The Paranoid Style of the Israel Lobby
The anti-Hagel campaign reveals the psychopathology of radical Zionism
The campaign to demonize Chuck Hagel in the run up to his possible confirmation hearings as Secretary of Defense is going full swing. As I told my readers the other day, “get ready for a mudslide of smears and innuendo as the [Israel] Lobby homes in for the kill.” Twenty-four hours later, there are so many entrants into what appears to be a competition to see who can come up with the nastiest smears that one has a hard time deciding on a winner. After some deliberation, however, I have to give Bret Stephens, the Wall Street Journal’s foreign affairs editor, the prize.
As I predicted, the “Jewish lobby” comment has taken center stage in this manufactured controversy, and Stephens is quick to jump on it:
“Prejudice—like cooking, wine-tasting and other consummations—has an olfactory element. When Chuck Hagel, the former GOP senator from Nebraska who is now a front-runner to be the next secretary of Defense, carries on about how ‘the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here,’ the odor is especially ripe.
“Ripe because a “Jewish lobby,” as far as I’m aware, doesn’t exist. No lesser authorities on the subject than John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of The Israel Lobby, have insisted the term Jewish lobby is ‘inaccurate and misleading, both because the [Israel] lobby includes non-Jews like Christian Zionists and because many Jewish Americans do not support the hard-line policies favored by its most powerful elements.’”
This has to be a first: a former editor of the Jerusalem Post citing Walt and Mearsheimer as an authority. Oddly, Walt’s endorsement of the Hagel nomination is proof enough for Bill Kristol and his band of neoconservative Orcs that Hagel is the second coming of Adolf Hitler — but never mind. Trying to discern an internal consistency in the hysterical ululations of this crowd is like searching for meaning in the squeals and squawks of chickens in the barnyard: it’s just a lot of noise, signifying nothing — nothing but pure malice, in Stephens’ case, with a good dose of paranoia thrown in for good measure.
The hate campaign against Hagel does indeed have an olfactory element, although I would compare it to what may come after cooking, wine-tasting, or similar “consummations.” It is the stench of paranoia, of a touchiness so hyper-sensitive it is nearly debilitating. It does no good to explain to such people that there’s nothing to be afraid of, that the demons they see lurking around every corner are a product of their own insecurities and inner demons, but Peter Beinart tries:
“Stephens is enraged that Hagel uses the term “Jewish” rather than “Israel” lobby. And it’s true that while some hawkish pro-Israel groups—the American Jewish Committee, for instance—are exclusively Jewish, others like Christians United for Israel, are obviously not. So yes, the groups that lobby for America to support the policies of the Israeli government are substantially, but not exclusively, composed of Jews.… Hagel was imprecise. Call the Anti-Defamation League.”
Well, as a matter of fact, Jennifer Rubin did call the Anti-Defamation League, so Abe Foxman could get his two cents in, and, as you might expect, the man who saw anti-Semitism in the campaign to memorialize the Armenian holocaust detects anti-Semitism in Hagel. However, in what must be a disappointment to Stephens and his fellow paranoiacs, he isn’t going to bother opposing the nomination. Abe must be in recovery.
Stephens continues with his olfactory analogy, underscoring his laziness as a writer as well as an analyst:
“Ripe because, whatever other political pressures Mr. Hagel might have had to endure during his years representing the Cornhusker state, winning over the state’s Jewish voters—there are an estimated 6,100 Jewish Nebraskans in a state of 1.8 million people—was probably not a major political concern for Mr. Hagel compared to, say, the ethanol lobby.”
This brings us back to Beinart, who correctly notes the presence of the nutty Christian fundamentalists who are the Lobby’s loyal foot-soldiers, and are surely legion in Nebraska, never mind in the Nebraska GOP. Yet Hagel didn’t pander to them, just as he won’t pander to AIPAC: we call that integrity, a virtue the former Nebraska senator seems to have a good supply of — and of which Stephens, for his part, seems not to have the slightest understanding.
