ??? Oh, he's referring to AIDS casualty figures? Er, whatever. Some minutes later, he paused and turned to the head of UNAIDS. "Now, I think I called you Gladys earlier, and I apologize. Reason is you remind me of a girlfriend I used to have named Gladys, except you're much prettier than her..."

God bless the people of Wisconsin for having a soft spot for goofballs like this, but the man is not going to President of the United States.

Posted by Matt Steinglass | April 17, 2007 1:05 AM

Was he sipping on snake wine or something? Cuz that shit can fuck you up.

Posted by Reality Man | April 17, 2007 1:32 AM

There was some speculation along those lines.

Posted by Matt Steinglass | April 17, 2007 1:41 AM

I know Tommy Thompson. He's a decent guy. Reasonably swift...but certainly not for national politics (kind of like the current President). Not an anti-semite. But generally afflicted with foot-in-mouth disease. Also a borderline alcoholic. Bad combination.

As for midwesterners and Jewishness...they don't really think about it much. I live in NYC but lived in Milwaukee at one poinst. Most of them probably don't even realize that Herb Kohl or Russ Feingold are Jewish names. Seriously. Thompson was just trying to compliment his audience. whoops.

Posted by Nathan | April 17, 2007 10:10 AM

Let me second the comments of Lettuce. In the lated 19th century, Milwaukee was the most ethnically diverse city in the country. Also, hellooo...fightin' Bob LaFollette, anyone ? I've made the study of Milwaukee sort of a hobby of mine, since my wife is from there. I'm from Tennessee myself, which I won't even bother to defend right now. I will, however, note the hint of smug coastal provincialism which occasionally creeps into most of the lefy blogs I enjoy. Remember guys, you've got friends out here, too.

Posted by boonie | April 17, 2007 10:15 AM

Amazingly, I grew up in New York and live in Milwaukee and think there's a fair number of New Yorkers who think they know, but don't know, shit about the midwest or Wisconsin.

My adopted home, let me reiterate what you've missed: Both US Senators from Wisconsin are Jewish.

The only elected out-lesbian in Congress, Tammy Baldwin, she's from Wisconsin.

What you think you know you do not know. Making cracks about "the midwest" isn't going to help anything much, but it does make a lot of slack jawed bozos in New York feel superior.

Well, I've made the reverse commute (having grown up in Wisconsin and moved to New York), and I think it's worth point out: you don't live in Wisconsin, you live in Milwaukee. You like to think you've connected with the "people of Wisconsin" but you haven't, because you basically haven't met any. Same goes for Herb Kohl. And Tammy Baldwin wasn't elected by Wisconsin, she was elected by Madison. The hinterland, by contrast, is filled with lots of people like Thompson--basically well-meaning, instinctually conservative folk. Lots of them use "Jew" as a verb, but only because it never occurred to them they shouldn't. They know as many Jews as we know Roma--which is why "gyp" is still prominent American usage even in culturally rarified NYC.

Posted by DJ Ninja | April 17, 2007 10:19 AM

For the record, I'm much more inclined to put Thompson into the "morons" file than the "hates Jews" one

That's unfair, Thompson is so ready for prime time !! Can't you see him as president, addressing the Israeli ministry of defense on a State visit --

"We salute your courage, your indefatigability... and your enormous, bulbous noses of bloodhound-like vigilance at sniffing out terrorism!"

Posted by moron | April 17, 2007 12:36 PM

Growing up in darkest Michigan, I heard jew as a verb a few times, but it was more space alien territory. The only actual Jewish slurring I heard was by dudes from Oakland/Macomb Counties, where there are actually some Jews.

Posted by witless chum | April 17, 2007 4:22 PM

"The hinterland, by contrast, is filled with lots of people like Thompson--basically well-meaning, instinctually conservative folk"

Yes, but Thompson lived largely in Madison from the early 1960s to 2001. He is from a very rural village, but he hasn't permanently lived there since he went away to college. I don't think it's plausible to pretend that he's some absolute yokel when he lived in a cosmopolitan university town for nearly 40 years. And he's been living in Washington, DC since 2001. AND has been working for a very high powered white shoe law firm there since 2005! And a good number of his fellow employees there are both fairly obviously Jewish and on boards of various Jewish organizations.

My own conclusion is that Thompson got plastered (which is not a rare event for him).

Posted by burritoboy | April 17, 2007 4:38 PM

"There's a fair number of slack-jaws in the midwest that use jew as a verb."

Don't pin this solely on redstaters. In progressive Southern California, among young people of all races, including college students (the vast majority of young people in SoCal are non-white), "that's jewish" is a common phrase. It is usually used to describe something irritating. It's use is very similiar to calling something "gay". Both are rarely accompanied by hardcore anti-gay or anti-jewish beliefs, respectively. See the Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=thats+jewish

Posted by scottynx | April 17, 2007 5:40 PM

stop it stop it stop it I know all you perfect people have never misspoke this childish politically correct crap needs to stop people just sitting around waiting to jump someones shit for things they diddnt mean what a bunch of petty ass babys you all are

Posted by greg coldewey | April 18, 2007 9:06 PM