Do I have to say much about this piece of utter dreck? Will anyone in the Jewish press give any critical coverage to this outrage and call the smearmeisters at the RJC for their latest infamy? If the latest AJC poll is an accurate gauge (and it may not be for reasons I’ve outlined in this post), RJC’s scummy lies may actually be frightening a small, but siginificant number of Jews away from Obama.
The charges in this ad are utterly baseless. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser becomes “anti-Israel” in the RJC’s fevered worldview because he criticized Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. Rob Malley, a Jew and former Clinton adviser, becomes “pro-Palestinian” because he claimed that Israel was as much at fault for the failure of Camp David as the Palestinians. David Bonior, a member of the Democratic Congressional leadership is an “anti-Israel Arab supporter” because he represents a Michigan Congressional district in which a large Arab-American population resides. Tony McPeak, a high-ranking U.S. general is “hostile to American Jews” because he said that some American Jewish leaders hinder a peace settlement by supporting continued building of settlements. None of the above figures is playing any official or even unofficial role in the Obama campaign.
That’s it. That’s the substance of their charges (full pdf version).
This is odious. This represents a depraved indifference to the truth. For a Jew such an ad should be akin to eating pork on Yom Kippur. It takes a low campaign–that had included push polls frightening Jewish voters by telling them Obama was a Muslim–and takes it to an even lower level if that’s possible.
I call upon my readers to complain to Amos Schocken and Dov Alfon, the publisher and editor of Haaretz about these despicable ads. Wherever these ads run, readers should raise holy Hell. I don’t mind Republicans placing ads that attack Obama. That’s what they should be doing. But attack him with real ideas, rather than this dreck. And if this is all the RJC can come up with then they should be known forever more as the Repugnant Jewish Coalition.
Another great post, Mr. Silverstein. And another one Digged!
The problem with contacting those responsible for this lying smear job is that they’re fully aware of how low and base it is. Desperation calls for drastic measures, and the Jewish neocons have been assured by the McCain campaign that enemies of Israel will become military targets under his administration. I would imagine that an Obama presidency, calling for talks with many of the countries the RJC wants erased from maps, causes them to want to retch. I can’t pretend to know their thoughts, but it seems that they see diplomacy as failure. Why have all that military hardware, if we’re not gonna use it?
Oh the fun these people will have with every foreign policy decision made by an Obama administration. I hope they choke on it.
If one is to be judged by the company one keeps (as the ad suggests), the RJC should be judged in terms of its right-wing membership and its reactionary politics. The RJC owners are neo-cons and bear responsibility for the mess the country is in.
I know that being accurate isn’t a priority in your world view but that’s not what McPeak said. He said that there was a large vote in NYC and Miami in favor of Israel that was in effect blocking peace. Nothing about leaders of organizations. Brezinski is a Polish anti-semite in the classic sense. And Malley is on the Arab payroll. But again. accuracy isn’t exactly your strong suit is it? I’m more concerned about his personal freindships with Khalidi and Abumineh. But then again, they are your kind of guys, arean’t they big guy.
“Concert of Democracies” used by McCain in his debate is the same as “League of Democracies and both are fronts for the Neocons to be reborn! Article is critical to understand McCain is committing to continue WAR when he talks about “The Concert of Democracies” ……..Please read the comments also.
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002103.php
“McCain’s International Institution Problem”
John McCain yesterday called for the establishment of a new international organization, a League of Democracies. The organization McCain envisions would not supplement the United Nations, but “act where the UN fails to act.”
What McCain may not know is that this so-called “League of Democracies” was dreamed up as a Trojan horse by John Bolton, Anne Bayefsky, Claudia Rosett, and others who wish to retire the United Nations. A United Democratic Nations, they have reasoned, would advance American priorities and thus run the United Nations, an institution they view as an obstacle to the uniltateral exercise of power, out of business.
……………..Article continues …………………….
