Obama’s Republicans
By NancyA on August 17, 2008 at 7:00 AM in AIPAC, Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, Barack Obama, Israel, MSNBC, Obama, Out-of-touch with people, Republicans, pandering
According to the New York Sun, Obama’s Republican leadership is a cast of characters. They include the following people, Rita Hauser, the PLO apologist whose law firm, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, racked up millions of dollars in legal fees over the years as a registered foreign agent of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, Lincoln Chafee who according to a 2006 article in the New York Sun “has one of the worst records of anyone in the Senate, definitely in the bottom 10% of class as far as pro-Israel initiatives are concerned” and finally former congressman from Iowa, James Leach, who voted against the Iran Freedom Support Act that toughened sanctions on Tehran, Mr. Leach was one of the 21 congressmen who opposed it.
Quite a cast of characters, all with very slanted opinions or activity that appear to be anti-Israel. Apparently we need to worry about Obama’s stance on Israel despite his rhetoric. He had this to say:
“We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran,” Obama said. “I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That starts with aggressive, principled diplomacy without self-defeating preconditions, but with a clear-eyed understanding of our interests. We have no time to waste. We cannot unconditionally rule out an approach that could prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. We have tried limited, piecemeal talks while we outsource the sustained work to our European allies. It is time for the United States to lead. ”
His actions by pulling these particular Republicans as leaders calls in to question whether his words mean anything or was he pandering to the pro-Israel group. The very words he used in his American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) speech may just be rhetoric after all.
Of course we remember he said that he will talk to Ahmadinejad without preconditions. Here are those words in a Marc Ambinder piece. See the section titled SQUARE ONE. Here is Obama’s answer to the question from 2007,
“Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea?…..”
“I would,” he answered.
See the video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Oj7Jn9rv4[/youtube]
And this was written in the editorial piece, apt and fitting:
Mr. Obama has made pro-Israel statements in his campaign. He spoke at the policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington and at a synagogue at Boca Raton, Fla., and at Jerusalem itself. What is one to make of it if he is then going to cart out Ms. Hauser and Messrs. Chafee and Leach? At the least, it exhibits a tone-deafness that weakens the argument that Mr. Obama deserves the benefit of the doubt on these matters. If these are the Republicans who are gravitating to Mr. Obama’s campaign, it is an ill omen for the Democrats.
Well Obama, do your words mean anything? Can pro-Israel groups really trust your words? Or is it more pandering and political expediency?
There’s room for EVERYONE UNDER THE BUS! Including all Israelis, as well as all Americans who DISS me!
I refuse to let that headline ruin my otherwise brilliant morning!
Two of the most hated words in my personal dictionary (sorry to the R’s I’ve met and understand here) but you KNOW what I mean!!!
If not you have NOT lived the last 8 yrs on this planet! P E R I O D!!
They just need to divide us into 2 groups. Those that DISS and those that are too LEMMING to SEE it!
The Blind versus Those that SEE
(age old battle me thinks)
But if somebody -anybody -was on the bottom 10% of pro Israel movers in amy organisation-what is wrong with that?
this is USA no? not israel & why should anyone be judged as an american (or anyone) by their Israeli efforts.
Ive never done anything for israel & hve not been run out of twn for sedition.
why are you obsessed about I srael? het there are some good songs -Hey Hey The Israelites ,By The Rivers Of babylon but they are not pledges.
What are you talking about? This isn’t about songs and personalities. This is about foreign policy.
On the same day Obama went to both a Palestinian group and AIPAC and said he was strongly behind both of them.
Hello? Bueller? Anyone?
LOL @ bueller
now THAT is a memorable line!!
~”why are you obsessed about I srael?”~
Try guilt.
It isn’t just the USA, most civilized nations realized how badly they dropped the ball before WWII and 12 million people - not just Jews - were exterminated. Our GIs who had fought all across Europe and become quite used to death and destruction were horrified at what they uncovered.
I think if you had a chance to speak with a liberator or a surviver, you would better understand the bond that keeps all nations ever vigilant over the safety of Israel. If you haven’t, take a tour through the Holocaust Museum; not the same thing as visiting Germany but it should help you to understand the Israeli motto, “Never again” which is echoed by a world that hasn’t forgotten either.