Pouring out his fear and hatred like vomit from a drunk, Stephens continues with the olfactory imagery, as unpleasant as the emotions that drive it:
“Ripe because the word ‘intimidates’ ascribes to the so-called Jewish lobby powers that are at once vast, invisible and malevolent; and because it suggests that legislators who adopt positions friendly to that lobby are doing so not from political conviction but out of personal fear. Just what does that Jewish Lobby have on them?”
I don’t know what dictionary Stephens is consulting, but the word “intimidates” implies the exact opposite of invisibility: indeed, the Israel lobby makes no bones about its efforts to intimidate anyone who opposes their agenda. As Kenneth Marcus, head of something calling itself the “Louis D. Brandeis Center,” put it in a fundraising letter to his supporters just the other day:
“We are hitting a nerve. These [Palestinian student] organizations fear us, because they know we are having an impact.”
The “Brandeis Center” engages in “monitoring” campuses for activism they perceive as being “anti-Israel,” which they equate with “anti-Semitism,” and they are trying to use the power of the State to shut those activists up. Marcus and his crew have been advocating using the 1964 Civil Rights Act to silence Israel’s critics on campus, claiming such activities lead to an atmosphere that supposedly endangers Jewish students. This goes beyond mere intimidation: it is the equivalent of holding a gun to someone’s head while demanding STFU.
What is one to make of Stephens’ inability to comprehend that, when it comes to the Israel lobby, politicians pander, and that their votes and rhetorical support may not reflect their actual convictions — when, just a few paragraphs back, he had no trouble understanding this simple concept as applied to the ethanol lobby? As Daniel Kurtzer, US ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration, put it to Politico:
“Anybody who has ever talked to senators or congressmen behind closed doors knows you hear a lot of that. A lot of people won’t talk about that publicly, but Hagel talks about it in public. One can question whether it’s good politics from his standpoint, but it’s not a view that’s foreign on the Hill. … A lot of lawmakers resent being called anti-Israel if they don’t sign these letters. Then, they go out and sign these letters.”
Of course they do, because they know if they don’t they’ll be badgered to their political deaths by a fanatic Lobby that sees enemies around every corner and under every bed. They see enemies even among Israel’s friends, such as Hagel, who has declared his friendship on many occasions and yet refuses to forget his primary loyalty, which is to the United States of America. And this is what really rankles Stephens:
“Ripe, finally, because Mr. Hagel’s Jewish lobby remark was well in keeping with the broader pattern of his thinking. ‘I’m a United States Senator, not an Israeli Senator,’ Mr. Hagel told retired U.S. diplomat Aaron David Miller in 2006. ‘I’m a United States Senator. I support Israel. But my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Not to a president. Not a party. Not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I’ll do that.’”
“Read these staccato utterances again to better appreciate their insipid and insinuating qualities, all combining to cast the usual slur on Jewish-Americans: Dual loyalty. Nobody questions Mr. Hagel’s loyalty. He is only making those assertions to question the loyalty of others.”
If you don’t understand how distinguishing American from Israeli interests is a “slur” of Jewish-Americans then you don’t understand the “logic” of the paranoid style: because nothing but a pledge of allegiance to the Jewish state, even over and above the US, is going to satisfy someone who believes the whole world is out to get Israel. Like a jealous lover whose unreasonable fears of betrayal can never be assuaged, Stephens refuses to believe Hagel when he says “I support Israel”:
“This is the sort of thing one often hears from people who treat Israel as the Mideast equivalent of a neighborhood drunk who, for his own good, needs to be put in the clink to sober him up.”
What can one do in the face of such intransigent paranoia except throw up one’s hands in despair?
Stephens goes on to enumerate Hagel’s many policy sins, such as urging Israel “to show its commitment to peace” — clearly a reference to the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion — and refusing to sign the numerous letters condemning this or that Arab entity routinely circulated by the Lobby. Yet he seems to realize, on some level, how unreasonable his tone must sound to someone not afflicted with a persecution complex, and tries to ameliorate it by writing:
“In fairness to Mr. Hagel, all these positions emerge from his belief in the power of diplomatic engagement and talking with adversaries. The record of that kind of engagement—in 2008, Mr. Hagel and John Kerry co-authored an op-ed in this newspaper titled ‘It’s Time to Talk to Syria’—hasn’t been stellar, but at least it was borne of earnest motives.”
