EURO-ANTISEMITISM ALERT: There’s a new poll of European attitudes, and it’s pretty sad. William Sjostrom has the scoop. Excerpt:

To statement 2, which essentially asks whether you agree that Jews are cheats, they get agreement from 33% in Spain, 28% in Austria, and 27% in Italy. 63% in Spain agreed with statement 4. Read it and smack the next European who tells you that Europe isn’t anti-Semitic, it is just anti-Israel.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Nick Denton says Sjostrom is wrong. But I think Nick is straining here when he says: “Muslims are no longer protected by political correctness; but Jews are beyond criticism. It’s an untenable distinction.” In Europe — historical home of antisemitism and slaughter of Jews — it is indeed remarkable that, as Nick notes, “some European countries have managed to maintain high levels of anti-semitism without any significant Jewish community.” When such nations show high degrees of stereotyped prejudice without any actual examples before them, it seems to be more attributable to prejudice than to “criticism.” Complaints about, say, suicide bombing, on the other hand seem to me like “criticism,” since they’re based on actual behavior rather than historical stereotypes — and critics of suicide bombing seem quite willing to say that such behavior represents the beliefs of only some Muslims.

UPDATE: Reader Dan Jacobson emails:

But the distinction isn’t at all untenable, most obviously because Denton has built into his comparison a description of the Muslims (as fundamentalist) but not the Jews.

Just try saying “Muslims are violent” and see if you don’t get smeared, with some justification, and told about Sufism, the diversity of worldwide Islam, etc. The claim that Muslims aren’t protected by political correctness is nothing less than bizarre: just look at the treatment of the sniper and the LAX shooter by mainstream media (not to mention the FBI).

However, *fundamentalist* Islam does tend toward violence, in that one of the fundamental — which is not to say essential — tenets of Islam is the establishment of Islamic law and forcible conversion of infidels. That’s not a tenet of Orthodox Judaism, and even though evangelism is a prominent feature of fundamentalist Christianity, its missionaries aren’t into coercive measures any more.

No, they’re not. Though Ann Coulter is working on that. . . .

RACIAL PROFILING and the D.C. sniper: John Leo joins with those who think that the press wanted it to be a white male:

We have been down this road before. The Atlanta child murders of 1979-81 were a big story, but the press dropped it quickly when the killer turned out to be black. The church burnings followed the same pattern–a big story when arsonists were assumed to be white racists, an instant media departure when they turned out to be black. The Unabomber was a disappointment–white, but (alas) a killer from the far left. But the press rallied with let’s-understand-the-Unabomber stories pointing out that he had the courage of his convictions and was not out for personal gain (a press courtesy not extended to antiabortion killers). In contrast, the Oklahoma City bombing was a pure pressroom delight–a white, right-wing bomber who could be tied to the antigovernment “climate” represented by Newt Gingrich and other conservatives.

I think he’s right about this. And Cynthia Tucker certainly isn’t shy about admitting that she felt that way:

As the newscaster read the suspect’s name, “John Allen Williams, aka John Allen Muhammad,” skeins of dread knotted in my gut, pushing back the relief that had welled up with first news of the sniper’s arrest. I waited for the inevitable mug shot to pop up on my television screen.

I stared, trying through sheer willpower to alter the suspect’s racial identity. But it was no use. A man whose mother gave him the name “John Allen Williams” and who later changed it to “John Allen Muhammad” could only be black.

Since that Thursday in October, many African-Americans have struggled to make sense of this grim note in black history: If convicted, Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, John Lee Malvo, will become America’s most notorious black serial killers, forever changing the conventional wisdom that serial murder is a white man’s sickness.

But even Tucker notes:

If convicted, Malvo and Muhammad would not be the first black serial killers. While there have been few studies of serial killers by race or gender, criminologists believe that black serial killers exist in rough proportion to the number of blacks in the population: about 13 percent.

Imagine that.

UPDATE: Several readers point out that Tucker’s statistic conflicts with this statement in Leo’s piece: “Blacks account for about 12 percent of the U.S. population and 22 percent of serial killers.” Which is right? I don’t know.

A UN R.W.A. WORKER has been charged with diverting medicine from Palestinians to Syria. Nice. “Officials of various Palestinian factions at Ain al-Hilweh have in the past accused UNRWA officials of corruption.”

A LEADER OF THE RED BRIGADES has been arrested in Argentina. Apparently there has been some move to reconstitute this lame and stupid relic of the 1970s. Hell, next it’ll be “T.J. Hooker: The Movie.”

JOSH MARSHALL is running an election-calling contest over at his site. Personally, I don’t have a clue how it’s going to turn out.

UPDATE: Dwight Meredith has a bunch already up. SKBubba, meanwhile, has some shocking poll data.

HOW MUCH ADVERTISING IS TOO MUCH ADVERTISING for a weblog? Bill Quick is trying to find out the answer.

JAMES LILEKS HAS ADVICE for political candidates:

When your opponent sets up a straw man, set it on fire and kick the cinders around the stage. Don’t worry about losing the Strawperson-American community vote.

Here’s my advice: If you’re running for office, try to hire Lileks as your speechwriter.

OODLES OF ELECTION-RELATED STUFF at Kausfiles and Andrew Sullivan.Com — I especially like Kaus’s prediction that the “new Mondale” will be unveiled at 4:15 p.m. today.