A bombastic Republican state senator from Pennsylvania has no regrets for calling billionaire George Soros “a Hungarian Jew” who has “a hatred for America.”
But as AP reports, Sen. Scott Wagner says if Soros were a Roman Catholic he would have called him a Hungarian Catholic with a hatred for America. Wagner is seeking the GOP nomination for governor in the keystone state.
In conversation with the New York Daily Record, Wagner brushed off critics who said the remark was anti-Semitic and insisted people were making much ado about nothing.
“Everybody’s getting their knickers around their ankles over this and there’s no reason for that,” he said.
Wagner did not know his remarks were being recorded; an anonymous operator of what is believed to be an opponent’s tracker picked up the comments while the senator was glad-handing constituents at the tomato festival in Pittson, Pennsylvania last week.
Pennsylvania’s Democrats have condemned Wagner and his characterization of Soros, calling the choice of words anti-Semitic.
In addition to shrugging off the criticism, Wagner has noted his track record for donating to his local Jewish Community Center.
Wagner has run into this sort of controversy before — literally. In a previous encounter this year, Wagner accosted a Democratic tracker who was recording his speech before a York County country club and took the camera away from the individual. Police considered pressing criminal charges against the senator for that bit of political sparring.