The joke- played on the people of Palestine- was that in atonement for allowing the suffering of the Jews to go on for more than a millenium, climaxing but hardly beginning with the Holocaust, the remorseful people of Europe (and Germany in particular) would give the Jews their own homeland- in Palestine.
In a truly Just world, the Jewish homeland would be the nation formerly known as GERMANY. It wouldn’t have been created by taking land away from people who had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE HOLOCAUST.
Ehemmm….John given that Jews as a population are historically the most often hunted to near extinction by raging Goyim Empires because of that Pesky Jehovah God of theirs….I think the restoration is based on the Origin of the Roman Diaspora when the Temple was RAZED for the last and final time.
** Of course a COMMONPLACE Muslim propaganda tactic is to deny that the Temple Mount is the ruins of The 3rd Temple and is rubble from a Roman Barracks…..sheeesh! **
Jews have been persecuted ?….OY !!!
Oy! indeed….Oldest Empirical Sport….
It is about protecting are only real ally in the middle-east.
Who else is our ally there and equal to Israel’s support?
What would the Mediterranean face if Israel fell?
Well, the only problem with your pro-Israel defense is that you had to highlight the fact that the Nazis killed MORE than just Jews.
When *our* troops liberated the camps, there were homosexuals in many of the very same camps, but they were KEPT in the camps or moved to other regular prisons instead of being freed because of homophobia (note–Jews continued facing open persecution in many parts of the US for years after WWII but, unlike gays in this country, they didn’t risk ARREST and imprisonment and torture here).
Where is the homeland for the Romany peoples (better known as “Gypsies”)? The Rom were as reviled by Hitler as the Jews (perhaps even more so because the Rom never recognized themselves as being a part of ANY country). Jews in Europe might have had to suffer being second- (or even third-)class citizens, but NOBODY ever wanted the Romany in their towns (Jews were just money-grubbers; Gypsies were thieves and murderers).
It took more than four DECADES for the State of Israel to acknowledge that gays were victims of the Nazi death machine (it should be worth noting that there are a number of prominent Israeli leaders who STILL view gays as less than human–not coincidentally, they are largely Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews–and want the official Holocaust memorial to remove any traces of the persecution of gays).
That motto you mention is a farce. The Israelis invoke that for JEWS alone. The Israelis, let’s not forget, didn’t have any problem overlooking the suffering of South Africa’s Black majority under apartheid and when tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews fled to Israel in the 1980s, there was an unbelievable opposition to THOSE Jews–even denial that they were actually Jews–yet Jews fleeing Russia were welcomed with open arms (unemployment in Israel was fairly high at the time, and Israeli leaders tried to use that as the reason for the discriminatory attitude–but the Russians were welcomed while the Ethiopians were not). And, of course, the Israelis have no problem with destroying the homes of Palestinians in PALESTINIAN territory. When was the last time an Israeli force deployed tanks to run over the houses of Jews who committed terrorist actions? Did the Israelis destroy the homes of Rabin’s assassin or the Jewish man who attacked the al-Aqsa mosque? (If they did, those acts were certainly ignored by the US AND international media.) Even the ILLEGAL Jewish settlements (the ones the Israeli gov’t actually acknowledges as illegal) have never been run over by tanks or been bulldozed.
I teach at an Orthodox Jewish school where pretty much all of the Jewish teachers are solid Democrats (the Rabbis not so much.) A lot of them looked in distaste at the idea of a female President (it’s sad, but even female Orthodox Jews still sometimes shrink at the idea of a woman in charge) but knew that at least Hillary could be counted on to defend Israel.
Barack Obama? The idea terrified them. Who was he? What did he stand for? Why did he sit in a church for twenty years listening to a rabid antisemite lash out against the Jewish Homeland?
When I go back to school in two weeks, I expect to see a lot of long, worried faces, and a lot of “Democrats for McCain” bumper stickers. Yes, Obama will win 95% of the AA vote, just as Hillary would have. But he’s going to lose a huge chunk of another very loyal constituency.