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MR PEARLMAN: Do you have anything other than über-obnoxious sarcasm in your répertoire? It reflects very badly upon you. It makes you appear to be an angry, hateful individual.
INTERESTING ARTICLE-
Glenn Greenwald
Thursday Oct. 2, 2008 12:33 EDT
The right’s two-pronged religion of rage and self-pity
The Right in this country — meaning the faction that followed George Bush for the last eight years — long ago ceased being a movement of political ideas and is driven by two, and only two, extreme emotions: (1) intense, aggressive rage towards their revolving door of enemies, and (2) bottomless self-pity over how unfairly they’re being treated. As their imminent defeat looks increasingly likely (potentially on a humiliating scale), these two impulses are in maximum overdrive, feeding off one another in endless self-perpetuation (the more they lose, the more victimized they feel, the more they rage against their enemies who oppress them, etc.)……..
THE LINK TO GLENN GREENWALD’S EXCELLENT ARTICLE-
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/02/self_absorption/index.html
@Bill Pearlman: No, it’s you who are the liar for which you’ll be banned yet again from this site.
McPeak said that “New York” and “Miami” were preventing a resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict. I actually think he’s wrong. It isn’t Jewish voters in those places who are preventing a resolution, it’s the national Jewish leadership which CLAIMS that it represents those voters in New York and Miami (and which doesn’t) which is responsible for failure for the U.S. to weigh in constructively to resolve the conflict. But McPeak’s error is due to the fakery of Aipac and other groups which claim to represent us all and which do not.
Your claims about Malley are a calumny which you cannot back up w. any evidence. Likewise yr claim about Brzezinski.
If Pearlman slips past my moderation filters in future and comments again I’d ask my readers not to comment as he’s a liar and a troll and I plan on deleting anything further he publishes here.
Two nice videos, “Israelis for Obama” and “Israeli Generals Speak” are available to help counteract the dreck, at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/5/41558/5355/857/620540
These RJC ads are among the most appalling that I have seen anywhere. They use anti-semitism and anti-Zionism to smear Obama and attempt to scare the Jewish community away from him. They haven’t given one iota of detail about why McCain would be good for Jews or Americans, and in my opinion, their work is hate speech. They are using the press to intimidate, to demean, to smear, and it is reminiscent of the worst of McCarthyism and other fascist regimes through the world.
The worst part is that they are completely not accountable for their actions. Newspapers will take their ad money without questioning the ad’s validity, and the RJC will not respond to emails or phone calls. A phone call I made to them was received and immediately swept aside by the phone answerer who asked “are you a member?. . .NO? Well, your comments will be shelved then. . .It doesn’t matter that you are Jewish, if you are not a member”.
I think these are the type of people who prove to me why I can never be a Republican. Keep up the good work, Mr. Silverstein.
This ad is wrong, horribly wrong! Regardless of what you believe or who you believe should be president, this ad is a hate crime that is being aired to spread fear among the voting public. It crosses the line of decency and preys upon peoples fears of terrorism. instead of focusing on the real facts or issues, it is an ad filled with hatred, racism and designed only to scare people. This ad is anti-descent, anti-moral and anti-american. The Republican Jewish Coalition should be ashamed of what they are doing. They are spreading a disease called fear that will paralyze unknowing individuals. Jews worldwide fight with all there passion to stop the spread of anti-semitism and racism. This ad is a giant step backwards to a time when ignorance, malice and unthinkable things where justifiable.
There is no reason or any justification for running this ad and it should be pulled
Good morning, Disappointed American.
I would suggest as an alternative to pulling these ads is to raise our voices to confront the smears and outright lies that these entities have used for years to continue their military answer to every problem they see. They’ll never stop on their own; Just as McCain is finding out how detrimental negative ads are in our internet age, so too will the RJC and others find that thinking people are not so gullible anymore.
I sorely wish there were more “thinking people”, but after seeing the responses at the McCain/Palin racist-bonding sessions, I’m growing more cynical daily.