Even as Israeli President Peres was praising President Obama for being an exceptional friend to Israel and even as he reiterated that Security arrangements between the two nations have never been as good as they are now, the derangers led by Chicken Hawk Republicans here in the U.S. and their Right Wing allies are not letting reality stand in their way. For instance even as President Peres had this to say:
"Mr. President, I know your commitment to Israel is deep and profound," Peres said. "Under your leadership, security cooperation between the U.S. and Israel has reached its highest level (vb1 emphasis).. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a friend in the White House. He reflects the values that make American great and make Israel secure. Thank you President Obama on behalf of my people."
and President Obama had this to say:
"We all prefer to resolve this issue diplomatically," Obama said in an address at the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC's policy conference in Washington. "Having said that, Iran’s leaders should have no doubt about the resolve of the United States, just as they should not doubt Israel’s sovereign right to make its own decisions about what is required to meet its security needs. I have said that when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, I will take no options off the table, and I mean what I say."
"That includes all elements of American power. A political effort aimed at isolating Iran; a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure that the Iranian program is monitored; an economic effort to impose crippling sanctions; and, yes, a military effort to be prepared for any contingency."
But was this enough? Why no. It was not. Speaking after President Obama:
“No president has done more to undermine and delegitimize Israel than President Obama.”
I guess President Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak didn't get Liz' memo about this. Silly Israeli Leaders... how could they not know this. (/snark).
However, in the end she was shot down by Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) in this exchange:
Cheney: “No president has done more to undermine and delegitimize Israel than President Obama.” Big applause.
Harman: “It’s a grave mistake to turn Israel into a political football. Huge applause.
But the derangement continued... Mitt Romney, the Republican Front Runner had this to say:
When an 11-year-old boy asked the candidate how he would keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, Romney said Obama had not imposed "crippling sanctions against Iran." "He's also failed to communicate that military options are on the table and in fact in our hand, and that it's unacceptable to America for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."
Apparently, during the AIPAC speech Mr. Romney was sitting on the floor with his hands in his ears saying: "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU".... I guess he missed... well the entire speech. Oh and I guess he missed reality as well when he was talking about sanctions.
Whoops.....
But in Haaretz, Chemi Shalev explains it well:
There are many people in both America and Israel who wouldn’t believe Barack Obama’s commitment to Israel’s security even if he sang Hatikvah, enlisted in the IDF and did reserve duty guarding an isolated West Bank outpost. These people are now dissecting the president’s speech to the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington on Sunday in a way that will offer incontrovertible proof that it ranks a close second after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s pledge to wipe Israel off the map.
My own version of this a few weeks ago was something along the lines of (paraphrased):
President Obama could be wearing a Kippah, while hugging a Bibi Netanyahu Plush Toy, while singing Hatikvah and the Republicans and ODS'ers would still say he hates Israel.
Shalev finishes strong here and I will let his words speak for me:
Finally, Obama once again demonstrated how much more familiar and how much more comfortable he is with Jews, with Jewish life and with Jewish culture than any of his Republican rivals. As an antithesis to Michele Bachmann’s hilariously mispronounced “chootzpah”, Obama showed that the words “shtetl”, “Haganah” and “seder” roll off his tongue as if he was once a diligent Hebrew School pupil. And he outdid himself not only by announcing that he will be bestowing the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom on Shimon Peres, but by achieving the impossible – in two attempts out of three – of avoiding the inescapable pitfall of the Hispanic Perez and pronouncing the name of the Israeli president correctly.
Of course, none of this will matter for Obama’s diehard skeptics. For them, the closer Obama gets to Israel, the more understanding he is of Israel’s security needs, the more genuine he sounds in his declarations of love and undying friendship – the more they will double down in their conviction that this is all some master conspiracy of camouflage aimed at deceiving gullible Democrats and liberal Jews. From that point of view, the president’s speech was just as satisfactory and reassuring for them as it should have been for those who have Israel’s true interests at heart.
This won't stop the Republican Lies and disinformination but it does just go to show how blatant they are.
It comes down to two things for them:
ReplyDelete1. President Obama is a Democrat
2. He's Barack HUSSEIN Obama
The only message they have is, "Be afraid. Be very afraid. He has a weird name. He must be some secret Muslim."
Oh, and it kills them just how successful his foreign policy has been, particularly with respect to achieving American security objectives and protecting ourselves and our allies.
Well see below... The Derangers have gone off the deep end. Now it gets personal. the poor ODS'ers see their dream of getting rid of President Obama slipping away as the Republicans show more and more of who they are and how detached from reality they really are.
