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

JStreetPAC Endorses…Wexler

–JStreetPAC press release (pdf)

Nothing pleases me more than watching TNR fall flat on its face in covering American Jewish politics.  And TNR’s James Kirchick has done a magnificent pratfall for all to see in his July 25th blog post, Nightmare on J Street.  The piece drips with sarcasm and barely contained contempt towards J Street and its director, Jeremy Ben Ami.  I especially like this quotation from key AIPAC operative, Steve Grossman:

Steve Grossman, former AIPAC president…told me that he “would question whether any aspiring American political leader in either party…would ever take funds from an organization a part of whose centerpiece philosophy is unconditional negotiations with Ahmadinejad or Hamas.”

Then Kirchick points to an alleged J Street gaffe, in which the group mistakenly stated that Bob Wexler had withdrawn his co-sponsorship of the House’s “declare war on Iran” resolution (HR 362).  Here’s the money quote from Kirchick:

I guarantee that neither representative [Wexler or Barney Frank] will be accepting a J Street endorsement this fall…

It looks like Kirchick, TNR and Grossman have egg on their face now.  It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch.  Read the TNR comment thread for Kirchick’s post.  It’s entertainingly savage.  If this is what TNR readers think of him it makes you wonder how he can hold onto his job unless of course he’s Marty Peretz’s darling, which is eminently possible.  [UPDATE: Eric Alterman reveals that he is actually Peretz's "personal assistant."  Alterman hilariously calls him Peretz's "mini-Me."]