This is weird. Last week American Thinker, one of countless neocon websites that are underfoot these days, ran a piece by Ed Lasky titled, "How Allies of George Soros Helped Bring Down Wachovia Bank," and blamed Wachovia's troubles on a deal it made to buy Golden West Financial, a savings and loan, for $24 billion two years ago, from Herb and Marion Sandler. Not a great deal: these days Wachovia is trying to sell itself to Wells Fargo for about 60 percent of that figure.
The financial stuff was just a pretext. "Who are the Sandlers?" Lasky asked; and he saved his venom for the Sandlers' munificent political activities. The Sandlers are on the left. According to Wikipedia, they've put money into Human Rights Watch, Moveon.org, Acorn, and ProPublica, a foundation that gives money to investigative journalists. Lasky mocks the Sandlers for having hurt the little guy through their thrift's sale, and says they're part of a "left-wing conspiracy" that's going to go wide if Obama is elected. Can't wait!
Anyway, here's the weird part. "Who are the Sandlers?" Exactly. They're under the radar. I'd never heard of them myself till a friend sent me Lasky's piece last week. Well on Saturday Night, the Sandlers were front and center on SNL in a sketch about the financial crisis parodying a CSPAN press conference held by Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank. "The Sandlers" had a part in the press conference as a couple involved in "corrupt" and predatory loan practices. The piece captioned them: "Herbert and Marion Sandler: People who should be shot." Herb Sandler was played with a heavy New York accent. Now the real Sandler is angry. Yesterday he told AP that he's being "tarred."
The SNL sketch also went after George Soros, saying he now owns the economy. Rightwing bloggers are charged over what one calls the exposure of "the money behind far-leftwing causes and entities."
The Sandlers truly are a threat to the right. That's because leftwing donors are trying to change the water in the American aquarium, praise the lord. Some of these donors are imitating the right, in that they're trying to take over the levers of influence–paying for thinktanks and foundations to get ideas out that will bring about more progressive policies. (And if that writing is somewhat altarboyish and wooden, cut me a break; I need some leftwing jing.) I'm told the Sandlers were involved in some of the discussions about a lobby that would be an alternative to AIPAC. My canary says they have helped out J Street.
But I repeat: No one's ever heard of the Sandlers; and now they have.
So why is SNL lending its august center-left platform to a rightwing agenda? Here's one guess: Not long ago, SNL employed as an associate producer a woman named Ayala Cohen, the wife of John Podhoretz, the editorial director of Commentary magazine. Seems like Ayala's still with the show. Her rabbi dad teaches at Jewish Theological Seminary, and is a Zionist, of course, looks like an unreconstructed one, and once wrote an article on one of my favorite subjects: Jewish Camping. Now that's funny.
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If you get 25 billion for something that turns out to be worthless, a little ribbing in the media is the least you ought to expect.
The Sandlers were a threat to a lot more than the political right.
I have to point out that Phil is looking at an issue that I brought up in the blog entry he accused of anti-Semitism: Gilad Atzmon – Credit Crunch or rather Zio Punch? | Palestine Think Tank.
Jeff Jacoby like many other Neocons is trying to foist the blame for the subprime meltdown on the left.
Yet, the problem with the subprime mortgages was not really the making of the loans but the securitization of the loans and the rating of the subprime mortgage-based securities (CDOs), for they were treated as high yield low risk junk bonds — a sort of oxymoronic form of gross fiduciary irresponsibility because they were as a consequence able to have a huge leveraged effect throughout the world financial industry to the detriment of the world economy.
Lasky is either completely clueless in finance or totally intellectually dishonest or both.
Here is an article that can help explain the finance mess http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ah839IWTLP9s.
Unfortunately, it does not address the political conspiratorial roots that lie in Neocon-warmongering, for the problem with the ratings would never have shown itself if the economic boom that the Neocons had promised had really occurred.
If you get 25 billion for something that turns out to be worthless, a little ribbing in the media is the least you ought to expect.
I am not a fan of Ed Lasky and The American Thinker, quite the opposite. Thus I would question Lasky's scapegoat "outing"
America no doubt can use a foundation on the left and I agree with Phil, the idea of Jewish camping is funny. We should alert the neurotic New Yorker on the topic.
the economic boom that the Neocons had promised had really occurred.
Did they promise a boom? I only remember them celebrating over at Weekly Standard the brilliant perspectives of economy under Bush.
Excellent, Joachim. I had to do a double when I read this entry by Phil Weis after having accused you of anti semitism, he then backs your thesis!
Yes they did promise a boom, LeaNder, they've promised lots of booms, duly delivered then cleaned up after the bubble burst. They promised a boom after Iraq was dissmembered and privatised, not materialsed due to heavy resistance, however, the usual faces are making a killing, literally.
Joachim Martillo is a Jew, who the hell gave Weis or any particulalr one of us the keys. Has Weis an argument to offer other than the usual rhetoric I had hoped he might be above. If he is so sure Joachim is wrong, why not deabte the issue with him? If he can't he should withdraw the hyperbole.
"leftwing donors are trying to change the water in the American aquarium"
Oh, please, please let them succeed!
We hate Miersheimer and Walt, we hate Gilad Atzmon, we hate Juan Cole, we hate Joachim Martillo. We hate them because they're nailing our asses.
The kid in the link below faught in Iraq, was tortured and murdered in Iraq. He Isn't Jewish and this damned war was all about Israel. It's not even opinion any more, it's a known fact few want to own up to. Joachim goes after the money trail and G-d bless him for that. He's doing something for the kid in the link below, a 19 year old private. if he's a self hating anti semite then I'm one too!
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6041368.html
One more likely reason: Lorne Michaels is right wing.
That said, I wouldn't put MoveOn.org or Human Rights Watch on the left. The former is a front for the corporate Democrats (funders of Iraq war, renewers of the Patriot Act and FISA courts, bailers-out extraordinaire of Wall Street). The latter is now an echo chamber for the US establishment with its harangues of left wing rule in Venezuela.
If the Sandlers wanted to move America leftward, they wouldn't be wasting their money on these decidely neoliberal groups. Likelier is they want to buy shares in the forthcoming redistribution of government patronage under Obama. Maybe it's an early deposit on an ambassadorship. No quo if you don't show the quid!
Go Rachael. I bet this kid didn't go to summer camp either.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6041368.html
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