But even while appearing to give Hagel the benefit of a doubt, Stephens can’t quite contain his suspicion that this goy from Nebraska is trying to put one over on him:
“Yet it’s worth noting that while Mr. Hagel is eager to engage the world’s rogues without preconditions, his attitude toward Israel tends, at best, to the paternalistic. ‘The United States and Israel must understand that it is not in their long-term interests to allow themselves to become isolated in the Middle East and the world,’ he said in a 2006 Senate speech. It’s a political Deep Thought worthy of Saturday Night Live’s Jack Handey. Does Mr. Hagel reckon any other nation to be quite so blind to its own supposed self-interest as Israel?”
I don’t know about Hagel, but, come to think of it, I don’t reckon any other nation is quite so blind to its real national interests than is Israel at the present moment. After all, what other American ally utterly dependent on US aid would allow its Prime Minister to openly intervene in our presidential election against the soon-to-be-victorious incumbent? If you were the head of a state which garners $3.5 billion annually from the US Treasury, would you embarrass a visiting American Vice President by underscoring your contempt for him and his government?
Paternalistic? If anyone has the right to offer Israel fatherly advice, then surely it is these United States of America. Or is that $3.5 billion we’re handing over to them every year considered tribute from a vassal rather than aid to a valued friend?
In a concluding paroxysm of paranoia, Stephens lashes out:
“Now President Obama may nominate Mr. Hagel to take Leon Panetta’s place at the Pentagon. As a purely score-settling matter, I almost hope he does. It would confirm a point I made in a column earlier this year, which is that Mr. Obama is not a friend of Israel. Perhaps the 63% of Jewish-Americans who cast their votes for Mr. Obama last month might belatedly take notice.”
Paranoids are constantly looking for confirmation of their fears, even if they’ll suffer in the process, and Stephens certainly fits that profile in spades: I almost hope he does. That would give Stephens and the neocons who dragged Romney down to defeat the chance to say “I told you so!” And that’s something a crazy person would almost find preferable to victory.
Stephens’ craziness is widespread in the Likudnik community, as this Jerusalem Post column by Caroline Glick — a former Chicagoan turned Israeli — exhibits unashamedly. The Hagel nomination, she avers, echoing Stephens (or is he echoing her?) is a deliberate insult:
“Obama wants to hurt Israel. He does not like Israel. He is appointing anti-Israel advisers and cabinet members not despite their anti-Israel positions, but because of them.”
“Hagel,” she screeches, “will place Israel in his crosshairs”!
They insult us! They hate us! They want to hurt us!
To these people, it doesn’t matter that Hagel has said he values our alliance with Israel and considers them an ally on the basis of shared values. It doesn’t matter that Obama has gone out of his way to reassure the Israelis that “we have your back” — because, after all, a paranoiac’s panic is induced by inner demons who can never be calmed. And the more one tries to reassure them, the more their irrational fears and suspicions are aroused. Trying to appease them only makes them demand more and louder declarations of loyalty. They don’t need reassurance, or even arguments: what they need is therapy.
The paranoid style fits the Lobby like a glove, because Israel is itself the product of the paranoid idea that Jews are unsafe everywhere, and that in order to protect themselves from the ever-present threat of another Holocaust — yes, even here in the United States! — they require a state of their own.
They insult us! They hate us! They want to hurt us! — so come to Israel, commit to aliyah, as Ms. Glick did, and you’ll finally be safe. That’s their message to American Jews, and Jews the world over. Promoting paranoia isn’t just a matter of psychopathology, its also a matter of political pragmatism: by pushing the outdated and frankly ridiculous notion of Israel — and the world’s Jews — as a people besieged, the militarism and growing authoritarianism of the world’s only Jewish state is rationalized and reinforced.
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
The Israel lobby’s smear campaign against Chuck Hagel is an absolute outrage: they are hurling every mudball they can get their hands on at him, and of course the main charge is "anti-Semitism" – because he wont’ kowtow to the Lobby and proudly declares that, while he supports Israel, "I’m a United States senator. I’m not an Israeli senator."
