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For nearly a week, the pro-Obama National Jewish Democratic Council has been engaged in a shrill and cynical campaign to smear Republican congressional leaders and the thousands of Americans who turned out for a grassroots rally on Capitol Hill as anti-Semites, even Nazi sympathizers.

The Republican Jewish Coalition takes a back seat to no one in our condemnation of antisemitism in the political arena. (The most recent example is detailed here and here.)

And we have spoken out - including against prominent voices on our side of the political divide - when the Holocaust has been invoked inappropriately to advance a particular agenda.

But NJDC's current campaign typifies a closely-related strain of irresponsible political behavior.  In statement after statement and blog after blog, NJDC spokesmen have used classic hype and smear techniques to suggest an affinity between Republican leaders and mainstream conservative Americans on the one hand - and the most irresponsible and repugnant fringe elements on the other.

Worse, NJDC's director has vowed to inject these lies and smears into next year's elections - as if there were not already enough nastiness and dishonesty in our electoral campaigns.

Let's be clear: A sign that says "Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds (sic)” is raw and disgusting antisemitism.  NJDC's charge that GOP leaders knowingly tolerated that hateful message is entirely unsubstantiated.

We also believe that a sign combining a photograph of Jews murdered in a Nazi concentration camp with text insinuating a link to Democrat health-reform legislation is an insult to the memory of the millions killed by the Nazi regime.

We are reassured by the plentiful eyewitness reports that refute charges by NJDC - and the extremist left-wing web sites they cite as "substantiation" - that these two signs were typical fare at the rally.

And we appreciate the statements by House Republican Leader John Boehner and Whip Eric Cantor clarifying that they did not see the offending signs but that they unequivocally reject their contents.

Now Rep. Michele Bachmann, whose broadcast plea was the impetus for the gathering, has done the same, saying


Attributing the views promoted by a scattered few to all of those present at a loosely organized rally while exaggerating their prevalence are textbook tactics of bad faith argumentation.

Unlike NJDC, we have been consistent on these matters. We were critical when Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that anti-Obamacare demonstrators were "carrying swastikas" and we were critical when Rush Limbaugh (not a public official, but an influential player in our politics) responded in a tit-for-tat fashion.  NJDC "flooded the zone" with complaints about the latter, but excused the former.

Similarly, when Democrat Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida invoked the Holocaust in a health-care speech on the House floor - an outburst for which he later felt compelled to apologize to the Anti-Defamation League - NJDC offered no public criticism.  While even Democrat colleagues like Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York have taken steps to distance themselves from Grayson's lapses of civility and decency, NJDC has gone out of its way to promote him.

What's really going on here? Don't the folks at NJDC have a positive program to promote? Aren't there more important matters facing our community than a few cranks holding offensive signs?

NJDC's near-total focus on fringe matters and fear-mongering suggests a powerful desire to distract. President Obama's domestic agenda is more and more unpopular by the day - in Congress and with the public. Doubts about his foreign policy judgment are on the rise, notably with respect to Afghanistan, Iran, and his total failure to advance the cause of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Given all this, it's understandable that NJDC would be tempted to deal the bigotry card from the bottom of the deck. But some temptations ought to be resisted.

NJDC is wrong to smear Members of Congress who are stalwart backers of Israel and friends to our community.

They're wrong to pretend that a small number of haters who pollute political demonstrations with their presence are representative of the many decent and patriotic Americans who have exercised their right to protest against the President's ill-advised policies.

And they're wrong to accelerate the "race to the bottom" in our political discourse by employing hate speech like "tea bagger," "mob," "lunatic," and "GOP Nazi rhetoric."

Let's hope they come to their senses and halt this corrosive and hypocritical campaign.  Our community faces extremely serious challenges and can't afford such cynical distractions.