Blind Rabbi to Run for Congress in New Jersey

That's right, you heard me correctly. A blind rabbi is running for the Democratic nomination in the fifth congressional district in New Jersey. The man's name is Dennis Shluman and he will be attempting to unseat three term Republican Congressman Scott Garrett. Shulman is also a fifty seven year old practicing psychologist and father of two according to his website.

He has been a practicing rabbi for five years. Shulman attended several prestigious universities such as Harvard and Brandeis despite losing most of his sight in his teenage years, even going as far as to receive a Ph. D. Shulman seems to have a pretty conventional platform, focusing on the war in Iraq, the environment with his opposition to offshore New Jersey oil drilling, honoring our veterans etc. Shulman certainly does draw a stark difference between he and Congressman Garrett when it comes to retirement security.

Shulman says he will fight to make sure the current social security system is not tampered with while Garrett has expressed support in the past at least for partial privatization of Social Security particularly for the younger generation so they can make more off their investments. Shulman is also a published author having written The Genius of Genesis: A Psychoanalyst and Rabbi Examines the First Book of the Bible which was brought to stores in 2003.

Garrett has been known to even ruffle the feathers of fellow Republicans due to his strict constructionist view of the United States Constitution, in particular the commerce clause which Garrett says clearly limits the ability of Congress to spend money on what so many taxpayers would consider to be pork barrel projects.