HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 27, 2008

Regrets Over Anti-Obama "Holocaust" Email

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judge Apologizes For Signing Inflammatory Message To Jewish Voters

  • Former Penn. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman

    Former Penn. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman  (AP Photo)

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(AP)  A former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice apologized Monday for signing an e-mail to Jewish voters that likened a vote for Barack Obama to ignoring warning signals that led up to the Holocaust.

Sandra Schultz Newman called the e-mail, written by a Republican consultant, misguided and said she regrets she did not carefully review the final draft before it was released.

"Some of the language was inappropriate and intemperate," Newman wrote in an e-mail statement Monday. "I apologize to anyone who was offended by this misguided e-mail."

The e-mail sent Thursday to 75,000 Jewish voters in Pennsylvania warns "Fellow Jewish Voters" of the danger of a second Holocaust due to the threats to Israel from its neighbors and touts McCain's qualifications over those of Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate.

Republicans quickly disavowed the e-mail and said they fired the campaign consultant who wrote it. A campaign spokesman for Republican presidential nominee John McCain also repudiated it.

In Monday's statement, Schultz said the original e-mail was drafted by "a worker for the McCain campaign." Asked by a reporter later in the day to identify the worker, Schultz said she was referring to Bryan Rudnick, the fired consultant.

"I believe Bryan was let go before it was approved,'' she said in response to a query from The Associated Press. ``I was not involved in hiring Bryan and so I am not sure for whom he worked.''

A spokesman for the state GOP confirmed that Rudnick was employed by the state party.

"He was our employee and we let him go" on Friday, said the spokesman, Mike Barley.

Rudnick has told the AP that he had authorization from party officials to send the e-mail. He said he was fired Friday morning over "discrepancies with strategy and logistics," and that the e-mail was not mentioned when he was let go.

A copy of the e-mail provided by Democratic officials says it was "Paid for by the Republican Federal Committee of PA - Victory 2008." The signatures of Schultz and two other McCain supporters were on the message.

Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., criticized the e-mail as part of a smear campaign that was among the worst he had seen in his state.

Newman also has been involved in the state Republican Party's civil lawsuit against the community-activist group ACORN and Secretary of State Pedro Cortes, the state's top election official.

A hearing in state Commonwealth Court is scheduled for Wednesday on the suit, in which the GOP accuses ACORN of fostering voter-registration fraud. State officials say the county-run election system has built-in safeguards to prevent fraudulent ballots from being cast. Democratic leaders say the allegations are simply demagoguery.

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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by twig221 October 29, 2008 11:28 AM EDT
If John McCain is not being negative he is talking about fighting...everything. Maybe it is time to have someone who can think us out of the mess the last fighter got us into. Enough of the knee jerk reactions and a little more careful consideration of options would be appreciated.
Reply to this comment
by mollybee5 October 28, 2008 3:43 PM EDT
It%u2019s amazing the level of paranoia and fear in the Republican Party. The world isn%u2019t out to get you, we just don%u2019t want you running the county any longer, that%u2019s all.
Reply to this comment
by dagrandma October 28, 2008 1:31 PM EDT
Gee, all these McCain supporters making the news sure aren''t doing him much good, are they?
Reply to this comment
by ohioboomer October 28, 2008 10:32 AM EDT
Here is another a--hole disguised as a judge, apologizing after the fact. Just like the republicans. Say your sorry and it''s over? Not in my book. How ''bout THINKING before you do things like this? What the heck is wrong with people? Or maybe they just go through life and whine about it later........
Ready for 2008 with Obama at the helm!
Reply to this comment
by pjc27 October 28, 2008 10:23 AM EDT
Jews for McCain
is like
Wiccan for Palin
Reply to this comment
by anya136 October 28, 2008 6:31 AM EDT
McCain Palin have had no consistent message. They have concentrated on tearing down Obama and even there they havent been consistent: celebrity, terrorist, socialist, whats next? nazi?
And now they are fighting between themselves: Palin going rogue. What kind of leadership is this?
Also, no real leadership on racism and the Ashley Todd hoax and how some GOp officials tried to exploit it instead of thinking bigger than that.
McCain can keep saying he;s a fighter but most of all he''''s fighting his own demons that have kept him from being a powerful leader - in this campaign.

Reply to this comment
by usclimey October 28, 2008 2:16 AM EDT
Obama has proposed a massive tax increase of 500 percent on guns and ammo.Buy all the guns and ammo you can get your hads on. This is just a first step. Obama plans to take your guns.

Posted by mr22585

More lies from 22585 - never any references, never any truth, just mindless GOPig propaganda. You''re going down the tubes on 11/4 and nobody will have a shred of sympathy.
Reply to this comment
by October 28, 2008 2:05 AM EDT
If Obama wanted to emulate McCain''s attack ads, we would hear robocalls in the Heartland informing America''s patriots that McCain:

a) was in the pocket of former Lincoln Savings & Loan president and convicted criminal Charles Keating;

b) was buddies with fellow convicted criminal Republicans Ted Stevens, Tom Delay, Scooter Libby, Bob Allen, Trent Lott, Jack Abramoff, Don Young, Larry Craig, Randy %u201CDuke%u201D Cunningham, Tom Feeney, Alberto Gonzoles, Bob Ney, Rick Renzi, Richard Curtis, Steven Griles, Mark Foley...etc;

c) accepted political donations from the Watergate convicted criminal G. Gordon Liddy;

d) picked a runningmate mired in scandal (Troopergate) and has acted "unethical" according to her own people - - and doctored expense reports to bilk her taxpayers;

e) gave up information to his communist captors in North Vietnam, whereas other American prisoners did NOT;

