Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Must We Do This Every Time?`

I had really hoped that "frivolous conspiracy theories over citizenship" segment of American presidential races would be a Barack Obama one-off. I should have known that was too optimistic, especially with a Jew making waves. Apparently, an NPR host was convinced that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has dual American and Israeli citizenship:
Diane Rehm: Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel.

Bernie Sanders: Well, no I do not have dual citizenship with Israel. I'm an American. I don't know where that question came from. I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions. No, I'm an American citizen, period.

[Diane] Rehm: I understand from a list we have gotten that you were on that list.

Sanders: No.

Rehm: Forgive me if that is—

Sanders: That's some of the nonsense that goes on in the internet. But that is absolutely not true.

Rehm: Interesting. Are there members of Congress who do have dual citizenship or is that part of the fable?

Sanders: I honestly don't know but I have read that on the internet. You know, my dad came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket. He loved this country. I am, you know, I got offended a little bit by that comment, and I know it's been on the internet. I am obviously an American citizen and I do not have any dual citizenship.
Note how she just asserts it as an established fact (not "there are rumors on the internet" but "you have dual citizenship"). There are indeed "lists" on the internet that claim Sanders has dual-citizenship, but they are the usual anti-Semitic crackpottery. Rehm, though, seems genuinely surprised that Sanders is solely an American citizen -- and her follow-ups (asking whether claims that other American legislators are dual citizens is "part of the fable") evince skepticism. I can't wait to hear NPR comment on where this garbage came from.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It may be a mistake to make overly broad generalizations from Rehm's idiocy but notable that this is coming from the nominal left (NPR) and not the right (which was the source for birtherism). Though I do wonder if Rehm, coming from an Arabic Christian background (family is originally from Syria), is more susceptible to this kind of baseless speculation about Jews + Israel.

Rebecca said...

I wondered if her background had anything to do with her not picking up on the antisemitic nature of the question. Or, perhaps she's just an idiot.

PG said...

http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2015/06/12/413981429/diane-rehm-and-a-bungled-interview-with-senator-bernie-sanders