Thanks to American Goy for pointing out this amazing set of statements by McCain and Clinton operatives regarding their candidates approach to policy toward Israel:
Clinton adviser Ann Lewis tacked to the right, criticizing Obama for saying he’d meet with the President of Iran and for suggesting that a US President needn’t have to echo the policies of the Likud Party in order to be “pro-Israel.” “The role of the president of the United States is to support the decisions that are made by the people of Israel,” Lewis said. “It is not up to us to pick and choose from among the political parties.”
McCain Advisor Lawrence Eagleburger, deputy secretary of State under Bush I, tacked to the right of both, saying McCain “will not talk with the Syrians, will not talk with the Iranians, will not talk with Hamas and Hezbollah…He isn’t going to push the Israelis.”
That tells you all you need to know about what they will be like as president. Clinton will support whatever policies Israel’s government decides to implement including continuing settlement expansion and a refusal to enter into final status talks with the Palestinians. She also apparently will consider U.S. policy as a mere extension of Israel policy. It makes you wonder whether the dog’s wagging the tail or vice versa.
And as for McCain, it’s even worse–more No’s than you can shake a stick at and they all amount to sticking our head in the sand regarding any Middle East parties with which we have differences. Refusing to talk to them is certainly likely to bring us closer to understandings with all of them, don’t you think? And just think what U.S. relations will be like with the Arab world under a McCain presidency. More of the same failure of the past seven years.
With presidents like these the Likud doesn’t need to lobby the White House, it will have an honorary Likudnik IN the White House.
And if you want to read why the American Jewish leadership is completely out of touch not just with the American electorate, but even the majority of American Jews read Dana Milbank’s anti-Obama screed covering the event at which the three presidential representatives spoke.
Sounds like they’re both channeling Cheney:
“America’s commitment to Israel’s security is enduring and unshakable, as is our commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself — always — against terrorism, rocket attacks and other threats from forces dedicated to Israel’s destruction,” Cheney said. “The United States will never pressure Israel to take steps that threaten its security.”
To call Clinton and McCain prostitutes is to defame a very old profession. Apparently our two desperate politicians will proclaim anything that wlll advance their perceived needs whereas even our ladies of the night do have limits. Valkyrie Hillary and Vampire McCain, both people of demonstrable blood-thirst, and, as the husband of one has most recently declared, both lovers of America like nobody’s business, do not seem averse to clomping madly across a floor bedecked with a thousand eggs – no delicate tippy-toeing for them. Eggs? Oh, what the hell, to make an omelet you gotta break a lot of them, and when the omelet’s one big fat political prize, then who the bloody hell cares if you smash the whole damn roomful of eggs? Yeah, man, let Israel slash and burn at will – nothing like a good solution to settle things once and for all. Diplomacy? You gotta be kiddin’! That’s for the testicularly challenged who simply cannot comprehend that the American/Israeli way, as is and must remain, will lead to peace, prosperity, credibility, and the White House…. Why is it that I sometimes feel I’ve tumbled down Alice’s rabbit hole into a world where only the insane are normal?
Norm, judging by your reference to the army air corps I figure that your a Henry Wallace guy. But guess what, he’s dead. Alger Hiss was really a Russian agent and the Rosenbergs were guilty. Now your a fan of those happy go lucky lads from Hamas and Hezbollah. What’s next for you?
Well, Billy the Kid, surprised to find you back with your toxic rant, but mostly I find you’re too subtle for me. Your leaps of logic bespeak a dysfunctional brain that normal folk might find impossible to navigate. Consider an injection of monkey glands, or something; you never know.
