Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s defeat in the NY-16 Democratic primary Tuesday night has sent the woke left into an absolute tailspin, where they’re leaning heavily on the “AIPAC bought this!” talking point because doing a little introspection into why an anti-Israel Congressman could lose in a heavily Jewish district is not exactly their strong suit.
Considering how often the left and the MSM are in lockstep when it comes to political narratives, it was hardly a surprise to see the initial New York Times headline on Bowman losing to Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s run with a similar theme:
The opening paragraph also originally declared that Bowman was “brought down by a record-shattering onslaught from pro-Israel groups and a slate of self-inflicted blunders”:
Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, one of Congress’s most outspoken progressives, suffered a stinging primary defeat on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, brought down by a record-shattering onslaught from pro-Israel groups and a slate of self-inflicted blunders.
The opening paragraph has since been altered to say this (as of this writing):
Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, one of Congress’s most outspoken progressives, suffered a stinging primary defeat on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, unable to overcome a record-shattering campaign from pro-Israel groups and a slate of self-inflicted blunders.
As has the headline:
Though Bowman’s critics were happy about the outcome of the primary race, they sounded off against the Times‘ blatant bias:
And though Bowman’s district is indeed heavily Jewish and voters were no doubt motivated in part by his pro-Hamas, pro-ceasefire stance as well as his Hamas rape denialism, there were plenty of other factors at play, as acknowledged by CNN of all places last month:
From that story:
He’s gone far enough out that even the left-leaning Israel advocacy group J Street withdrew its endorsement of Bowman in January, complaining that he had crossed a line in putting the blame for the conflict too much on Israel and not on Hamas.[…]Bowman’s response to the war crystallizes larger problems, including pulling a fire alarm in a House office building last fall and public shouting matches with Republican colleagues, who say he has gotten caught up in “Squad”-style politics.[…]Most of Bowman’s endorsements are from other members of the so-called Squad and from House Democratic leaders such as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is from Brooklyn, rather than from local elected officials in his district.[…]Officials involved say much of their spending will be to attack Bowman for issues that have nothing to do with Israel, such as like his vote against the bipartisan infrastructure act – which some of the congressman’s defenders argue is itself a measure of how unpopular support for Israel is.
It should be noted, too, for the record that the writing was on the wall for Bowman during the 2022 primary:
Final thoughts from the NY Post‘s Jon Levine:
‘Nuff said.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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