Rabbi Daniel Lapin came home Sunday night from Washington DC, just in time to take the microphone on his evening talk show (KTTH Sundays 7-10p) midway though it.
BlatherWatch was listening in hopes the good rebbi might address some of the questions brought up last week in the national press.
Lapin is the ultra-orthodox Seattle rabbi tangled in the unfolding influence-peddling-and-everything else scandal in the Capitol and swirling around his close political friends: disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, meaneocon Tom DeLay, Christian conprop guru Ralph Reed and, distantly, neocon theorist and activist Grover Norquist.
Lapin dismisses the scandal as an accounting error.
So far Lapin has been only peripheral to the affair, but it's provided some good laughs for us, and his proximity to it has sullied the pure and sanctimonious image he always tries to maintain.
Lapin is the darling of the Christian right; friends and co-conspirator with stalwart national conservative supernovae like Delay, Norquist, Reed, Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson, and Rev. Ken Hutcherson. These are people with profound influence in Washington these days.
The Washington Post reports Lapin had a private Shabbat dinner with George W. Bush last year.
We've reported the rebbi's speckled past and his many interesting political ideas on many interesting issues, including some whimsical ones on The Holocaust.
We were not disappointed--and not surprised to hear Sunday night some fancy dissembling from the influential "show rabbi of the religious right," as NY Times Frank Rich calls him.
The Washington Post reported last week that Lapin's name had come up in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearings investigating Abramoff's dealings representing Indian casino interests.
In an email, Abramoff asked Lapin to help him sex-up his resume to help him get into the exclusive Cosmos Club whose members include Nobel laureates. "Most prospective members have received awards and I have received none," he whined.
Lapin answered, "Let's organize your many prestigious awards so they're ready to 'hang on the wall.' "
Later that day, Lapin expounded, "Yes, I just need to know what needs to be produced ... letters? Plaques? Neither?"
Sunday, Lapin finally introduced the sordid Abramoff mess to his listeners by admitting that his old friend had become very powerful and done some things that were probably wrong.
But the emails promising to pad the resume? A "jocular interchange," he said in his haughty Afrikaner accent.
Then, amazingly, he blamed it all on the Post Intelligencer, the local daily whose Washington correspondent Charlie Pope reported the episode. Lapin never mentioned that the Washington Post's Dana Milbank wrote a similar report on the same day.
"They stripped out the smiley faces and other emoticons," he said on the radio. That was a change from his last week's story, when he told Charlie Pope he couldn't recall the exchange, "I wish I could help you, but no, I have no recollection."
The thought of the sarcastic Lapin and the cynical Washington shark Abramoff adorning their emails with those annoying little :)'s strains our credulity.
The story that it was all in jest is also questionable considering Abramoff's email the next day detailing some instructions of deception:
"Probably just a few clever titles of awards, dates and that's it," he wrote. "As long as you can be the person to verify them (or we can have someone else verify one and you the other), we should be set. Do you have any creative titles or should I dip into my bag of tricks?"
Lapin didn't mention the original WAPO story because a less embarrassing piece, The Republicans' Rabbi-in-Arms: Christian Conservatives See a Soul Mate in the Man Who Stands by His Scandal-Ridden Friends by Hannah Rosin appeared in Saturday's Style section.
For evangelicals who are used to reading about Jews as God's chosen people, he solves an essential mystery: "A lot of people are surprised when they leave church and encounter essentially Dershowitz Judaism, Jews who are liberal . . . ," says conservative activist Grover Norquist, who is also a friend. "Lapin is the opposite of that."
For conservatives searching for biblical foundations for their political positions, Lapin is validation from the original source. His specialty is finding support in the Torah for what turns out to be the current Republican platform: lower taxes, decreased regulation, pro-traditional family policies.
"The principles of the Republican Party and the convictions of our president more closely parallel the moral vision of the God of Abraham than those of anyone else," Lapin said at the dinner with Bush, hosted by Ralph Reed.
Lapin is a man of great charm and rhetorical skill. "He could talk a dog off a meat wagon," says a former KVI producer.
And he sure is a loyal friend. Rosin writes:
In an earlier set of e-mails, Abramoff calls his Indian clients "morons" and "monkeys." For that, Daniel Lapin found the language to criticize his old friend, calling his insults "horrible, awful." But he stops short of saying what Medved does, that as an Orthodox Jew Abramoff "disgraced the Torah." Instead, he edges more toward pastoral forgiveness.
"Abramoff created an extremely effective ideological machine, and I think that bothered many people on the moderate side," says Lapin. "Nobody claims Abramoff did anything different than anyone else. He's a friend of mine and I've seen him do many, many wonderful and decent things. My argument is that a human being is a very complicated amalgam. We've all done things we're not proud of."
If Mr. Abramoff is found guilty of any crime, we're praying that the good rabbi will remain consistent and call for the same measure of mercy that he'd show any other common criminal: bupkus.
Your constant diatribes against Rabbi Lapin are grossly anti-Semitic, very unfair and a disgrace to your so-called political worldview. Practive the tolerance you preach and pick on a Muslim once in a while.
Posted by: Sarah | June 28, 2005 at 12:57 AM
Sarah - your racist comments tell the whole story. As if the Muslim community is terrorized enough, you advocate more hate crimes on them. Meanwhile, you give a pass to that fascist so-called Rabbi that is nothing more than a hate monger.
People like Rabbi Lapin are the real terrorists in this world, substituting words for bombs with equal destructive effect. Progressives don't bother to stoop to the lows that this scum does in name calling and hate speech. Next time he appears on the air, the FCC should yank the license of the station that permits him to occupy the airwaves and the police ought to arrest him! Only then can we restore civility to the airwaves and make talk radio a place for the free exchange of ideas.
Posted by: Bush Lies | June 28, 2005 at 01:11 AM
"racist", "fascist so-called Rabbi", "hate monger" "the real terrorist", "scum". Those are just some of the names you called Rabbi Lapin.
Who was it who said "Progressives don't bother to stoop to the lows that this scum does in name calling and hate speech?
Michael, you are a hypocrite.
Posted by: Michael B. | June 28, 2005 at 09:34 PM
You pulled those words & phrases out of context...I never called him any of those names...
I give, who did say "Progressives don't bother to stoop to the lows that this scum does in name calling and hate speech." Wasn't me.
If you're so brave and unafraid to stand by your principles, why do you post anonymously?
Posted by: blathering Michael | June 29, 2005 at 01:46 AM
Sorry Michael, I was referring to the post by "Bush Lies". I thought you were the author of that post, thus my comments were misdirected.
"Bush Lies", you are the Hypocrite.
Posted by: Michael B. | June 30, 2005 at 11:47 AM