New Jersey pols apologize after using, defending anti-Semitic phrase
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Three politicians from New Jersey have apologized after they used and defended the phrase “Jew ’em down” in connection to a legal settlement that the state’s capital city paid out, reports said.
The saga kicked off when a recording of Trenton City Council President Kathy McBride uttering the anti-Semitic phrase in a Sept. 5 closed-door council hearing was leaked to local newspaper the Trentonian.
McBride was speaking about a settlement the city paid to a woman who injured herself on a city sidewalk when she used the slur, according to the report.
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“I’m sad for her that they were able to wait her out and Jew her down for $22,000 with pins in her knee that can never, ever be repaired,” McBride said.
FILE- This May 14, 2014 file photo, Trenton City Council member Kathy McBride is seen in Trenton, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)
Two of her fellow council members, Robin Vaughn and George Muschal, initially defended the language before apologizing for doing so, NBC Philadelphia reported.
“You know, it’s like a car dealer. They wanted $5,000, you Jew ’em down to $4,000,” Muschal told the New Jersey Globe in an interview. “It’s nothing vicious. The expression has been said millions of times.”
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