Very……no very very well said!
OT Sorta….Today is the anniversary of the Lynching Of Leo Frank in the US.
Why is this important ?
It was the catalyst for the formation of two organizations in the US.
#1. The Anti-Defamation League to fight Anti-Bagelism
#2.The reformation of The KKK with expanded HATE PLATFORM and new TARGETS….JEWS and CATHOLICS….and NATIVISTS….This is what helped the KKK move outta the Ol’ South and into the Mid West….
Here is Obama’s aggressive, principled diplomacy plan for Iran: if you give up the nukes, America will throw Israel to the wolves, um, uh, I mean, uh, throw them under the bus. This is not the Israel I once knew.
Every time Obama opens his mouth he offends people, disses some and throws many more daily under the bus.
He’s untrustworthy, too inexperience and has no substance.
Obama missed his calling- millions of voices saying “Go Away”
So what is new? With this CONFUSED, blackmailed, compromised, controlled puppet. Senator Barry THE LIAR Soetoro. A guy with moral standing? Why else would you hang with such a crowd. No wonder Jesse Jackson wants to cut his nuts off!
news flash: Israel is NOT the 51st state. its national interests are NOT the the same is ours. unfortunately, EVERY politician to hold elected office at the national level is in thrall of AIPAC, and will vote their line. this will allow the continued ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people, countenanced by either President McCain or Obama, and probably under the auspices of the execrable Binyamin Netanyahtu as PM of Israel. contrary to what AIPAC thinks, this will not be helpful.
Susan….Save it for GAZA and shove your Anti-Bagelism up yo’ ass after you pull Obama’s foot out of it that is….
The need to expel or repress Palestinians is based on the Zionist belief that a Jewish state requires an absolute Jewish majority. Eighteen per cent of Israelis are not Jewish, and the number of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories is growing at a faster rate than the number of Israeli Jews (and Arab Jews — Sephardim, or Middle Eastern Jews — are multiplying faster than European Jews). In Israel and the territories there are 3.32 million Jews and 2 million Palestinians. Incorporating all these Palestinians into Israel would threaten the idea of a Jewish state. Thus, Israel’s repressive policy toward Palestinians in the occupied territories is designed to keep the non-Jewish populace in the status of noncitizens, and to force many of them to emigrate.
Hmmmm…..HARP although I’m not going to argue with your stats I think the issue is a bit more complex. I’m all for a 2 state solution but the Palestinians refuse to give up on the split Jerusalem idea. This is both impractical and politically absurd as the Palestinians justify this with wide spread use of the Mythological propaganda of denying ANY historical JEWISH CLAIM TO JERUSALEM…..I mean who can support this absurdity ? Not any serious student of History……imho…..
*** Gives new spin on Jesus was a Black Ghetto Freedom Fighter ***
Liberation Theology is Marxism wrapped in the Baby Jesus
Black Liberation Theology is the Fascist Daughter of the Marxist Parent
No argument here. I was trying to point out that,in time, Palestinians born in Israel giving them voting rights will out number Jews in Israel. The consequences……..
the consequences are indeed enormous…..similar to massive migration throughout Europe where the aging European population CLINGING TO HERITAGE AND GUNS…..are being outnumbered by…..fill in the blank…
*** THEOCRACY IS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF FASCISM ***
Yes indeed.
Obama Republicans- more fabricated propaganda from the Barky spin machine he calls a campaign. Same tactic being used with Obama Evangelicals. His camp makes up story lines and delivers them to the media (who are so in the tank for him they just reguritate it).
I agree that it is overhyped. Pew Research poll indicates that only 6% of Republicans support Obama while 18% of Democrats support McCain. It also indicates that 72% of Dems support Obama while 88% of Republicans support McCain.
Looks like Obama is trying to make up all of the defecting PUMAs in whatever way he can.
Just words? Don’t tell me words don’t matter. Unless of course, it is Obama saying the words!!!!
“You think that I don’t even mean a single word I
Say.
It’s only words, and words are all I have, to take
Your heart away…”
xoxo
Barack
Hmmm…..Very interestink….Obama might just be Anti-Bagel.
