As everyone knows, New York Times White House reporter Glenn Thrush is no shrinking violet.
The well-known, outspoken scribe in Washington appeared on MSNBC’s “Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” Wednesday night and really went to town on the word “chutzpah.” And by go to town, I mean he uttered the word with the most succinct pronunciation this Jewish woman has ever heard in her entire life.
So much so I thought we’d give Thrush’s performance an accompaniment. A video was created with Thrush saying the word repeatedly with the song Hava Nagila in the background. To me, the whole thing had the feel of a Seinfeld episode. Unfortunately, the video was posted without proper context and that is when things on Twitter went awry.
And by awry, I mean I received a boatload of nastiness from people who wanted to believe that I am some sort of Jewish schoolyard bully.
In fact, the video was posted before I even had a chance to write my story. Which was absolutely ridiculous.
Without proper context, the video on its own doesn’t look good and was misconstrued as intending ethnic harm on Thrush. I do not fault people for thinking this. For that reason, we are not re-posting it.
At a time when race and religion are fiery topics, I knew the video needed proper explaining. I also know Glenn has a sense of humor because we laughed about it when I called him up to assure him I was not casting aspersions on his Judaism.
Still, I wanted to assure him that neither I — nor The Daily Caller — was trying to slight him on the basis of his religion. Nor were we slighting him on his Yiddish. How could we? It was perfection.
I want to go ahead and say something else. I have worked at The Daily Caller for nearly four years. There hasn’t been a single day when I have felt any discomfort because of anything I believe — be it religion, politics, or gender. People can choose to think I’m full of shit or not. I don’t care. I will continue to speak my truth with this and everything else.
Despite wild Twitter reaction, I’ve got nothing against Thrush’s Yiddish.
So goodnight. And L’chaim!
(I am certain Glenn has perfect pronunciation of that word, too.)
Note to Glenn: I can hardly wait until Hanukkah.