Dear Brigade,
"[T]he state party chair defended Buchanan and denied that the
presidential hopeful was antisemitic or a Holocaust revisionist. Most of
the statements Buchanan made that seemed to take such stands were
misconstrued, he said ... "He's very well read and well educated," Goodman
said. "What I find distasteful is when the media takes things out of context.
It's done to tear apart somebody who is not part of the establishment..."
GO PAT GO!!!!!!!!!!!
Linda
------------------------
The Jerusalem Post - January 24, 2000
Jewish head of NJ Reform Party defends Buchanan's policies
by Enid Weiss, New Jersey Jewish News
WHIPPANY, NJ - While Pat Buchanan is making national headlines as he
seeks the Reform Party nomination for president, New Jersey's Reform Party
chairman - a Jew from Mahwah - is trying to strengthen the local party
organization.
As head of the state party, Ira Goodman isn't endorsing candidates. Instead
he's trying to publicize his party and fill New Jersey ballots with Reform
candidates.
He won't say who they might be, only that he plans to field contenders for
the Senate and the House of Representatives and New Jersey Senate and
Assembly seats. He's even talking to some people about entering municipal
elections.
During the party's first few years, voters adopted a wait and see approach,
Goodman said.
"Now people are starting to see who we are and they'll come along," he
asserted. "In 2000 you'll see a flood of candidates."
Ross Perot ran nationally for the presidency on an independent ticket in
1992 and garnered 19 million votes. That led to the formation of the Reform
Party in 1996 - but Perot won only 8.5 million votes as he ran again for
president on the party's ticket that year.
In New Jersey, Perot got about nine percent of the vote in 1996. That was
down from the 16 percent that had been cast for him in the state in '92.
Declining to say how many people belong to the Reform Party, Goodman
blames state Democrats and Republicans for "setting up major barriers,"
such as ballot petition challenges, that limit his party's success rate.
Goodman, a market research consultant, says that although Minnesota
Governor Jesse Ventura and Buchanan, the Reform Party's most politically
prominent members, may not be politically correct in their speech and
writing, they have attracted a lot of attention.
"It's gotten people to think," Goodman said. "As a result, we've seen our
membership grow, probably double."
Attention can be a key factor in a close race, said Ingrid Reed, director of the
Eagleton New Jersey project at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers
University, New Brunswick.
Reed added that although there are not many third- party candidates in
local contests, "Statewide our elections have been close. Three percent
can be a significant percentage in a close election."
To run on a Reform Party ticket in New Jersey, a potential candidate must
talk to Goodman, submit to an interview and then be approved by a
three-person committee.
According to Goodman, a lack of supporters may cost Pat Buchanan a line
on the ballot in New Jersey.
But the state party chair defended Buchanan and denied that the
presidential hopeful was antisemitic or a Holocaust revisionist. Most of
the statements Buchanan made that seemed to take such stands were
misconstrued, he said.
"He's very well read and well educated," Goodman said. "What I find
distasteful is when the media takes things out of context. It's done to
tear apart somebody who is not part of the establishment. Do I agree with
everything he says? No."
Buchanan does talk about a Jewish lobby in his books, Goodman said, "but
he talks about all lobby groups. If we're one nation we can't keep
splitting into separate groups."
BUT many people do see Buchanan as antisemitic. Abraham H. Foxman,
national director of the Anti-Defamation League, is one of them.
Foxman has said that Buchanan "promotes views that are decidedly racist,
antisemitic, isolationist and nativist. He is an outspoken Holocaust
revisionist. As an Israel- basher he seeks to undermine America's
longstanding ties to Israel, a strategic ally."
For example, Buchanan's book, The Great Betrayal, includes Holocaust
revisionist ideas, Foxman said.
Kidder defended Buchanan against charges of antisemitism, and she
defended the book as well.
"Pat Buchanan was giving a different historical perspective," Kidder said,
adding that Buchanan's perspective "was not antisemitic." If Germany and
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had begun fighting earlier, Kidder
said, then, as Buchanan indicated in his book, "the death camps probably
wouldn't have happened."
Kidder explained how she would appeal to a Jewish voter who was concerned
about the antisemitic views that Buchanan or other Reform Party candidates
seem likely to share.
"I would tell them if they're concerned about workers and jobs staying in
the United States," they should consider Reform candidates, she said. "The
Jewish people have always been allied with workers and minorities. Look at
what the bad trade deals have done to cities and urban blight."
Goodman said he would tell Jews that "the power of turning this country
around is in the hands of the voters.... Don't listen to polls. Listen to
your heart."
The Reform party is open to new ideas, said Martin Wierzba, who lives in
Manville and is a former mayoral and borough council candidate on the
Reform ticket.
But Wierzba doesn't think that Buchanan is antisemitic - he thinks that
the politician's remarks have been taken out of context.
"I think people don't like him because he speaks out honestly," Wierzba
said.
"The question to ask Pat Buchanan is 'Are you a racist? Are you
antisemitic? ' Come out and ask him. Give the guy a break."
When asked what he would say to Jews to convince them to consider
Buchanan or another Reform Party candidate, Wierzba said:
"I'm a Christian. I've talked to Jews and they're very good people. Jewish
people have such a rich history of religion. Do some soul searching and
pick people who will help better your religion and your family."
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