Anti-Bagelism is on the rise around the world and it has made steady progress in the US. It is indeed worrisome
do you have any idea how many CARBS are in one bagel? of course the fat-conscious messiah is anti-bagel!
LOL…..I’m usin anti-bagel cause I’m tired of thumbin through the dictionary tryin to spell anti-semiticsm (sp? )….Since Palestinians are also semitic..
Anti-Bagel seems both easier to spell and more specific….chuckle…..
Palestinians are people too. Why the Gaza hate here. Do you hate the west Bank Palestinians also , the ones scatered around the me & the world?
Ehemmmm…..No Alien….My comments to save the BS for GAZA have to do with Barry’s Indoctrination Ctr. for his trolls….people like you who for all I know buy and distribute Obama T-shirts in GAZA.
CS _ I know about ww2 -my father served . But that doesnt mean I need to obsess about Israel.
i have no guilt. Why should I?
Right back at you. My family came here from Ireland and France and never owned a slave. Happy sweetie?
Speaking of throwing people under the bus I noticed that TD has removed NOQTR from her blog roll as well.
Come on kids.
I am glad you are slowing down a bit and letting these separate posts gather a few hundred more comments before relegating them to the bottom of the pack! Now I have time to (sorta) catch up.
Hmmm…..I saw that too and asked TD about it and my comment wasn’t posted……I guess I missed somethin while I was busy helpin my kid with her FASFA Loan apps…..What gives ? I’m just curious…
Chafee lost the senate race to Sheldon Whitehouse. Whitehouse supported Hillary. Linc Chafee is no longer a Republican he’s an Independent. So Barry’s wrong grouping Chafee as a republican. Chafee’s not an elected official. Chafee said publicly he supported Barry because he was against the war in Iraq.
The U.S. played a major role in establishing the State of Israel, and they are a valuable ally.
Their intelligence agencys are important to us!
Senator Clinton was trusted by the Israelis…but I don’t think they should trust the “O”!
Bill Clinton tried valiantly to broker a solution for the Palestinian people, despite Arafat’s intractibility!
RE: Obama’s Republicans…don’t forget David Boren!!!
I profiled him awhile ago, back in April (18-21)…simply a terrible person to have as an advisor!!!
Part I: Nunn-Boren “Unity” Rears its Ugly Head on Behalf of Obama: With an Introduction to David L. Boren
http://tinyurl.com/5vx9a9
Part II: Obama’s Adviser David L. Boren–How He Screwed Us Long-term in 1993 re: Energy and More
http://tinyurl.com/4ytee2
Part III: Obama Adviser David L. Boren re: Foreign (inc. Energy) Policy
http://tinyurl.com/46c9ra
I hate the word advisor/adviser…both spellings are accepted…I’m split between the old and the new versions!
Also:
THE PAST WEEK…Recaps and Rambling Thoughts–August 10-16 (Howard Dean Does a Jackass Proud; A Note on The Atlantic’s Josh Green; Shipler/Shipley; Saddleback)
http://tinyurl.com/5mr94j
http://insightanalytical.wordpress.com
I have to say I don’t get the Palestinian hate here.
Recall when Hillary supposedly hugged Mrs. Aarafat and all hell broke lose. Don’t understand why we have to be pro-Israel all the time, which means Ant-Palestinian all the time.
I remember when Chafee lost his reelection bid. He did an interview on NPR. I was impressed with him and his stand against the Iraq war. He knew his constituents would punish him but because of his vote but he stood on principle. I’m sorry he supports Obama because he seems to be a good man.
There is no proof Obama would have voted with Chafee on the war resolution. No proof of this supposedly great anti-war speech. Only quotes from him saying he would probably have voted or wasnt sure how he would have voted if he was in the Senate at that time. He’s trying to fool the public that he voted against the war, and this lie is perpetuating.
Obama loves Repubs too much for me; even while his rabid Obots ignore this fact and his love of Reagan and Bush I foreign and domestic policies. He hates Clinton’s policies; the only elected Dem president in many of the Obot’s lifetimes. He’ll probably choose Hael for his VP. Then how will the Obots channel their hate towards Clintons for McCain and PUMAs. They also have to stop conveniently forgetting Kerry tried to get McCain as his VP in ‘04. He denies that now but I remember.
