Parts of the rural Midwest are very anti-Semitic and also very nutty about Catholics. Missouri is a “border state” and outside of KC and St L, it’s mostly a collection of small towns, plus Springfield which is very conservative. Missouri was a slave state with many places where the US flag didn’t fly until WWI. I would not be surprised by any of this.
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I think the real story is the bizarre panic of being thought of as Jewish. Who cares?
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I don’t think there needs to be a reason necessarily for clinical depression, but something could trigger his final act, like maybe thinking his political career was over or even anything much less severe.
Lots of folks in Missouri and elsewhere, apparently.
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They just want jews to all return to Israel so that the end times can start. At which point all the jews will die in a lake of fire. Or something crazy like that.
If Israel goes away, then no RAPTURE!!! They’d be better off wishing for UNDERPANTS>PROFIT
I would venture to guess that the man felt a lot of self-hatred. Here he was, a man of Jewish ancestry, trying desperately to win the approval of Jew-hating biggots. Instead of fighting back in anger against the whisper campaign, he apparently turned that anger against himself.
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If this is mean, then it’s mean. This man was seriously disturbed. Ending his life seems to me a pretty extreme response to anti-semitic rumors.
I get being upset because he thought being labeled as Jewish would destroy his career. I get being angry and stressed out that a career he worked hard to build could be derailed by lies. What I don’t get is ending one’s life over it. There’s got to be more, much more going on behind the scenes. The only thing I can think of is that maybe someone was threatening to expose something in his past that would more than just ruin his political career, but would make him a total pariah. Maybe his rage over the whisper campaign about his religion was just a front to cover up some other far worse revelation. That’s the only sense I can make of it.
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Missouri has an active an active and powerful White Supremacist movement that dominates Republican politics and policy. Some parts of Missouri are as bad as Alabama and Idaho when it comes to the influence of right wing religious and conservative extremists engaged in the mainstream of Republican politics.
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The Rapture Index has been at historic highs since our blah, so-called president stole two elections.
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I am not so sure anti-semitism is a big thing in the major cities, but for outstate evangelicals, the Republican base, it is a big deal. Of course, being a Episcopalian is as bad as being Jewish for those creeps. Neither is as bad as being a Mormon. Until 1976 it was legal to shoot Mormons on sight.
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If you take the time to read Sen. Danforth’s eulogy – which I highly recommend – Danforth says that when he spoke to him, he told him the same thing about letting someone else stand up and raise the issue for him rather than doing it himself. Danforth says that he had always told Sweich to take the high road and that after he told him this, Schweich seemed angry at him for telling him not to do it himself. Here, the woman says the same thing - she told him to let somebody else raise it for him. Then he shot himself. I think Danforth had it right, Schweich felt like he was being told to abandon his principles and chicken out, in service of his political campaign. The consistency of what he was told by these two people, and the fact he shot himself right afterward seems to strongly support the idea that it wasn’t just the anti-semitic whispering campaign, but rather that people he trusted were telling him that he shouldn’t do what he knew was the right thing to do, and instead should let somebody else do it for him so he didn’t damage his campaign. Danforth thought maybe he felt like he was being left alone. That seems right. Sad.
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Same thing happened in Alaska when Sarah Palin was running for mayor of Wasilla. She (or members of her family or campaign team) started a rumor that her opponent, whose name was Stein, was Jewish. He wasn’t/isn’t, but the rumor circulating among Palin’s fundies was enough for her to win, and him to lose. And yet, he had been Mayor and of good standing in the community. The hatred of these fundies is a horrid sight to behold.
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They adore AIPAC money.
Sen Craig didn’t resign for hustling BJs in a men’s room, Rep Foley didn’t resign for sexting Page Boys, do we really think this guy is going to resign? Being a repug means never having to say you’re sorry.
…and Billo Lie-A-Lot was lurking outside and heard the gunshot…
FauxNews at 8ET… (I guess that’s when billo breaks wind…I mean , news.).
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In this case I think his suicide is getting the message out. It sucks, though.
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Time to lock religion back in the closet. It can’t be allowed out in public.
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AIRPAC money is our tax dollars recycled through the Israeli military.
Trey Radel was a convicted drug felon-- stayed in offce for months.
Bob McConnell had to be heading for the slammer before he was forced out.
Chris Christie… well WhoTF knows WhatTF i’s coming up next there?
jw1
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