DeleteI don't know but I can see Jewish support for the President in the 75% range given his speech at AIPAC and the general nuttiness of the Republicans.
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ReplyDeleteOr what Michael?
ReplyDeleteWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
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ReplyDeleteHey Michael... How do you really feel?
ReplyDeleteHarass thoughtful people where you live? What in the world are you talking about? Oh and how will you call me out at DKos? You are banned. What, you are gonna zombie up and hang out in a place where you are not wanted? Gee, what a surprise.
Let's get back to this "Where I live thing"... Do you mean to tell me that you live in your computer? That's really not too normal to say that, you do understand that - right?
As for your site... Yeah, you post two incendiary pieces directed at me and then you whine like a little bitch. Ok.
Now, go away and let the adults talk mmmmk.
Say, you wouldn't be the asshole threatening my family would you?
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ReplyDeleteRepublicans put a different spin on things. In an election year no less. Color me unsurprised.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I suggest that support for Israel would be virtually the same under either party and, in my opinion, perhaps Obama gives himself too much credit by patting himself on the back, as he has done.
That does not mean that friends from any side are immune from making mistakes, sometimes large one. I think the extremes on both sides are wrong in what they say as to Obama and the Republicans when it comes to this matter.
For example, in 2007, according to the NY Times:
Israel and the United States signed a deal on Thursday to give Israel $30 billion in military aid over the next decade in what officials called a long-term investment in peace.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html
This was under Bush. So why was he any less a friend? Isn't Obama, as he acknowledged, just continuing what Bush did?
Indeed, Obama rightly said today:
As I’ve said repeatedly, the bond between our two countries is unbreakable. My personal commitment — a commitment that is consistent with the history of other occupants of this Oval Office — our commitment to the security of Israel is rock solid. And as I’ve said to the Prime Minister in every single one of our meetings, the United States will always have Israel’s back when it comes to Israel’s security. This is a bond that is based not only on our mutual security interests and economic interests, but is also based on common values and the incredible people-to-people contacts that we have between our two countries.
Netanyahu followed:
Americans know that Israel and the United States share common values, that we defend common interests, that we face common enemies. Iran’s leaders know that, too. For them, you’re the Great Satan, we’re the Little Satan. For them, we are you and you’re us. And you know something, Mr. President — at least on this last point, I think they’re right. We are you, and you are us. We’re together. So if there’s one thing that stands out clearly in the Middle East today, it’s that Israel and America stand together.
It is NOT the president, but America that is Israel's best friend. That includes the Congress. That includes the People. The more folks try to paint one side white and the other side black, the more I believe they miss this fundamental point.
After the Goldberg interview, Alan Dershowitz wrote:
I was not surprised by President Obama's strong words, because he said similar things to me in private conversation. But now he has said them in public, and with words that are unequivocal and put his credibility, and the credibility of our country, on the line. (I will not repeat the President's words here because they can be found in the Goldberg article.)
For those who have claimed that Obama is anti-Israel and/or weak on Iran, these forceful statements should make them reconsider. I, for one, am satisfied with the President's words. Now I want to hear them repeated by Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, by Joint Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey and by others in the Obama Administration. For me the problem has never been President Obama. His voice has generally been strong and clear in support of Israel's security and his determination to prevent Iran from securing nuclear weapons....
I agree with Dershowitz, even if to some here, that means I am deranged. It does not mean that Obama has not made some big mistakes, and in some cases has shown hubris, but it does mean that his intentions are good ones and he is acting like other presidents to protect our interests as he thinks best. Which can be said for most all who are involved.
Michael, you've got problems, man.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it with the world? If people aren't deranged against Israel they are deranged against Obama. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...
Today has not been a good day.
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DeleteOooooh you are such a little toughie, aren't you?
DeleteYou certainly have convinced me that you truly are Captain Israel. I know the sayyarot keyboardists are looking for a few good chicken hawks, perhaps you shoul call them.
Oh yeah and I am deleting your diary comment as I can only take so much crazed deranged rhetoric
Well, this is quite amazing.
DeleteHappy Super Tuesday, everyone!
Yes indeed it has been Makabit. Apparently, the Angry Chihuahua woke up this morning in the same mode and keeps on going.
DeleteAnyway, Happy Super Tuesday to you as well....
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ReplyDeleteHey Mikey.... People do realize that you were the one that started all this on your hate site. Don't whine like a little bitch when people call you out (though too late now for that I guess).
DeleteYou sure do talk a big game over the intertoobz don't you? I am curious.... Do you think that you are tough?