McCain has a lot to answer for. You can%u2019t call yourself a patriot while voting for criminals.
Reply to this comment
by dnsallday October 28, 2008 1:34 AM EDT
There is a good reason why she is no longer a State Supreme court justice.
She is as crooked as any other RepubliCON.!
Reply to this comment
by dnsallday October 28, 2008 1:31 AM EDT
The only thing these hacks are ever sorry for are that they get caught in their slimy acts! A bunch of sorry excuses for Americans!
Reply to this comment
by dnsallday October 28, 2008 1:30 AM EDT
Obama has proposed a massive tax increase of 500 percent on guns and ammo.Buy all the guns and ammo you can get your hads on. This is just a first step. Obama plans to take your guns.

Posted by mr22585
************************************************************
The people who jump up and down and swear how much they love America are the ones who don''t give a dam* about this country at all. They care about their very small minded selves.
Reply to this comment
by nincomp October 28, 2008 1:02 AM EDT
I will tell you my guns are working, loaded and ready if my freedoms start to be taken.

Posted by robert2237 at 08:29 PM : Oct 27, 2008
+

Too late. Bush already took away all your freedom with the Patriot Act.
Reply to this comment
by robert2237 October 27, 2008 11:29 PM EDT
If you look at some of the things that have been happening and what is being said and then compare to what went on the Germany seeems that are very much alike. So who knows where we are going. I will tell you my guns are working, loaded and ready if my freedoms start to be taken.
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by steeepe October 27, 2008 10:52 PM EDT
Newman joins the rank of the GOP idiots, which seems to be expanding daily. The GOP will do and say anything to stay in power. At least Democrats are interested in facts, not the BS propaganda that the GOP spews. We need a fact-based government, not an incompetent one based on ideology and cronyism, which is all the GOP offers.
Reply to this comment
by satch1942 October 27, 2008 10:20 PM EDT
Maybe they should look into some of the cases Justice Newman presided over... She said she didn''t review the final draft? She then says some of the language was inappropriate and imtemperate? If this was the case, why did she sign it.. And this is a State Supreme Court Judge?
Reply to this comment
by newslink October 27, 2008 10:20 PM EDT
Racism at another level. The Public is finding out the Truth. And seeing who is in office, making Bias decisions. This a shame to society.
Reply to this comment
by lucilioness October 27, 2008 9:56 PM EDT
McNOBRAIN''S AT IT AGAIN. TOO BAD THE MAJORITY OF AMERICAN VOTERS DON''T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF HIS MOUTH. WE''RE JUST WAITING FOR 11/4/08, SO HE AND SARAH PALIN CAN CRAWL BACK INTO THE HOLES THAT THEY WRIGGLED OUT OF. THE LARGEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA JUST ENDORSED OBAMA. ***, SARAH! OUCH!
Reply to this comment
by dburfears October 27, 2008 9:17 PM EDT


HEAD OF McCAIN''S PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TEAM LOBBIED FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN

William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who JOHN McCAIN has named to HEAD HIS PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TEAM, aided an influence effort on BEHALF of IRAQI DICTATOR SADDAM HUSSEIN to ease international sanctions against his regime.

Timmons'' activities occurred in the years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to be a ROGUE ENEMY STATE and a sponsor of TERRORISM.

In 1992, and for FIVE YEARS after, Timmons worked closely with two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, LOBBYING FOR a prospective deal with SADDAM HUSSEIN to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 MILLION if their deal went through.

Virtually everything Timmons did during his lobbying campaign was WITHIN DAYS conveyed to SADDAM HUSSEIN''S top aides, Tariq Aziz and Nizar Hamdoon. IRAQI replies were sent back to Timmons. Proposals that TIMMONS HIMSELF CIRCULATED to U.S. OFFICIALS as part of the effort were WRITTEN WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF IRAQI OFFICIALS, and Timmons sent these proposals to IRAQI OFFICIALS for advance approval.

An investigator on the U.N. investigation said of Timmons: "He would have to be the most naive person in the world to believe that (he was not lobbying for Saddam). I guess William Timmons is just a natural born oilman. He is either deceiving himself to rationalize what he has done or taking the rest of us for fools."


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by dburfears October 27, 2008 9:13 PM EDT
"I believe Bryan was let go before it was approved,'''' she said in response to a query from The Associated Press.

Just because you back-date a firing notice does not mean you have created time travel.

The Republican Party and the McCain campaign have NO HONOR LEFT.
Reply to this comment
by indianaman13 October 27, 2008 8:48 PM EDT
Why does a foreign nation have the largest lobbying group in DC? What can that really mean to average American? Why is Israel spending so much money in America when that money could be better spent in their own country solving their own problems? I have nothing against Israel, but i can see why other nations (Iran and her supporters) would feel anger at America for supporting Israel, who has done nothing but be aggressive in the region since the British occupation of Palestine after World War One. Wiki it "6 day war" and read the facts about Israeli aggression.
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