Anyway, why so anti-Paestinian? Those people are suffering tremendously. I have lost respect for Jimmy Carter because of his hatred of the Clintons, but he is right about the Palestinian people’s plight.
No one is anti-Palestinian. It is in the interests of the US to maintain the state of Israel. The Palestinians could have a state. Yet they have hung back when the opportunities where there.
We don’t need another terrorist’s state in the area. When they are willing to live in peace with Israel, adopt Democratic sable government and renounce all ties with the terrorists, true peace and progress for all will benefit all, (including the Palestinians).
Well said Steve!
Poor PLO my ass.
Not to change the subject….Biden is in Georgia. So how many think this is probably a calculated political move by Obama. Or just maybe Biden is trying to strenghten his vp position. (Biden is one of the most mention people on Obama’s short list).
Biden is a party Dupont hack! I don’t have any respect for that crook.
Biden wants to be out of range when the email goes out! hahahahahahahaha
Yeah, I guess it has nothing at all to do with the fact that Arafat blinked in 2000 and allowed this mess to continue.
There won’t be peace in the ME until all sides want it. We can’t force it on them, can’t beg them to be reasonable, and can’t negotiate a compromise. When they’ve had enough (Israelis and Palestinians) and understand collectively that peace is in their best interests, there will be peace. And the Palestinians will have to compromise, too, by the way.
This is not a pissing contest about who suffered/suffers more. The point of this whole thing is that Obama talks out of both sides of his mouth. He makes promises to both sides of this argument that THEIR interests will be paramount, so it’s impossible to know what he would actually do with an increased Middle Eastern crisis. As pointed out, Israel has ALWAYS been our ally, even to the point of not retaliating during Operation Desert Storm when SCUD missiles were raining down on their country. The sight of Israeli pre-schoolers in their gas masks has never left me, and underscores the reality of life in that region. Obama cannot be trusted in his foreign policy decisions because he cannot make a single stand and stick to it.
Julie, we do have evidence of Obama foreign policy experience, his interference with Kenya elections. Where he personally campaigned and provided funds to his Muslim cousin, Odinga. Israel should get a clue from that action. BTW, as a indirect result from Barry Soetoro’s actions, Kenyan blood was spilled.
Are you sure about that? Because CNN and MSNBC have never reported anything like that!
sorry, my at the end of that didn’t show up.
don’t know why some of my stuff is being filtered, but let’s be clear that I was being sarcastic.
Julie - that is because the MSM never reports the negatives about Obama - here is an address for a Canada article about his support of Odinga (his cousin) http://www.canadafreepress.com/index/php/article/4353. Sorry I don’t know how to make it a link you can link to automatically.
It is also important to know that when Odinga lost his run for President, his followers burned down a church with Christian women and children in it.
Chafee is an Independent now
If Obama can’t face down the Pumas, how will he ever face down Putin?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121894355972047277.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
And now Hillary Clinton — 1,920 delegates by The Times’ final count. This is an extraordinary breakthrough. And yet, when the delegates actually call out their votes in Denver, it’s likely that the numbers will look more like Margaret Chase Smith redux.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/16/opinion/16collins.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
UH OH…the HONEYMOON, apparently, is OVER…
Many years ago, when I was a college student, I took a course from John Kenneth Galbraith. On the first day of class, Professor Galbraith gave a brilliant opening lecture, after which the students gave him a standing ovation.
Galbraith kept on giving brilliant opening lectures the whole semester. But, instead of standing ovations, there were now dwindling numbers of students and some of them got up and walked out in the middle of his lectures.
Galbraith never got beyond the glittering generalities that marked his first lecture. After a while, the students got tired of not getting any real substance.
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign this year reminds me very much of that course from Professor Galbraith.
….The kind of talk that won the votes — and the hearts — of the left-wing base of the Democratic Party during the primaries may not be enough to carry the day with voters in the general election. So Obama has been changing his tune or, as he puts it, ”refining” his message.
