Why did only Jews go after the Muslim Congressman?

1.
I first mentioned the Keith Ellison controversy more than a week ago (7.12.2007 in what to Read) when it was still fresh and mostly ignored. It has grown bigger since, and now it's backlash time. The anger and amazement at Ellison's words have turned into an understandable fear of overreaction.

2.
Ellison has apologized for an interview last week in which he stated that "It was probably inappropriate to use that example, because it's a unique historical event, without really any clear parallels."
This, for using the history of Nazi Germany to draw a parallel between the Bush administration reaction to 9/11 and the Nazi reaction to the burning of the Reichstag.

Ellison stated, "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that."

"After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it and it put the leader of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted."

So Ellison, apparently, has learned his history lesson: Comparing Hitler to Bush is a bad idea.

3.
Ellison wasn't saying anything offensive specifically to Jews, but rather used a hideous comparison to describe the policies of the Bush administration. On some level, the fact that it was mainly Jewish organizations and Jewish leaders going after the Congressman after what he said is even more troubling than the speech itself.

4
Explanation number 1: The Jewish community is more attuned to misspeak by a Muslim Congressman. The affair is yet another example of the rocky relations between Jews and Muslims.
That's the wrong conclusion.

5.
Explanation number 2: The Jewish community is the gate-keeper for everything related to Nazi Germany.

Again, this is even more troubling than Ellison's words.

6.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum issued a statement saying: "Nazi Germany committed unprecedented crimes against Europe's Jews and others. Invoking the Holocaust to make a point about the United States is unfounded, minimizes the evil of Nazism, and is an offense to its victims." But Ellison wasn't mentioning the holocaust specifically; he was talking about the burning of the Reichstag, and the imprisonment of political rivals (communists).

7.
The Anti-Defamation League put out a stinging statement condemning Ellison. You can't expect the League not to do otherwise, but Abe Foxman, head of the league, came under attack for doing so "despite his knowledge of the negotiations between Ellison's staff and the ADL's Washington office" regarding the coming apology.

Foxman told JTA that he felt the congressman had waited too long. "That story was out there for days, he didn't say anything," Foxman said and I think he was right. An apology, or merely a correction, should have been issued hours, not days, after this miserable speech. Is it possible that Ellison was spending those days reading the history of the Third Reich for the first time?

8.
However, looking for any anti-Semitic signs is the Ellison comparison I came up empty-handed. It was foolish, uninformed, laughable, enraging, but it wasn't about the Jews. Ellison made an effort to befriend the American Jewish community and got close to ruining it by going overboard in his attack on an administration most Jews in America dislike as much as he does. This brings to mind a question I dealt with in the past: does stupidity and ignorance demand such a fierce condemnation?