Norm, I’m wounded by your slashing rhetorical wit. But I will bounce back. What I think this really comes down to is who do you want to come out on top. I want the IDF to win. You on the other hand seem to feel differently and are a fan of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. I’m I wrong. ( This is a yes or no answer by the way )
Please, take your Manichaean “yes or no” and shove it. As one who was nurtured in the concept of traditional Jewish ethics and justice, I do not care to see anyone “come out on top“, as you so childishly phrase it. I wish to see in that benighted neck of the woods (to offer you a mixed metaphor which must no doubt offer you a shock of recognition and please you no end) two viable states respecting each other and dealing with each other peacefully, with the two ethically mature enough to become reconciled to the resulting mutual advantage of each, with neither of the two for religious or political purpose returning to the good old days of strike-kill-revenge and other such methods of oneupsmanship. To achieve all this, and it is achievable, a courage and intelligence to date lacking must prevail. Neither F-16s and Apache gunships nor suicide bombers and Qassam rockets will do the trick, and since Israel is unarguably the stronger of the two contenders, I also believe that it, Israel, must initially at least demonstrate greater courage and intelligence, an effort neither McCain nor Clinton desire to comprehend and promote in pursuit of their selfish interests. So much for your “yes or no”.
I read Milbank’s article – pretty sleazy, if not quite as sleazy as the behavior of the Clinton/McCain representatives themselves. Perhaps it would have been better had Kurtzer not shown up at all.
Ok Norm, let me try a different tack with you. Clearly it’s all Israel’s fault. The Zionist jackboot and all that committing genocide against the peaceful Palestinians who were just tending their olive groves. Ok fine. Say your the PM of Israel. Surely you can wind this baby up by passover. What’s your plan?
Seems to me, Bill, you once before asked me to solve the problem, and, yes, I do have a plan, no doubt not unique, probably one entertained by many an Israeli desiring a viable and peaceful nation to one of occupation, deprivation of another people and
permanent war. Frankly, though, I shall not bother to cast my pearls before Pearlman because said gentleman – that’s you – would no doubt proceed as is his – your – fashion to twist whatever I say. Those attempts above to link me somehow with descriptions that are not mine – “Zionist jackboot”, “peaceful Palestinians”, “your [sic] a fan of those happy go lucky lads from Hamas and Hezbollah”, and like stuff from other postings – discourage me from attempting any truly serious dialogue with you. Sorry.
Norm, lay it out man. I’m sure it’s brilliant and can solve this thing before the week is out. Lets hear it.
Thanks for putting this on your site Mr. Silverstein.
The one thing I want to harp on is this:
The pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC et al, does NOT represent American Jews. The pro-Israel lobby is (in my opinion) a monolithic bloc, that admits only one party line and all deviations from such are impure and must be fought and squashed, whether done by Jew or Gentile. These are the Jews IN POWER in the USA, in both the political beltway world and the business world.
Now, the American Jews are ANYTHING BUT a monolithic bloc of opinion following one party line.
There are anarchists, leftists, conservatives – the whole political spectrum is represented, with all kinds of opinions on the Israeli-Arab conflict and other issues. (Well, duh!) But, these Jews ARE NOT in any position of power in America.
Perhaps what I am trying to say here is that the pro Israel Lobby in America DOES NOT represent American Jews at all – rather it is an organization that gets its guidance (I shudder to say possibly orders) from a foreign power, Israel; it does not POLL American Jews to query what their opinions are – it sets out to SHAPE those opinions, for both Jews and Gentiles.
In a way, Jews with a conscience (lets call them RIGHTOUS JEWS – yes, the wording IS deliberate in its connotation) are victims of the lobby too – as when they are called “self hating Jews”, smeared and ridiculed by professional propagandists in newspapers, TV and the internet.
Ellen: All Cheney needed to do was stop at the word “Israel” & say: “The U.S. will never pressure Israel.” That’s what he essentially meant.
Bill: Yes, you’re wrong and you’re an idiot to boot. Your historical analogies are too ludicrous for words. And keep breaking the comment rules here & I’ll ban every single IP you use. You clearly can’t be bothered to read them let alone abide by them.
As for wanting the IDF to win–there’s the fatal weakness of yr pt of view. The IDF cannot win. Only Israelis and Palestinians as peoples can win. Neither militants like Hamas nor the IDF can “win” this conflict. It will only be “won” by negotiation. That is why you are a perfect example of the insane Revisionist anthem: “By fire and blood Judea fell and by fire and blood it shall rise again.”