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Scott Walker’s Hanukkah Gaffe

Wisconsin governor once wished someone ‘Molotov’ instead of ‘Mazel tov’

by
Stephanie Butnick
December 10, 2014
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition spring leadership meeting on March 29, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition spring leadership meeting on March 29, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Michele Bachmann may have some real chootspa, but Wisconsin governor Scott Walker brings the big guns. According to The Capital Times, Walker—who met with Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson this week amid budding speculation about a possible presidential run—once ended a letter to a Jewish constituent with the rather curious sign off, “Thank you again and Molotov.”

“Presumably, Walker meant to write ‘mazel tov’ and didn’t intend to wish good tidings of incendiary weapons,” Jessie Opoien writes in The Capital Times. “Perhaps it was a case of AutoCorrect or that pesky Microsoft Word paperclip causing shenanigans.”

The undated letter, which Walker sent when he was Milwaukee County executive, was a response to Wisconsin Center District Franklyn Gimbel’s request that Walker display a Hanukkah menorah at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Walker expressed his willingness to do so, suggesting Gimbel ask a representative of Lubavitch of Wisconsin to reach out to his secretary.

Dayenu?

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Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.