Guy White is screaming across the blogosphere this morning that the poor, pitiful, misunderstood Jews are the victims of a vicious anti-Semitic blood libel: that Jews ”donate 60% of the money” in each American election cycle. This is the “jewel” in the anti-Semitic crown. He tells us that “the claim is as preposterous as their charge that Adolf Hitler forced Aryan women to sexually serve Jewish men in concentration camps.” It reminds him of ”claims that Auschwitz had a pool.”

To hear him tell it, his critics are all ”Nazis” who believe in a “Jewish Conspiracy.” We’re issuing “naked conclusions backed by no evidence.” We “have no facts.” We are “stuck issuing assertions with nothing to back themselves up.” We’re an incestuous little circle of anti-Semites who only read each other. We never bother to investigate anything “not written on a Nazi blog.” Fortunately, the world has “statistic nerds” like Guy White around to vanquish all of our evil, anti-Semitic lies.

Before examining the substance of his claims, here are a few points that should give the gallery reason to pause:

1.) Guy White is a habitual liar. A few days ago, he made the fabulous claim that I became an anti-Semite after I was rejected from law school; that in my case jealousy of successful Jews was the “cause of hate.” He made every bit of this up. He spun it all out of his own imagination. After I responded to this slander, he made a hasty retreat: deleted the comment and rewrote one of his posts, but left intact the discredited charge.

Earlier this summer, he attributed to me all sorts of positions that I have never held. In that one post, he made over a dozen straw man arguments. It was a warning that he doesn’t know how to reason properly.

2.) Guy White botched the facts in his last post. On a hunch, he claimed that Episcopalians are one of the most liberal groups around. In fact, unlike the Jews, Episcopalians in Congress lean to the right, not the left. The vast majority of Jews in Congress are not “backbenchers.” Eric Cantor, a Jew, is the Minority Whip in the House of Representatives. In 2006 and 2008, Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel ran the DSCC and DCCC respectively. This refuted his claim that Jews are excluded from leadership positions in both parties. He also claimed that successful politicians are all Ivy Leaguers, top lawyers, or wealthy businessmen. As I have shown, he was wrong about that too and much else.

3.) The American Jewish community has powerful, established institutions dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism like the Anti-Defamation League. There is a whole slew of Jewish scholars who fight Holocaust Revisionism. There are even more Jewish anti-anti-Semitic bloggers.

Let’s take Guy White’s argument seriously: if the 60% of political donations figure really is the “jewel” in the anti-Semitic crown, then why hasn’t the ADL or some intrepid Jewish scholar already refuted the claim? I can’t find anything about the matter at the ADL website. Similarly, a Google search turns up nothing. This should raise a few eyebrows.

The 60% Figure

Q: What is the 60% figure?

A: The 60% figure is the Jewish share of campaign contributions to the Democratic Party.

Q: Where does this figure come from?

A: It comes from multiple mainstream sources. This includes a number of Jewish sources.

Jewish Power in America: Myth and Reality by Henry L. Feingold

“The role of campaign contributions given by Jews deserves special mention. Over 60 percent of the campaign funds collected by the Democratic Party and a respectable percentage of Republican campaign funds stem from Jewish sources.” (Feingold, 4)

The Jerusalem Post

“IN THIS CONTEXT, the support of American Jewry is enormously important. Obama would presumably seek to avoid alienating his Jewish constituency, 80 percent of whom voted for him and also contributed more than 50% of Democrat campaign funding.”

Jewish Power by J.J. Goldberg

Jews account for 20% of campaign contributions to the Republican Party. (Goldberg, 277)

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

“Indeed, the Washington Post once estimated that Democratic presidential candidates “depend on Jewish supporters to supply as much as 60 percent of the money raised from private sources.” Other estimates are lower, but contributions from Jewish Americans form a substantial share – between 20 and 50 percent – of the contributions made to the Democratic Party and its presidential candidates.”

The Washington Post

“In states such as Florida and New York, Jewish voters are a large enough percentage of voters to play a crucial role in election outcomes. In presidential elections, Democratic candidates depend on Jewish supporters to supply as much as 60 percent of the money raised from private sources. Any significant reduction in the financial support will weaken Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party organizations.”

The Washington Post

“Jews provided at least half the money donated to the DNC in the 1998 and 2000 election cycles.”

In sum, Jews account for 50% to 60% of campaign contributions to the Democratic Party; about 20% to 35% of campaign contributions to the Republican Party. These numbers can be found in J.J. Goldberg’s Jewish Power, Henry L. Feingold’s Jewish Power in America, Benjamin Ginsberg’s The Fatal Embrace, and many other sources, which I will retrieve shortly, but lack direct access to at the moment. They are repeated across the political spectrum in the mainstream press by Jewish and Gentile scholars alike. No one disputes them … except Guy White.

