The Washington Post ticks me off. Here it makes a foodfight out of a serious battle between Joe Klein and the New Republic’s James Kirchick during a panel at the Jewish Federations General Assembly this week. You’d think the fact that Joe Klein agrees with Walt and Mearsheimer that neoconservatives put Israel first in their disastrous Iraq war plans would be the subject of a real investigation. It is, after all, the best and the brightest of our generation: another elitist moral hazard with a gory outcome. And the problem hasn’t gone away, because it’s not been fully exposed, let alone the guillotines erected on the mall.
You’d think the fact that sagacious Joe Klein sees tough John McCain as a captive of the Jewish neocons is also important. No. Remember that we just went through a presidential election campaign in which neoconservatism/Israel policy was one of the most important differences between the two candidates, and the issue was almost never addressed head-on by the press. Yes, it is a conspiracy: a conspiracy of incuriosity, underlaid by religious attachment. Klein’s comments remind me that all the neocons’ apologists, including Douglas Feith himself, always argue that George W. Bush and Cheney bear the full responsibility of pulling the Iraq trigger. As if ideas had nothing to do with it.
A rich and important subject; but for the Post, this is a cute story about a spat between journalists. When will we ever learn? The gossip:
People in the room say things heated up on the panel when Klein said he was dismayed that John McCain was swayed, he said, by Jewish neocons to support the war in Iraq, and cited his own experience with soldiers on the front line. Kirchick noted McCain’s Vietnam experience — and Klein said it wasn’t the same, since McCain fought from the air. Kirchick lit into Klein, saying Klein was denigrating McCain’s service and hard years in a POW camp. Klein argued back, saying he honors McCain’s time as a prisoner — but that the senator’s experience doesn’t relate to current troop experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lively stuff, huh? Discussion moderator Ron Kampeas, a journalist with Jewish news agency JTA, told us "We had people walking out later saying, ‘This is the best panel!’ "
As the crowd filtered out into the hallway of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Klein caught up with Kirchick and said he fully expected the young journalist would "misrepresent" what he had just said. Words were exchanged — including the expletives.
"It was an entirely expected confrontation," Klein told us today, saying that Kirchick "has distorted the stuff I’ve been writing, puts words in my mouth. He says I accuse Jewish neoconservatives of being traitors, which is a word I’ve never used. I’ve said, at times they put the interests of Israel above the interests of the U.S."
Klein may not have used the word, but that doesn’t mean they’re not traitors.
Even without the Israel connection, lying the nation into an unnecessary war doesn’t count as treason?
“Remember that we just went through a presidential election campaign in which neoconservatism/Israel policy was one of the most important differences between the two candidates…”
I actually have to disagree with you there. I don’t perceive a genuine policy difference between the Obama Administration and McCain and the neoconservative machine when it comes to the war and foreign policy. Actually, can somebody name more than one or two differences? Speeches don’t count, only actual policy.
Off the top of my head, there was abandonment of the missile defense shield (which is basically a billion dollar giveaway to the defense industry for a technology that is more bluff than anything else)… but really, that’s it. Obama hasn’t done anything to actually stop settlement construction in the West Bank. And his administration still touts the big lies about Iran’s nuclear program (say what you will but Iran has committed no treaty violations at this point). The drone bombing raids that have a ridiculously high civilian casualty count? Obama’s doing more of those.
I respect that we need to make Israel a central issue if we’re going to turn this country around but let’s not pretend that it is, for real, yet, when it isn’t. The rhetoric from the candidates may have differed, but as a matter of policy when it comes to Israel, nothing has changed.
The differences between the candidates on the Israeli issue were mostly in the minds of the Israelis. Rosner’s “Israel Project” always had McCain near the top of the candidates on its Good For Israel list and Obama down near the bottom. This appears to have been based primarily on McCain’s wish to “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran”, which Rosner’s panelists equated with Israel’s good.
Obama as a candidate put in all the usual ass-kissing hours at AIPAC, but he couldn’t overcome the visceral distrust that he didn’t pucker hard enough. Obama as a president has managed to be even a greater disappointment to both Israelis and lovers of freedom.
I actually, I suspect Obama is exactly the candidate AIPAC and company wanted, precisely because they had painted him as an enemy of Israel when he isn’t by any stretch.
They get the best of both worlds — a President who does everything they tell him to, but yet they can turn to each other and bitch and moan (loudly enough for the rest of the world to have to hear it, of course) about how the new American President is so hostile to Israel and how they aren’t getting their way (when, in fact, they are).
On top of all of that, Zionists think they’ve temporarily pacified the African American community into not noticing that their 15% minority is represented by a lone senator out of a hundred, whereas the proportions for the Jewish minority are essentially the reverse.
He says I accuse Jewish neoconservatives of being traitors, which is a word I’ve never used.
I’ll call them traitors. That is exactly what they are. Klein is just beating around the bush because the people he is trying to communicate with aren’t ready for the whole truth.
I’d have to agree. Hell, take a look-see at what one of our resident Zionists is posting over here. Way to support the troops by saying they were fated to die for Israel’s best interests, huh.
underlaid by religious attachment, which Jeffrey Goldberg says is only important to discuss when you’re talking about Muslims or Christians, never Jews.
For the record, Joe Klein is one of my journo heroes.
This “gossip” was resonance with non-Jews, Phil.