Rep. Jerrold Nadler was caught on tape saying something critical of Barack Obama, and the Republican Jewish Coalition didn’t hesitate to tell Jewish voters about it.
The RJC sponsored a minute-long robo-call (which can be heard here) to 300,000 Jewish households in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada on Monday featuring Nadler’s statement that Obama "didn’t have the political courage to want to make the statement of walking out" Trinity United Church of Christ when he realized that Rev. Jeremiah Wright was "a nut" and "lunatic," because "you don’t walk out of a church with 8,000 members in your district."
Calling Wright’s church "anti-Semitic" and "anti-American," the call plays a portion of Nadler’s comments and then asks, "If Obama doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing here at home, can he stand up to dictators and tyrants who seek to do us harm?"
Nadler made the remarks after an appearance at a Boca Raton synagogue on behalf of Obama, in response to a group of questioners who were peppering him with questions about Obama’s relationship with Wright.
The conversation was captured on video by Pamela Geller, who blogs as "Atlas Shrugs," and posted on Youtube Sunday. On the video, Nadler does preface his remarks about "political courage" by saying he has "no personal knowledge" of the matter and his statement is merely "my guess."
Nadler said in a statement Monday afternoon that "I made a thoughtless comment yesterday which does not reflect the way I feel about Barack Obama."
"I strongly support Barack Obama for president, because he he has the values and political leadership to bring the change our country needs," Nadler said.
UPDATE: The RJC also has put out a Web ad, which includes the same exact audio as the robo-call but, of course, adds photos and the Nadler video.
Here’s the text of the RJC call and Web ad:
Concerned about Barack Obama? You should be. This weekend, Democrat Congressman Jerold Nadler confided that Obama stayed a member of
anti-Semitic, anti-American Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church for 20 years for "political" gain. And that Obama "didn’t have the political courage" to leave.Listen to Congressman Nadler on Barack Obama and Rev. Wright:
“The guy’s a nut, the guy’s a lunatic, but you don’t walk out on a church with 8,000 members in your district.”
"He didn’t have the political courage to want to make the statement of walking out."
If Obama doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing here at home, can he stand up to dictators and tyrants who seek to do us harm? We should all be
concerned about Barack Obama.
Paid for by the Republican Jewish Coalition and not authorized by any
candidate or candidate’s Committee.
