Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Curiouser and curiouser: Tavis Smiley’s radio show tonight featured lots of right-wing Republicans. Two comments really stood out. Mike Huckabee provided an engaging interview in which he made the downright odd claim that he was attracting Jewish support:

The good news for me is out there in the rank and file America, when people get away from the Beltway of Washington I think there is a growing coalescing of the faithful–and frankly not just the evangelical–the Jewish vote, people of devout faith whatever it may be who realize I’m not going to impose my faith on anybody but I’m not gonna run away from it either.

While Huckabee is riding a crest of support in his campaign, for him to believe he has a chance in hell of garnering even a few percent of the Jewish vote even in a Republican primary is simply delusional.

One section of the interview which impressed me (if you can believe Huckabee’s sincerity) was several minutes he spent extolling the Clintons. It sounded downright sincere to me and frankly it shocked me. If you compare Huckabee’s genuine profession of regard for both Bill, but especially Hillary Clinton, and compare it to the bull-dog ferocity of Rudy Giuliani’s enmity, the comparison is striking and refreshing. But I’m one who at one time actually was impressed by John McCain’s Straight Talk Express. So I never underestimate a Republican’s ability to destroy whatever credit he might build up–through candor, straight-shooting and sincerity–with backsliding into double-talk and political grandstanding.

The other passing strange moment was the interview with pro-Iran war hawk, Michael Ledeen, who made the odd claim–in discussing the latest National Intelligence Estimate claim that Iran has dismantled its nuclear weapons program–that he wasn’t in favor of attacking Iran.

I never believed there was going to be a military strike against Iran and I was against it anyway. So that suited me fine.

Ledeen has never been known for telling the truth about much of anything, as his Wikipedia entry indirectly confirms in documenting that the above statement is a lie:

Ledeen currently claims to be against a US invasion of Iran: “Not that I want the Marines marching on Tehran, as readers of this blog are well aware”[25]. But he is apparently arguing for aistrikes against Iran without a full military invasion, as laid out in this article on his blog at Pajamas Media:

“I have little sympathy for those who have avoided the obvious necessity of confronting Iran”

“This is a particularly good moment to go after the mullahs, because they are deeply engaged in a war of all against all within Iran.”

“Just as the likes of General Abizaid need to be replaced with generals who are prepared to attack targets like the terrorist training camps…in Iran and Syria, so we need civilian leadership that will attack our enemies politically.”[26]