"Jewish" Observation Comes Back to Haunt Powerful Chicago Political Boss

Neil Steinberg in The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

‘A Jew will never be elected mayor of Chicago,” Ed Burke said. “There is a latent anti-Semitism in Chicago and a large population that will never vote for a Jew. They would vote for anybody before a Jew.”

Granted, Burke said that a long time ago -- in 1976, three days before Richard J. Daley died. Then Burke was a 32-year-old “young Turk” on the City Council. Now he is its elder lion, king of the Finance Committee and, with Rahm Emanuel in a position to possibly be elected Chicago’s first Jewish mayor Tuesday, and his faith in the headlines — I didn’t want to be the guy to broach the subject — I wondered whether Burke, who is backing Gery Chico, cared to revisit his remarks.

“Times have changed a lot,” Burke said Friday. “I was talking about politics in general. I was not advocating that position, I was making an observation.”

For Alderman Burke's views on black police brutality victims in Chicago.