Today, I attended a fundraiser for Darcy Burner, who is a candidate for Washington’s 8th Congressional district. She is challenging Dave Reichert, western Washington’s celebrity sheriff who coasted to victory on the strength of his capture of the Green River rapist (it only took him eight years to do so).
Darcy is a tremendous candidate and smart as a whip. In fact, given that she worked at Microsoft, she’s one of those almost terrifyingly smart people like you hear about all the time there. She came within 4,200 votes of defeating a Republican incumbent from a district which has NEVER elected a Democrat. And I hope she gains those 4,200 votes and then some come November.
I’ve already contributed to Darcy through JStreetPAC, which endorsed her. I urge my readers to consider donating as well.
I met a member of AIPAC’s local board at this fundraiser and she noted that AIPAC retains great respect for “Dave” since he’s “sung the right tune” for Israel. You can only imagine what that means. My expectation is that when Darcy wins, AIPAC will face a much more independent (though still supportive of Israel) Congressmember than the current officeholder.
There was a blogger in the audience whom Darcy introduced. I didn’t catch her name. She was recording Darcy’s talk and Darcy referred to the immense support she’s received from the online progressive blogging community. I didn’t realize until a few moments ago when I began writing this that the blogger was actually from Daily Kos (I misheard the name of the blog, which is why nothing clicked when Darcy said the name). Which will all begin to make perfect sense when I recount the following account of my interaction with her.
I introduced myself to the visiting blogger as a local political blogger who writes about U.S.-Israel relations and the presidential election. I asked her whether her blog (remember, I didn’t at the time know it was DK) ever covered the foreign policy implications of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
She shook her head sagely and said: “No.” I asked her why. “Because there’s just no upside in it for us. Too much dissension and disagreement.”
So there you have it folks: one of the most popular progressive political sites ignores the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its election coverage because there’s just no benefit to them in doing so. I’ve written about this problem before after Markos condemned both sides at the beginning of the Lebanon war and rather obtusely and brusquely stated that the post would be his first and last word on the matter (i.e. “a pox on both their houses”).
DK is only interested in electing Democrats. It is not interested in governing wisely or well. It is not interested in promoting a sound or progressive U.S. foreign policy, at least not concerning Israel-Palestine. I find that simply astonishing. A regional war between Israel and any number of its potential adversaries could embroil this country in very major hostilities. It isn’t even out of the question that a nuclear conflict could break out there. Besides, there are clear lines demarcating Republican and Democratic approaches to the conflict. Democrats should and do score points by noting the bankruptcy of Bush Administration policy over the past seven years. Obama has presented a real alternative. Making the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a part of DK’s agenda should be a no-brainer. However, Kos’ attitude seems to be: “Don’t bother us with the sordid details of making policy, we’re busy electing Democrats.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a Democrat too. I want Democrats elected too. But I am not so single-minded in that pursuit that I don’t care what the quality of the political agenda will be for those Democrats who ARE elected. That’s why I think it is morally and politically bankrupt for Daily Kos to turn its back on Middle East peace.
Not surprisingly, this year’s NetRoots Nation conference did not include a single workshop or program on the I-P conflict. Are we surprised?
DISCLOSURE: I was banned from Daily Kos for mentioning the name of Armando in the DK comment threads. Yes, seriously that’s why. I kid you not.
As a faithful follower of The DailyKos (a good source of interesting tidbits from the campaign trail, and a few other useful odds and ends) I must agree thatit’s hard not to notice the curious absence of any comment regarding the undue influence of israel and/or AIPAC in shaping the political debate in the country. Curious because DK is often dripping with (delicious) sarcasm at anything neocon, so it is strange that the obvious neocon/likud connections are never drawn, even when they are literally glaring (think Liberman, just for starters not to mention the sources of the ongoing smear campaign against Obama as a would be “moslem”). I have seen so far only one diarist who’s ever posted anything regarding the ME policy and AIPAc for example.
To be fair, the diaries rarely touch much in the way of foreign affairs, so perhaps this would not be so striking, except for the ever-presence of AIPAC, as compared with other foreign agencies. I was certainly surprised for example, at the paucity of comments regarding the hillary refusal to speak at the “Rally against Iran” organized by the RJC, followed by the dumping of Palin. Ripe for someone’s mighty sarcastic comment, I’d say. I do believe the blogger said the truth when referring to the issue as being too divisive. In fact, mention of Israel is generally avoided by many of the most progressive publications, probably for a reason. Unfortunately, the issue of AIPAC and its disproportionate influence on the US congress and white house is considered to be pure poison by anyone who may seek to raise revenue.
