Earlier today, Mitt Romney announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.  The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) has made a big deal of the fact that Romney chose the Henry Ford Museum as the site for his announcement claiming it as an "embrace of Henry Ford".  It should be mentioned that the Museum is really a tribute to Americana more than to Ford himself, and there are several prominent Jewish members of the museum's board of trustees. I'm having trouble even finding a biography of Henry Ford of any kind on their website.  The NJDC says that the museum is "a testament to the life of Henry Ford".  I've never been, but it sure doesn't seem that way from where I'm sitting.

Part of the reason for the NJDC's anger might be that they got cut out of a Romney trip to Israel a few weeks ago.

The former Republican governor of Massachusetts returned last week from a five-day trip to Israel, accompanied by Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), and Mel Sembler, a member of its board of directors.

In this and other links, the NJDC makes a point about Romney's veto of a bill that would have provided reimbursement to some Medicaid patients for the extra costs of kosher meals back in 2003.  I don't know enough about the specifics to comment (was that part of a larger spending bill without a line item veto?), but in any case, I hardly find the granting of additional moneys to a particular interest group to be anti-Semitic.

Personally, I do contribute the annual membership fee to the RJC, although I think the professionalism of that organization's campaigns leave a lot to be desired as well.

I'm sorry I can't find the blog where I read this particular thought last night, but until the NJDC can convince me that no Democratic Jews drive Fords or work for Ford, use IBM equipment, etc. I'm not buying their case that Romney is fanning the flame of anti-Semitism.