To ordinary Americans, of course, such a sentiment is called patriotism: to the Lobby, it’s high treason. Welcome to Bizarro World!
I was on Twitter last night, and I was sickened to see that the "buzz" is that because the evil Washington Post has come out editorially against Hagel, his nomination is supposedly doomed. I thought to myself: Really? Is the editorial page editor of the WaPo, a notorious neocon, really going to dictate the future of American foreign policy? Do these people really have that kind of power – or do we, the people, have the power?
I decided to put this question to the test. So I posted a White House petition on the White House petition web site supporting Hagel’s nomination and urging the administration to fight for him.
We have until January 18, 2013, to get 25,000 signatures – on which occasion the White House will have to respond in some manner.
This is important. If the War Party gets away with this vicious campaign of character assassination, then they can get away with anything. The American people want out of Afghanistan, just like they want out of Iraq – and they overwhelmingly oppose war with Iran, which the War Party is pushing like hell. Hagel opposes their war plans: he has opposed the murderous sanctions on Iran, and has advocated diplomacy over military action. He has consistently and bravely stood up to the Israel lobby, and refused to sign on to their numerous "open letters" urging the administration to kowtow to Tel Aviv.
No, the Washington Post editorial board doesn’t have the last word when it comes to the vital issue of war and peace – not if you speak out and let your voice be heard. Yes, we can have an effect – but only if you act now.
One month – 25,000 signatures. It’s doable – so let’s do it.
Please go here to sign the petition.
You can follow me on Twitter here.
Buy the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Forward by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon, here.
Buy my biography of the great libertarian thinker, An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard, here.
And, don’t forget, I write a monthly column for Chronicles magazine, where I really let loose: you can subscribe by going here.
Read more by Justin Raimondo
- Why This Fight – December 20th, 2012
- Chuck Hagel: An Unconventional Realist – December 16th, 2012
- The Amash Rebellion – December 13th, 2012
- Destiny and Decline – December 11th, 2012
- ‘He’s Killing His Own People!’ – December 9th, 2012
Johnny in Wi.
December 18th, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Obama is just playing mind games with the rightwing branch of the Lobby. He has been in the pocket, leftwing branch of the Lobby, his whole political career. Like any slave he does not like it. But then again the rewards have been huge. He will retire to a mansion in Hawai and at least 100 million dollar fortune. That is what Clintion an Gore got. How does such a small number of the population have such influence? I think they do it by bribery, blackmail and intimidtion, using laundered foreign aid money. These cheapskates don't want to take anything out of pocket. I think the loudest evangelical pastors who support Israel are all on the gravey train. Most of them can be bought for a couple hundred million spread around, like corn in a pigsty. Hagel will either be withdrawn or neutered. We need a political, party that wants to take on the Israeli Lobby once and for. I don't see it ever happening. Another great essay Justin.
davidgrayling
December 18th, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Justin, there is no way that Hagel will get the nod.
Your conclusion that 'by pushing the outdated and frankly ridiculous notion of Israel — and the world’s Jews — as a people besieged, the militarism and growing authoritarianism of the world’s only Jewish state is rationalized and reinforced,' is correct.
As with the rogue nation of America, what the world is going to do about both of them is becoming an escalating dilemma.
They both need to be knocked off their perches!
RickR30
December 18th, 2012 at 11:57 pm
So is this stephens character a member of the lobby? If not, why the infantile attacks against Hagel? What does the Jewish Lobby have on him that he needs to rush to israel's "defence." Either way he and his ilk just keep proving Walt's point everytime they waste ink on the matter.
Ben_C
December 19th, 2012 at 12:25 am
How did Chuck Hegel vote on the "Iraq War Resolution"? I'm not entirely sure what Chuck Hagel brings to the table that Obama's current Vice President, Joe Biden, does not.
I'm interested in "theories" here, but don't expect "hope and change" from Hagel…if he even does become Defense Secretary….
