It appears that former co-chairs of the Women’s March Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory have regained the confidence of at least some at the DNC. The Daily Beast reports both were part of Democratic events this week. And of course Republicans are seizing:
Tamika Mallory, the former co-president of the Women’s March, spoke briefly during Monday’s meeting of the Black Caucus about the importance of securing justice for Breonna Taylor, an EMT who was shot by police as they executed a no-knock warrant at her home in May…
On Tuesday, fellow former Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour, a supporter of Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders with a history of controversial statements about Israel, appeared on the livestream for the DNC’s Muslims and Allies Assembly.
Her appearance was immediately seized upon by Republicans and the Trump campaign, which circulated a clip where she said the Democratic Party “is absolutely our party.”
A reporter for Jewish Insider highlighted the Daily Beast story on Twitter:
“On Tuesday, fellow former Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour… appeared on the livestream for the DNC’s Muslims and Allies Assembly. Her appearance was immediately seized upon by Republicans and the Trump campaign.” https://t.co/Iqh9xJezAa
— Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) August 19, 2020
That apparently led to a quick response from the Biden campaign about anti-Semitism and Biden’s strong support for Israel. CNN’s Jake Tapper has the statement:
Biden campaign spokesman @AndrewBatesNC says regarding Sarsour being on this call: “Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of Israel and a vehement opponent of anti-Semitism his entire life, and he obviously condemns her views and opposes BDS, as does the Democratic platform…. https://t.co/GR4ATJTf0p
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 19, 2020
The basic excuse being offered here is that Biden’s campaign had no control over this. Uh-huh. Sure.
3/ Bates points to this in DNC platform: “We oppose any effort to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement, while protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free speech.”
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 19, 2020
I’m sure this kind of dismissal, i.e. it’s not our fault these anti-Semites are showing up at our meetings, will work just as well if someone connected to Louis Farrakhan shows up at the RNC. We all know the media is scrupulously fair about such things.
In case you’ve forgotten the history on this, the Women’s March cut ties with Mallory, Sarsour and co-chair Bob Bland last year after their connections to Louis Farrakhan were exposed.
In any case, here’s Sarsour saying the Democratic party “is our party in this moment.”
This is NUTS.
The @DNC allowed the hateful anti – Semite Linda Sarsour to speak at their convention.
This is who today’s Democrats are – the party of Anti – Semitism.pic.twitter.com/wBaLIjeTD0
— Boris Epshteyn (@BorisEP) August 18, 2020
I get what she is trying to say here but…she is not wrong. Democrats really are the party of anti-Semites.
