Just now on WNYC, I heard Richard Brodsky, a New York Assemblyman, attacking Mayor Mike Bloomberg's plans for Yankee Stadium, and saying that the Yankees had manipulated information about the stadium site in public filings. Notably, he said that land in the Bronx is generally valued at $10 a square foot; they had valued the land of the new Yankee at over $200 a square foot. Brodsky was fierce. He said that the stadium serves mostly rich people and corporations, and that the public interest is being sacrificed.
My heart leapt. Brodsky is in a great tradition of the fierce articulate analytical and populist Jew in public life. He is advocating for the middle class. There is no apprehension of a hidden agenda. I grew up with these guys as the heroes my parents offered to me. (I'm guessing he's Jewish; he went to Brandeis, used the word "chutzpah" on air, sounds Jewish.)
I contrast him with the 29-year-old Jewish lawyer and political "fixture" from Denver whose name I won't publicize further, who went to the Republican Convention and got rolled by a hooker for $120,000.
Besides having too much money to know what to do with, and too much influence at the callow age of 29, this guy has been advocating for a U.S. attack on Iran to help Israel now. At least he is forthright about this. But it is these two phenomena–of great wealth/influence, and of a parochial agenda (Israel)–that is corrupting the Jewish presence in public life. It is why The Israel Lobby, by Walt and Mearsheimer, resonated when it ascribed the Iraq war in good measure to the well-funded neoconservatives. It is why we wonder about McCain's neocon aide Randy Scheunemann's shadowy and lucrative geopolitical agendas re Georgia. It is why Bill Kristol kvells at AIPAC about the importance of rich Jews like Hart Hasten of Indiana forming relationships with politicians like Dan Quayle of Indiana while the politicians are still wet behind the ears–and does not talk about this parochial agenda in his Times column. It is why Sarah Palin meets immediately with AIPAC in St. Paul, and Chris Matthews says on his show that she is being captured by AIPAC, and the "neocons," without elaboration. Americans aren't stupid; we know something's fishy, there's manipulation.
"Are you saying it's fraud?" asked Brian Lehrer, who was interviewing Brodsky about Yankee Stadium. Brodsky is very careful about his language, he said; we don't know what it is yet, but we know it is "manipulation."
Brian Lehrer, as anyone in New York can tell you, is the smartest most balanced guy in politics on the libleft. Yesterday Lehrer spoke with Tariq Ali about his new Pakistan book, The Duel. At one point Ali spoke of "domestic" political considerations in a way that seemed to refer to the Israel lobby. Not sure; I had to go into Home Depot. I cite this, though, because Lehrer, as smart as he is, didn't pick up on the point, and he has rarely if ever addressed the Israel lobby in his show. I hear him now and then talking about the sensitivities that surround Israel. I am sure he is on the "right side" of the issue, and against the occupation. But basically he is spineless about addressing neocon activities serving a rightwing Zionist agenda. (If I've missed something, let me know; I will happily correct, but) Two years back Mary-Kay Wilmers, editor of the LRB, said to me, she thought the American left too "is claimed" by the Israel lobby. A brilliant observation, and it applies to Lehrer. Brian: help restore that great tradition of Jewish public service when it comes to foreign policy manipulation. Let the sun shine in.
