New York, NY, August 13, 2008 … While continuing their racist attacks against Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, white supremacists and anti-Semites have opened up a similar line of attack against his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, claiming that he is a "pawn of the Jews" and an enemy of the white race.

On extremist Internet forums monitored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Republican candidate has come under sustained attack by anti-Semites and white supremacists who portray him either as pandering to or being controlled by Jews, and as a "race traitor" for his moderate views on immigration.

"While we had expected that the bigots and white supremacists would focus their anger on Barack Obama as the African-American candidate, what has happened is that both candidates are equally unacceptable to white supremacists, who see them as being controlled and manipulated by the Jews," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. 

"In the warped conspiratorial worldview of the haters, McCain and Obama are equally tainted by the controlling hand of Jews, who they allege control the government and pull the levers of power in Washington."

ADL, which monitors hate groups and extremist speech on the Internet, has posted on its Web site examples of attacks against both Obama and McCain by haters on the domestic scene, as well a cartoon circulated by white supremacists which expresses their virulent anti-Semitism.  The image shows Obama and McCain on bended knee, pleading and kissing the buttocks of a gross stereotypical Jew with hooked nose and side-locks. 

The image is similar to cartoons that have appeared in newspapers in the Arab and Muslim world portraying both candidates as being controlled and manipulated by Jews and Israel.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ADL neither supports nor opposes any candidate for political office.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.