Fuzzy Math

Guy White has confused campaign contributions, the source of the famous 60% figure, with the total amount of money spent per election cycle. He saw the screaming headline “U.S. Election Will Cost 5.3 Billion” and jumped to the conclusion that all this money was raised by the Democratic and Republican Parties.

Their FEC filings tell a different story. From January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2008, the two major parties combined “raised nearly $1.6 billion” and “spent more than $1.5 billion” … not the estimated 5.3 billion. The Republicans raised $792.9 million; the Democrats raised $763.3 million.

If the Jews “donate 60% of the money,” that means their share of Democratic contributions is 457.9 million, not 3.18 billion; their share of Republican contributions 158.5 million or 277.5 million, depending on whether the 20% or 35% figure is accurate.

According to Guy White, there are 5.3 million Jews in America. For the Democrats, that rounds out to $86 per American Jew. For the Republicans, $29 or $52 per American Jew. The median Jewish household income (the highest in America) is $54,000 per year. Now, does that sound even remotely plausible: every Jew spending around $115 per election cycle?

If half the money came from 99% of average Jews and the other half from the top 1%, the average Jew would have to donate $43 dollars to the Democrats and $15 or $25 to the Republicans in every election cycle. That’s $172 for the Democrats; $60 to $100 for the Republicans per household. $232 to $272 combined per Jewish household.

In 2008, individuals could contribute as much as $28,500 to a national party committee, while political action committees (PACs) could contribute up to $15,000.

If wealthy Jews are responsible for .4% to .85% of political donations, as Guy White says, that amounts to $6 to $12.75 million dollars per election cycle. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, his own source, George Soros alone spent $23.5 million dollars in the 2004 election cycle trying to defeat Bush; twice as much as all wealthy Jews combined are supposed to contribute.

Laughable. Absurd.

The Pro-Israel Lobby

Zionism is one Jewish cause among others. Supporting Israel is actually far down the list of concerns of the average Jewish voter. The typical American Jew is far more concerned with domestic issues.

1.) In the 2008 election cycle, there were 13.8 million in contributions from pro-Israel PACs and individuals. This is up from $7.7 million in 1990.

2.) If wealthy Jews are responsible for .4% to .85% of political donations, this alone is enough to account for all of their spending, which is obviously absurd.

3.) Let’s compare pro-Israel spending to other ideological causes:

- In 2008, $1,813,083 was spent on “gay and lesbian rights”

- In 2008, $57,919 was spent on gun control.

- In 2008, $2,397,743 was spent on gun rights.

- In 2008, $5,608,473 was spent on the environment.

- In 2008, $1,358,153 was spent by pro-life groups

- In 2008, $3,252,829 was spent by pro-choice groups.

- In 2008, $7,723,141 was spent on “human rights”; this includes the “gay and lesbian rights” cause.

- In 2008, $3,931,547 was spent by groups trying to influence foreign and defense policy.

- In 2008, $19,930,824 (a bit more) was spent on “women’s issues.”

4.) Clearly, it pays for Senators and Congressmen to be on the right side of the Israel/Palestine issue. There is no countervailing force opposing the Israel Lobby.

5.) In Jewish Power, J.J. Goldberg cited a study done in 1990 that found a significant positive correlation between the voting record of Senators and campaign contributions from Jewish donors.

6.) Lawyers/Law Firms contributed $233,499,989 in the 2008 election cycle. According to Guy White, Jews are 30% to 50% of elite lawyers, but are responsible for $6 to $12.75 million in campaign contributions at maximum.

7.) Jews spend the vast majority of their money on domestic issues. Internal polling consistently shows that Israel isn’t the number one concern of American Jewry.

Conclusion

Jews account for 60% of campaign contributions to the Democratic Party; 20% to 35% of contributions to the Republican Party. These figures come from respectable mainstream sources (including Jewish scholars), not from the paranoid imagination of anti-Semites. I have demonstrated they are entirely plausible.

Jewish political influence is exaggerated far out of proportion to their actual numbers by their considerable wealth. The ADL, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the American Jewish Committee and so on don’t even bother to deny this. Why is that? Because it is true.

Guy White is suffering from a personal hangup. Whatever it is, possibly a Jewish spouse, relative, or friend, it drives him to mendacity on the Jewish Question. This latest post (his worst yet) exposes him as an unreliable dissimulator.

Update: Re: DNC and RNC Chairs.

G.W. writes: “In their gut, the AS realize that the total absence of Jews in the highest positions of political power (President, Vice President, House Speaker, Majority/Minority Leaders in the House and Senate, RNC and DNC chairs.”

Ed Rendell (Jew) used to be the DNC Chairman. Ken Mehlman (Jew) used to be the RNC Chairman. Guy White: wrong on the facts, again.