Rubio Picks Worst Possible Venue For Yom Kippur Fundraiser

It probably wasn’t such a good idea to plan a fundraiser to occur on  Jewish high holy day at a home displaying Nazi memorabilia:

Democrats denounced Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio Tuesday over his campaign’s plans to hold a fundraiser at the spacious estate of a Texas real estate tycoon who collects Nazi artifacts. The fundraiser happened to be scheduled during Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day on the faith’s calendar.

Rubio, the junior, first-term U.S. senator from Florida, was holding the event in conservative philanthropist Harlan Crow’s home library, which features two paintings by Adolf Hitler, a signed copy of the dictator’s “Mein Kampf,” and a cabinet full of dinnerware and linens used by the Fuhrer, according to the Dallas Morning News. Tickets for the fundraising event ranged from $1,000 per person to $10,800.

Naturally, the reaction has not been positive:

The head of the National Jewish Democratic Council is blasting Sen. Marco Rubio for having a fundraiser on Yom Kippur and at Harlan Crow’s mansion, which contains two artworks by Hitler. You can read that below.

But here’s a statement just released by Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, in which she calls the decision to hold the fundraiser at Crow’s estate “the height of insensitivity and indifference.” It reads, in full:

In this Republican field, the sad truth is often stranger than the wildest fiction.

Today, as the sun is setting for Yom Kippur – the Jewish Day of Atonement and the most holy day on the Jewish calendar – Senator Marco Rubio will hold a fundraiser in a home that features two paintings by Adolf Hitler, a signed copy of Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf, and a cabinet full of place settings and linens used by the Nazi leader.

You really can’t make this stuff up.

“An event at a home with items like these is appalling at any time of the year. Adding insult to injury, Rubio is holding this event on the eve of the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. Holding an event in a house featuring the artwork and signed autobiography of a man who dedicated his life to extinguishing the Jewish people is the height of insensitivity and indifference. There’s really no excuse for such a gross act of disrespect. Mr. Rubio, who by the way, represents a sizable Jewish population in our home state of Florida, should cancel this tasteless fundraiser. It is astounding that the presence of these items that represent horror for millions of Jews the world over, would not stop Mr. Rubio or anyone on his team in their tracks when planning this event.”

– DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.