This was not the kind of ”change” that the true believers among Obama’s supporters were expecting. So there has been some wavering among the faithful and some ups and downs in the polls.
Despite an impressive political machine and a huge image makeover this year to turn a decades-long, divisive grievance-promoting activist into someone who is supposed to unite us all and lead us into the promised land of ”change,” little glimpses of the truth keep coming out.
The elitist sneers at people who believe in religion and who own guns, the Americans who don’t speak foreign languages and the views of the ”typical white person,” are all like rays of light that show through the cracks in Obama’s carefully crafted image.
The overwhelming votes for Obama in some virtually all-white states show that many Americans are ready to move beyond race. But Obama himself wants to have it both ways, by attributing racist notions to the McCain camp that has never made race an issue.
The problem with clever people is that they don’t know when to stop being clever — and Obama is a very clever man, perhaps ”too clever by half” as the British say.
But maybe he can’t keep getting by with glittering generalities, any more than Galbraith could.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1111637,CST-EDT-sowell17.article
This convention is Obama’s moment — his hour to welcome America into his home, the Democratic Party — and he deserves to set the table any way he wishes.
Hillary’s job is to bring a casserole dish and to serve it with a smile.
Salena Zito is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial page columnist. E-mail her at szito@tribweb.com
Such disgusting sexism.
And I thought you boobs were all about unity. Guess not.
his hour to win the nomination by cheating, only to lose the general election in an historic landslide!
OH BROTHER !…..( sigh….eyes rollin…)
Both parties are far too “pro-Israel” in my opinion. When AIPAC dictates our foreign policy, we’re in big trouble.
I’m not voting for Barack Obama–because he is a Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
But, a more equitable foreign policy in the Middle East is a much needed thing, and is in the best interests of the United States and the American people. We cannot afford–and Israel cannot afford–to continue on the path of destruction. We must take a page from the Northern Ireland peace process and forge a new direction. It will take time; in the case of Northern Ireland, it took 15 years, and a determined leadership in Sinn Fein to end the destruction. Adams and McGuinness deserve a lot of credit for that leadership. We need comparable leadership for the Israelis and the Palestinians. But, we won’t get it unless we demand it; of Israel because it is a nuclear power, and of Palestinian leadership, because their people are suffering.
AIPAC is one of the worst impediments to peace in the Middle East, along with the Republican party and the Democratic Party. We need to rid ourselves of leaders who warmonger, and our politicall parties of representatives who are wholly owned and operated subsidiaries of another country’s foreign policies. Security and peace will never come until the US behaves as an honest broker and stops pandering to Israel.
Why blame the Jews?
Arafat travelled to Washington & was left outside in a garden waiting whilst Bill clinton was having sex _sorry he never had sex_with monica lewinsky.
Priorities right!
Arafat was no angel- but when he was holed up for months -USA never told Israel to drop the blockade.
Now there is Hamas. They grew up watching this humiliation of Araafat by USA & Israel. He became a traitor in their eyes. As is Abbas.
Logic runs both ways. If you say Israel is justified because they once suffered then it must apply to others.
In 1836 andrew Jackson forced the Cherokee to the ‘trail of tears’ from Nth carolina to Oklahoma. Give these people their land back.They suffered genocide ..
1836 is a lot closer than BC.
surely what is good for is good for the other.
.
Obama is 9 points AHEAD with Jewish voters here in northern/central Florida. Mccain lost 6 points the last few weeks with Jewish voters because of his “warmongering” speeches (not my words, this is from rabbi barry altman and rabbi peres). They equated Mccain to the nasty grumpy old man who sits in his house and yells at the neighborhood kids all day!! Too funny.
Mr V, you forgot to mention that Obama is 33, yes 33, points ahead of McCain with the hispanic vote! I’m a McCain voter and a hispanic but it’s all over but the whining here in south florida. Cubans were holding out but recently adopted the “if you can’t beat them, join them” attitude and have pledged their money and support for obama. Unfortunately, the GOP shot themselves in the foot with the anti-immigrant rhetoric and now have to pay for it.