As an interesting side story, tonight I listened to a CNN round table with 5 ex-secretaries of state who seemed to be in remarkable agreement regarding Iran, iraq and a few other foreign policy areas. At one point, Amanpour asked about the I/P conflict and Baker said something about peace with Syria looking good, successfully diverting the subject, which was then summarily dropped as if it was never raised (one could almost hear the sighs of relief in the room).
Conclusion? it’s up to people like you, Philip Weiss, JStreet and the other brave and worthy souls to continue and engage the topic. For a while longer, I believe that serious discussions of the lobby must continue within the Jewish community, since other avenues get quickly silenced by the ubiquitous usual accusations and hate mail. Definitely not for the faint of heart. How much longer before open discussion in the US is tolerated is anyone’s guess. My personal feeling is that it won’t be that much longer. Perhaps it’ll even be Iran that will bring it to the fore finally because it is such an obvious wedge issue between the US and israel.
@dana:
The diarists at Daily Kos can write about pretty much any issue they want since they’re rank & file members of the site. In the diaries you will see some talk about the I-P conflict, although it’s limited.
But where the discussion is really missing is the main page stories which deal with election campaigns and related issues. You just won’t find it there as you noted.
Thanks for that thoughtful comment.
Dana said:
“it’s up to people like you, Philip Weiss, JStreet and the other brave and worthy souls to continue and engage the topic.”
It is up to *all* of us, not just a few bloggers, or whomever you refer to as brave and worthy souls. It is up to every individual to engage in conversation with their neighbors, co-workers, fellow train-riders, doughnut-eaters….
In every hour of silence, some Palestinian is dying of hunger or disease or is giving up hope.
I say this to encourage myself as well as anyone else. I too am silent some time when I should speak up. Sometimes I am brave, sometimes not. It is not easy to be the lone voice of reason, to encounter condemnation – not just of one’s views, but of oneself.
The only thing that will break the silence is every one of us ‘regular’ folk speaking up all the time in every place.
Re:the lack of discourse:
Following is a link to a Jewish Voice for Peace petition to PBS requesting that presidential debate host Jim Lehrer ask the candidates what they would do to bring about peace in the Middle East.
“The first 2008 presidential debate between Senator Obama and Senator McCain will be on Friday, September 26. The focus will be on foreign policy.
Please sign a petition asking moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS to ask McCain and Obama to tell us how they plan to bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians. We want to know specifically what they’ll do to stop illegal Israeli settlements, widely considered a key obstacle to peace.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/t/1849/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1394
For more information, go to http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org
DISCLOSURE: I was banned from Daily Kos for mentioning the name of Armando in the DK comment threads. Yes, seriously that’s why. I kid you not.
armando? Now my brain synapses don’t connect.
Oooops, sorry. Just realized that is Daily Kos nobility.
@LeaNder:
Armando was one of the people who helped found Daily Kos with Markos Moulitsas. His is the name one dare not mention there. Actually there’s a rule that you can’t use anyone’s real name in the threads. THough in conducting a dispute with me my name was mentioned explicitly at the same time I mentioned Armando’s name. But since the person who used my name is a good friend & ally of the DK elite, he wasn’t disciplined & I was.
what was it that armando did that was so horrid?
dkps doesn’t represent a full spectrum blog. kos has made it clear israel/palestine is not to be discussed there. once i posted on the rabbis who came out in support of the principle of that middle eastern school in nyc (i can’t remeber her name now) and they were a little picky w/regards to my wording, it is like walking on eggshells. it isn’t only the I/P topic, it includes stealing elections (bug no no) and anything regarding 9/11.
they have this pc patrol that reads the diaries when they first arrive on the list and anything not pc gets slammed big time. it happened just last night w/an election rigging diary.
my personal belief is that the megaphone crowd has so many posters that alert others, there is simply an incredible amount of intimidation and threat to talk about it. it is horrid.
dkos is there to elect democrats, not pose any kind of threat to them. everyone knows crossing aipac is career suicide, as daniel pearl pointed out.
it’s disgusting, even standing up to carter is dangerous. out here in the real world people are pissed at israel, you just aren’t allowed to say it publicly lest you get accused of being some radical. it will backfire, it is very sad.
sorry for my typos/spelling.
Who will watch the gatekeepers? Disinformation is always in the service of someone. Who benefits?
Thanks for this piece, Richard.
Look at my diaries and you can see why I was banned:
http://www.dailykos.com/user/mattes/diary
@mattes: Can you tell me more specifically, if you know, why you were banned. Was it just for writing the diary or for a comment you made in the thread?
I’d let you know privately. I was also banned from mydd and docudharma for much the same reasons.
Many Zionists will fight tooth and nail to keep the democratic platform from changing. It’s Israel all the way.