Will Hagel bring more lip service to be 'independent' from Israel and Bibi–which Obama, himself, already provides?
What does Kathleen Sebelius 'think' about all of this anyway?
Alex Synge
December 19th, 2012 at 1:35 am
I think we have to be careful. Certainly, Netanyahu has probably overstepped the mark lately and has no doubt irritated many among those who count. As with the Pollard affair, there may come a time when asking too much is asking too much (but not for that does the agenda ever go away). We must be careful because perhaps Washington has to restyle itself momentarily in order to provide leaders of Muslim extremist elements like Al-Qaeda – which Washington has lately re-befriended and re-equipped (pre- and post-Libya) – with ammo to convince their foot soldiers that all is well. Perhaps also to calm Turkish public opinion. Hence the Hagel dispute (such as the rabid articles cited here) may in this sense be a feint, and not on same level as the campaign to haul Freeman down. Perhaps Foxman’s decision to desist confirms the existence of a strategy such as this. In other words, the situation may be unchanged.
sherban
December 19th, 2012 at 3:38 am
"doesn’t matter that Hagel has said he values our alliance with Israel and considers them an ally on the basis of shared values." But the "shared values"is Paranoia which is commune to US and Israel.US saw Saddam an "existential threat",now Iran,before was the communism,now is Chavez,Cuba.Israel sees everyone as an existential threat,the last was Goldstone.If Hagel used the "shared values" expression Israel may be sure that he is a "friend",namely that he believe in the lie of US and Israel values.Maybe Justin could say what are these values.Their values are commone for these two and Palau,Micronesia,Cehia,Bikini
Montaigne
December 19th, 2012 at 3:40 am
Politics is not human science. So you "prove" you are right by argument enforcers: hate, fear, hysteria. Nothing is more sickening than the "right" of Israel to exist. Let them have a state in the USA. It fits well into imperialistic thinking – being right by having the power do make it so!
And then close down the US borders. Keep yourself away from real people, and tear each other to death instead of the rest of the world being first in line, as it is today. Play out your own "last state standing – last man standing" in a couple of generations. The grateful earth around you would welcome such a brillant lived-through process of deceptions, lies, impunity, take n to its ultimate end.
What a glorious American sacrifice THAT would be!
The Paranoid Style of the Israel Lobby
December 19th, 2012 at 4:41 am
[...] URL to article: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/12/18/the-paranoid-style-of-the-israel-lobby/ [...]
Smithboy
December 19th, 2012 at 5:08 am
I saw Gen Zinni, a man who served his country in the military, denied a place in the Obama administration because he was not deemed to be a suck up to the Israeli lobby now Hagle. Write the White House and give your support to Chuck Hagle.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-question…
Mark
December 19th, 2012 at 6:05 am
Let me get this straight. Stephens says Hagel is an anti-Semite because he used the term "Jewish Lobby" instead of "Israeli Lobby". He then writes that because Hagel said he's a senator from the United States, not Israel, THAT is a slur against "Jewish Americans".
So, you CAN have it both ways in Stephens-World…quite the fantasy land, I'd say.
omop
December 19th, 2012 at 7:07 am
Another version of Rabbi Yosef's quote that "non jews are basically donkeys and that their sole purpose is to serve the jews", along with a systematic eagerness to make non -jews feel guilty, to make them hang their heads and fall to their knees for crimes they did not commit, or for crimes for which Jews themselves might feel a little guilty but prefer “to transfer” to others.
"Its a trick," according to a former Israeli cabinet minister as reported below:-
A former Israeli cabinet minister Shulamit Aloni (born 1928), during her August 14, 2002 interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! said it all: “Well, it’s a trick, we always use it. When from Europe somebody is criticizing Israel then we bring up the holocaust. When in this country (US) people are criticizing Israel then they are antisemitic. And the organization (Israel Lobby) is very strong and has lot of money. And the ties between Israel and American Jewish establishment are very strong – and they are strong in this country as you know. And they have power which is ok”.
MvGuy
December 19th, 2012 at 9:07 am
O.K. for WHOM……..???????????
