September 25, 2002
Poor, misunderstood Dick Armey

At a campaign event for Katherine Harris, Dick Armey took a moment to educate the world about the two types of Jews in America:


"I always see two Jewish communities in America: one of deep intellect and one of shallow, superficial intellect," Armey said, according to the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald.

But don't worry. He didn't mean to insult Jews:

During his usual briefing with reporters, Armey said he meant no ethnic slur. Rather, he was answering a question posed to him regarding political divisions among Jews.

He said the only point he wanted to make was that liberals of all backgrounds are less intellectual than conservatives.

"They don't think deeply. They don't comprehend," he said.


See? He only meant to insult liberals. I'm so glad he cleared that up. Now we can all go back to aspiring to be as smart as he is someday.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 25, 2002 to National news
Comments

I'll tell you what I didn't get about his comments: liberals are anti-intellectual, but a big bugaboo of so-called conservatives is that the universities are strongholds of evil lib'ruls. That makes no sense to me even when you factor in his attempt to make it an academ vs. SE division.

And to the charge that all SEs are conservative, I have a two word answer: Dr. Elmo.

Posted by: Ginger on September 25, 2002 9:10 AM

In this case, I totally accept his second statement, that he meant to insult liberals and not Jews.

But what I don't understand is, since he's a conservative, and therefore a deep thinker of superior intelligence, why didn't he realize that his first statement was going to sound bad? Even this poor dimwitted liberal could have figured that out.

Posted by: Alex on September 26, 2002 12:09 PM

It seems to get better. According to &c, he has expanded his remarks to explain that liberals "... don't understand a partial derivative."

I suddenly wonder what it was that I missed about partial derivatives, 'cos I though I understood them.

Posted by: David on September 26, 2002 6:47 PM

I think his comments are part of an anti semistism in America that still blames jews for leftist "pinko-commie" politics.

The fact that he thinks he hasn't insulted anyone or made derogatory remarks proves how pervasive this anti-semitism is inside the conservative movement and the republican party.

Posted by: mike on September 28, 2002 4:16 PM