New Yorker Critic Wins Twitter With Jason Chaffetz/Passover Pun
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) Image by twitter
By Aiden Pink April 20, 2017
Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the formerly-Jewish college football star who now chairs the House Oversight Committee, declared Wednesday that he would not be running for any office in 2018, surprising his Republican allies and delighting many on Twitter. The New Yorker’s television critic, Emily Nussbaum, may have had the best reaction:
During Passover, it is traditional to remove all the Chaffetz from the House.
— emily nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) April 20, 2017
Chametz is the Hebrew word for leavened bread products that are forbidden on Passover. Many Jews make a ritual of sweeping their homes free of every leavened crumb.
Chaffetz’s Twitter handle, @Jasoninthehouse, will presumably have to be changed after he leaves office. That day may come sooner than expected: He reportedly texted a Utah news radio station host on Wednesday evening to say that he “may depart early” from Washington before his term expires in January 2019.
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter at @aidenpink.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