Generalissimo X
December 19th, 2012 at 9:25 am
a note to all the zionists out there with a persecution complex. when everyone is against it you, it's not them, it's you!
and it's beyond awesome that foreign agents have a decision in our political appointments. i'm sure george washington would be cool with that. i mean its enumerated in the constitution that we pay some pathetic welfare queen nation state billions while their sniveling little maggot cowards like bill kristol get paid millions to feed us propaganda. seriously, you wonder why people hate you? i mean, this is news to you? both parties grovel at their feet and we're supposed to believe they'll serve the will of the people and not foreign agents? this republic is long finished.
Chris Mallory
December 19th, 2012 at 9:41 am
I would point out to Stephens that anyone with dual citizenship, like many American Jews do have with Israel, do have dual loyalty. We need to end all dual citizenship arrangements. Pick which nation you support.
Raimondo : The Paranoid Style of the Israel Lobby | My Catbird Seat
December 19th, 2012 at 10:04 am
[...] by Justin Raimondo [...]
liberranter
December 19th, 2012 at 10:36 am
Does it really matter what Hagel's views on Israel-U.S. relations, or anything else, for that matter, are? He will merely be a cog in the administration, with policy already having been preordained. The ONLY thing Hagel will be given latitude to do is carry out that policy. If he tries to do anything else, HE'S GONE.
Bottom line: you could put the Taco Bell chihuahua, a Pokemon doll, a janitor, or the preserved corpse of V.I. Lenin in the SecDef's office and the result would be the same. The welfare-warfare state will continue to advance at the same pace as it always does.
The Paranoid Style of the Israel Lobby « Attack the System
December 19th, 2012 at 10:51 am
[...] original.antiwar.com Justin Raimondo [...]
mulegino
December 19th, 2012 at 10:54 am
There is one thing that Americans and Palestinians have in common: they are both under Israeli occupation. The difference is that the all of the latter know this and most of the former haven't a clue.
luaplex
December 19th, 2012 at 11:17 am
So, it is the 19th and Justin is still not commenting about the New Age beginning in 2 days. Where's his head at?
:-)
paulBass
December 19th, 2012 at 11:18 am
to call israel a jewish state = antisemitism and Neo-naziism.
to deny israel is a jewish state = antisemitism, neo-naziism.
charles caruso
December 19th, 2012 at 11:36 am
Starting to feel sorry for the Zionist state. It's cutting its own throat.
In politics isolation is death. Is there are other country more isolated than the Zionists?
By building walls, they're creating the biggest ghetto in history.
Justni Raimondo
December 19th, 2012 at 11:37 am
Your argument is self-refuting, because if he's gone — i.e. if he resigns when they start bombing Iran — that alone strikes a mighty blow against the War Party and the policy. In the meantime, his is a voice against such a policy — and his confirmation would also be a confirmation of extreme skepticism of the War Party's arguments.
Stop sitting around on your behind, and start DOING something to fight the War Party. Sectarians accomplish nothing.
Sean2009
December 19th, 2012 at 12:49 pm
When do we start telling these people to go fuck themselves and leave it at that? They deserve no more response than a swift backhand to the face.
Sam
December 19th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
One thing for sure, Israel can continue on this pfad. The WORLD is crying for PEACE.
david
December 19th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Stop this madness. Obama was placed at the wh by the Israel lobby. He, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton and the self claimed zionist, joe Biden are there to serve the interest of Israel. Obama has become exposed as a timid and an assassin. So, to keep the fools on board, especially the 'jprogressive' spread rumor that wants to name Chuck Hagel for defence, in fact HE DOES NOT MEAN IT. He has someone Else in mind for secretary of defense who is as criminal as Obama, to make the process of confirmation easy. Remember, the 'public option' for passing the health care bill?!! Obama never had 'public option' in mind, but throw it in the basket to fool you and HE DID. You never learn from your mistake, don't you? That's why you are in this mess.
james
December 19th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Please tell this A Hole Stephens that the jews who voted for Obama do not all share his screwed up version of the world, they are probably patriotic Americans just like Hagel, not traitors like Stephens and his ilk.
james
December 19th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
One more important point, do the americans really share these people's values? I believe all the wars Israel pushed America into made them just as warmongering, child murdering psychopaths as the Israelis. So sharing the same values with that rouge state is nothing to brag about.