President Obama does not "support" the Muslim Brotherhood. He might have a different view of how to deal with them strategically than you do, which is just the way things go.
DeleteYour rhetoric is reminding me of those people on Daily Kos who accused Obama of supporting the massacres in Bahrain because he didn't want to lose our only strategic ally in the region and the base for our 5th fleet, right across the strait from Iran. They just couldn't understand the slightest bit about realpolitik, and that the world is more complicated than their petty black and white fantasies, and sometimes you may have to deal with bad people for strategic geopolitical reasons.
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DeleteI deny that what you have described is "support" just like I denied on Daily Kos that Obama "supported" the mistreatment of protesters in Bahrain when he refused to abandon our ally.
DeleteThere were many geopolitical variables that would go into what the US President would do when faced with the uprising against Mubarak. He made a call, just like he made a different call in Bahrain. History will tell if it was the right thing to do, in a strategic, long term sense.
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DeleteWhy do you have to keep up with tough guy rhetoric? Do you think it makes you more of "man" or something? Are you that insecure that you have to act like this and further humiliate yourself? I mean you are acting like some little kid who just learned new cuss words. Do you get some weird kind of pleasure by being an abusive little shit?
DeleteJust wondering.
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ReplyDeleteAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
DeleteYou should take up comedy man... You are good
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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ReplyDeleteNo Michael I don't find racism funny that's why I dislike your little hate site.
DeleteI find you and your screeching funny. It's like that little chihuahua that runs around barking and dancing in fury. Right now, that is the picture I have in my head regarding you. I mean you wrote two hit pieces in your diary and then you are screaming like a child when I react.
Anyway, I don't engage you because you frame in a totally whacked out manner.
As for BDS, it does come from the left. So do a lot of other shitty things. You know what else, a lot of shitty things come from the right.
Hey by the way little yapper... who am I racist towards? Jewish People? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
See dude, you are just ridiculous and not worth engaging because of it.
Now go away and stop embarrasing yourself.
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ReplyDeleteOk well if this blog is so weak then why are you so upset by it and by what I say? What are you worried about?
DeleteI am leaving this comment trail up because I want people to see just what ODS does to people - and how it twists them. And you... with your performance today are Poster Child #1 for "Parents DON'T let your kids grow to up to be this".
You blew it today boss... completely and totally. And now, you have to live in it.
Have fun.
Excuse me, but aren't you the guy that has suggested that the "Palestinian narrative" should be taught alongside history in Israeli high schools?
DeleteYou did say that, did you not?
I am pretty sure that you did.
Am I wrong?
Yes you are wrong.
DeleteWhat I did say was that the Palestinian Narrative should be taught in High School but not alongside (or equal too) Israeli history. I felt it would be better if people understood each others version of history, generally that leads to greater understanding and makes negotiations as well as co-existence an easier thing.
IN the same respect I think that the Palestinians should learn Jewish History particularly that of the Holocaust and the mass oppressions that happened both in the West and the East. It would give them some perspective on how they deal with us as well. And maybe, just maybe, it would get them to see us as human.
It goes both ways. Yes, it bothers me that the P.A. teaches racist history - but I am not Palestinian, I am Jewish so I care more about what our side does than what their side does. I don't expect you to understand that and given your bouncing off the walls behavior today I don't expect you to even really read this. But it is out there for the record.
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ReplyDeleteI don't understand. How do we not acknowledge the extreme antisemitism eminating from jihadist Islam and mosques throughout the Middle East? I've written about it several times.
DeleteBecause we don't write about it 50x a day and we support Barak HUSSEIN Obama. That's as near as I can figure.
DeleteAnd yes, fiz you have written about it a bunch of times.
So.. Captain Israel... Why the tough guy talk? What, are the fighting Sayyaret Keyboardists on manuvers today? Oh wait, you don't even know what the Sayyaret units are. My bad. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, why do you feel you have to resort to calling us "pussies" and other names. I mean what are you trying to prove? That you can talk like you are a big tough guy?
Meh... you are getting boring.
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ReplyDeleteOur convictions are liberal. They are for a Jewish and democratic state. They are for liberal politics in the United States. They are that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. They are that women are the only ones who are empowered to make decisions about their own bodies. They are that all people deserve the right to marry. They are that all people have the right to serve. They are to create that more perfect union. They are to support politicians who advance these goals and oppose those that do not.
DeleteWe are driven by what we seek to create, not what we are afraid of. I strongly suggest you step away from the keyboard, have a little something to eat or drink and calm down. Then, think over what you have been saying.
The tone in here is killing my chubb.
ReplyDeleteComment of the Day fiz... That one is brilliant.
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