‘Sore’ point
By Ami Eden on May 13, 2008 in Barack Obama, Featured, Presidential Race |
Don’t take my word for it that GOP lawmakers are essentially lying when they say that Barack Obama called Israel a “sore” in his interview with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.
Here’s what Goldberg had to say:
Mr. Boehner, I’m sure, is a terribly busy man, with many burdensome responsibilities, so I have to assume that he simply didn’t have time to read the entire Obama interview, or even the entire paragraph, or even a single clause. If he had, of course, he would have seen that Obama was clearly calling the Middle East conflict, and not Israel, a sore. Why, there’s no one who would disagree that the Middle East conflict is a “sore,” is there?
I have no doubt that Mr. Boehner will issue a correction to his press release in which he states the obvious, which is that Obama expressed — in twelve different ways — his support for Israel to me.
Goldberg’s fellow Atlantic blogger, Andrew Sullivan was harsher: “Republican operatives can’t let go of old politics. Boehner and Cantor just flat out lie about Obama’s interview about Israel. Yes: flat out lie.” [UPDATE: Jake Tapper of ABC News also took issue with the the Republican comments.]
And, yes, it’s predictable, but still… if you’re keeping score, you might want to know what the National Jewish Democratic Council had to say:
NJDC Lashes Out at Boehner Comments Against Obama
Washington, D.C. – Following a press release by House Minority Leader John Boehner which falsely questioned Senator Barack Obama’s position on Israel, the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) released the following statement from Executive Director Ira N. Forman:
House Minority Leader John Boehner comments were outrageous assertions and it is disappointing Boehner would stoop to this level.
John McCain and his conservative allies, like Boehner, continue to propagate a smear campaign against Obama and this is just the latest effort to spread blatant lies.
I have one question for Boehner, do you actually read the press releases that organizations like “The Freedom Project” release in your name? No rational American with a reading ability at or above the sixth grade level could possible read Jeffrey Goldberg’s, recent interview in the Atlantic with Obama and come to the conclusion that Obama does not deeply support the state of Israel let alone that he believes that Israel is a constant sore that infects American foreign policy.
Numerous journalists have recently reported on the spreading panic that is infecting the House GOP caucus as a result of one electoral setback after another. Small wonder that the GOP now finds itself in such dire straits when their House Minority Leader has to resort to such shameless misrepresentations of Obama’s record of support for Israel.
The complete text from WorldNet Daily suggests that Obama means that Israel’s settlements are the “constant sore” that “infects” American foreign policy.
[begin quote]
Asked if he thought Israel represented a drag on America’s reputation overseas, Obama said: “No, no, no. But what I think is that this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy. The lack of a resolution to this problem provides an excuse for anti-American militant jihadists to engage in inexcusable actions, and so we have a national-security interest in solving this, and I also believe that Israel has a security interest in solving this because I believe that the status quo is unsustainable. I am absolutely convinced of that, and some of the tensions that might arise between me and some of the more hawkish elements in the Jewish community in the United States might stem from the fact that I’m not going to blindly adhere to whatever the most hawkish position is just because that’s the safest ground politically.”
“I want to solve the problem, and so my job in being a friend to Israel is partly to hold up a mirror and tell the truth and say if Israel is building settlements without any regard to the effects that this has on the peace process, then we’re going to be stuck in the same status quo that we’ve been stuck in for decades now,” he said.
[end quote]
If we look at what Obama said, he is not calling Israel itself the sore–this conclusion goes too far–but he clearly blames the settlements as opposed to the Palestinians’ propensity for violence.
The Arabs did not need settlements as an excuse to start or provoke three wars in less than 20 years (1948-1967), but Obama’s statement is consistent with the policies of his friends at MoveOn.org (whose official bulletins cite sources like the Electronic Intifada) and also with Tony “Zionist Thought Police” Wicher, who was a long-term and prolific contributor to My.BarackObama.com.
Wicher’s anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic (”Jewish Lobby” to quote Desmond Tutu) material was welcome on Obama’s site until I personally turned it into a major embarrassment for Obama. Transcripts are still available at IsraPundit. Also, don’t forget that Jeremiah Wright published a guest column from a Hamas terrorist, and another that blood libeled Israel by accusing it of developing an “ethnic bomb” to kill Negroes and Arabs. Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself.
Bill Levinson | May 23, 2008 | Reply