Sam
December 19th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
One thing for sure, Israel can not continue on this pfad. The WORLD is crying for PEACE.
Mark
December 19th, 2012 at 1:38 pm
If Israel were a movie character it would be Clevon Little in Blazing Saddles…the real comparison is from 2:40 in until the end… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upvZdVK913I
Kratoklastes
December 19th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
"neoconservative Orcs"… come come, these scared weird little guys who tie boxes to their heads and rock like mental patients are no Orcs. They're more like barrow-wights: physically weak, disfigured, amoral, doing the bidding of a more nefarious power (I know, right? NAILED IT).
To move from a literary to a TV character analogue: have a look at a photo of Wolfowitz or Dershowitz (or Ayn Rand, for that matter), and then Google "Ferengi" and go to the images tab.
And note that like the Straussian NeoTrots, the Ferengi are also not half as smart as their self-hagiography suggests (have you ever read anything by Leo Strauss? It's as cartoonish and shallow as anything by Rand, which is saying something).
rosemerry
December 19th, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Why is Israel the only "nation" that matters when selecting a "Defense Secretary"?
Justni Raimondo
December 19th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Love your liteary analogies: you're rght, orcs are too muscular to be neocons. LOL
Mike Ehling
December 19th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
If you want to write to the White House, fine and well. But first and foremost, log on (or create an account) at the link Justin provided, to sign Justin's petition. Individual eMails are simply duplicative and will be pretty much ignored. Justin needs 25,000 signatures, and we're so far only about 1% there, so make Justin's petition your top priority.
AmericaFirstNow
December 19th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
U.S. Middle East policy motivated by pro-Israel lobby
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-yo…
The Israel Lobby (Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson mentioned ‘Jewish Lobby’ in following youtube as well):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N294FMDok98
Jaime
December 19th, 2012 at 4:21 pm
And certainly with "all options on the table".
dink
December 19th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Sign the petition. Action talks. If your Democrat, Libertarian, Republican, Green, American Interdependent, or whatever party; its time to unite! Get five friends to register and sign the petition. Its what democracy is about. If we can not have balance in the cabinet of the duly elected President, Mr Obama, we are in trouble. (If you can not get five friends, get one, two or more).
San Fernando Curt
December 19th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
If it weren't so powerful, so influential and so pervasive, a lobby impelled by those who constantly see Hitler jump out of their overnight bags would be funny. And despite all protestations, despite all accusations of anti-Semitism (a short list would be what ISN'T anti-Semitic), it's Jewish side of the Lobby that has real heft. Psalm-singing hillbillies may get lip service around election day, but they aren't invited to dinner.
Defeat the Neocon Smear Campaign — Sign the White House Petition in Support of Chuck Hagel - Unofficial Network
December 19th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
[...] you’ve been reading my column recently, you know I’ve been writing about Chuck Hagel, who is apparently the frontrunner to replace Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense. The Israel [...]
nomorewaryouprats
December 19th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
When I first encountered the Ferengi my immediate reaction was that their creator(s) was guilty of the worst kind of projection–obtuse, totally self-unaware, blind, tonedeaf projection.
Stand Up to the Smear Brigade — Sign the White House Petition in Support of Chuck Hagel - Unofficial Network
December 19th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
[...] Israel lobby’s smear campaign against Chuck Hagel is an absolute outrage: they are hurling every mudball they can get their hands on at him, and of course the main [...]
nomorewaryouprats
December 19th, 2012 at 6:44 pm
Justin, way to throw Hofstadter's slur against the Paleos into the Neoconservatives' face.
dink
December 19th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Hagel will either be withdrawn or neutered? Democracy is an attempt to make various elites accountable to everyday people. Today is the fight. Before you get a political party that is willing to take on the Israeli Lobby, you need individuals to take action now. Mr Raimondo's petition supporting Chuck Hagel is a very reachable goal.
dink
December 19th, 2012 at 8:46 pm
For those who took the time, to read Mr Raimondo's link. I find it very telling that
Abe Foxman stopped the recognition of the Armenian genocide.Their rejection of the Chuck Hagel nomination is so stark. Israel, the nation state is not in danger. Show me ANY military tactician that believes it currently is. The cards are so stacked in its favor.
