Jewish Senator’s Letter

 Jewish Senators Condemn Religious-Based Attacks on Sen. Barack Obama

WASHINGTON — In an open letter to the Jewish community, seven Jewish U.S. senators, all of whom have not endorsed a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, today condemned anonymous mass emails apparently sent to the Jewish community that use falsehood and innuendo about Senator Barack Obama’s religion and attack him personally. 

The letter was signed by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ben. Cardin (D-MD), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). 
A copy of the letter is below:

Carl Levin

United States Senator 

January 18, 2008

  
An Open Letter to the Jewish Community:
 
Over the past several weeks, many in the Jewish community have received hateful emails that use falsehood and innuendo about Senator Barack Obama’s religion and attack him personally. As Jewish United States Senators who have not endorsed a candidate for the Democratic nomination, we condemn these scurrilous attacks.
 
We find it particularly abhorrent that these attacks arc apparently being sent specifically to the Jewish Community. Jews, who have historically been the target of such attacks, should be the first to reject these tactics.
 
We won’t dignify these falsehoods by repeating them in order to refute them. Instead, we will express our outrage at these tactics, which are being used to demonize a good and decent man and our friend and colleague. Attempting to manipulate voters into supporting or opposing one candidate or another based on despicable and fictitious attacks is disgraceful. These false and malicious attacks should not be part of our political discourse.
 
All voters should support whichever candidate they believe would make the best president. We sincerely hope that Americans will make that decision based on the factual records of these candidates, not false charges circulated by anonymous mass emails.
 
Sincerely,
  
Senator Carl Levin                                                        
Senator Frank Lautenberg
Senator Barbara Boxer                                                 
Senator Bernard Sanders 
Senator Ben Cardin                                                      
Senator Ron Wyden 
Senator Russ Feingold