Their mental disorder (as Mr Raimondo proves) will not see the Rwandan genocide, the Khmer Rouge genocide as what they where. When we, the United States citizens have such a high unemployment and under- employment rate, we do not need a 'structure of domination' in the Israeli (Likud faction) Lobby. A structure of domination is one of the many concentration forms of power who are not accountable to the people that are affected by them. I chose to do something about it.
Kratoklastes
December 19th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
I think it was almost the opposite: it was a Larry David style "Guess what – we only PRETEND we're not aware we behave like arseholes". An AshkeNazi "in joke" if you will – with the built-in accessory of being able to shriek "ant-Semite!!" at anybody who pointed out the obvious cultural reference.
Kratoklastes
December 19th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
The irony (and – date I say it – chutzpah) of the megaphony hasbara Lobby going Full-Spectrum Dershowitz, shrieking "anti-Semite!!!" to upend the nomination of a person to the third-most-powerful cabinet position (after State and Treasury) in the most powerful government on Earth – the only cabinet nomination that is not entirely in 'safe hands' as far as the Lobby is concerned – and then upbraiding someone for saying "Jewish Lobby" instead of "pro-Israel Lobby".
Is it tone-deafness, or are these clowns so enamoured of their supposed Tribal Specialness that they think they don't actually have to formulate decent arguments?
Curious
December 20th, 2012 at 10:12 am
I signed the petition! :)
nomorewarsyouprats
December 20th, 2012 at 11:11 am
Not the biggest Trekkie, I do not recall encountering the Ferengi above one or two times during the years I haphazardly watched The Next Generation. I see I misapprehended the "obvious cultural reference." I took the Ferengi, with their physiognomy and predilection for haggling, as Arabs and their dealings as representative of the souk, never dreaming the creators were engaged in self-caricature with such a vile over-the-top portrayal. However, as laid out by Wikipedia the mythos of the Ferengi is far more nuanced, compelling, and philosophically consistent than I assumed, and they emerge not so much as loathesome but ancient, biblical and strange. I am not now so sure that the Ferengi were intended to stand in for any particular culture, rather I think they are to be seen as a critique on an antiquated but still functioning way of life clashing with what we take as 'modernity'.
mae
December 20th, 2012 at 11:20 am
Maybe had the kind and gentle Arabs, just let them have the Jewish state, all of this would be avoided. Why is everyone so paranoid over a Jewish state? That tiny drop of land when the Arabs have the whole of the middle east. For a libertarian to say the Jewish people can't congregate together is a slap in the face to libertarianism. And if your so paranoid the Jews may try to expand out then build a wall around it, you could call it the great wall of Israel. Seems your rants are just as paranoid as anyone else's. In a world view, that piece of land is rather insignificant.
mae
December 20th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Oh woe is me, a penniless pauper without a brain or a soul. I'll spend my days devising ways to steal all that which is not mine. Can't make shoes or pay my dues, just devising ways to steal that which is not mine. Can't make my clothes and alas have woes, devising ways to steal that which is not mine.
mae
December 20th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
You're the best person in the whole wide world. Nothing like begging Obama for help.
I hear there will be a church service the day after the Coronation, I wonder if the priest will do the Exorcism before they enter the church or when they are seated.
june
December 20th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Merry Christmas,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXE7msZvMcc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSRGx9Y3-TI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZeAImrvtqw
Curious
December 21st, 2012 at 8:37 am
I'm not begging him for help. I am prodding him to do the right thing. He has this tendency to fold when faced with opposition. He was probably selected by the plutocrats because of that quality.
Raimondo : Why This Fight | My Catbird Seat
December 21st, 2012 at 10:04 am
[...] The Paranoid Style of the Israel Lobby – December 18th, 2012 [...]