Everyone knows about this already, sorry, it came out yesterday: the new senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, has done the unimaginable and said that the U.S. should cut aid to Israel because we have a financial crisis. Notice everyone piling on in this Haaretz piece, from J Street saying the idea is "alarming" to the Jewish arms of the Republican and Democratic parties slamming Paul as well.
Just a Kentucky senator, yes, with an aqua buddha in his past (mine is aubergine) but this is an important moment. He is responding to the grassroots opinion, Paul has to know that attitudes toward the Jewish state across the U.S. are shifting. In this respect, the U.S. is the most conservative country in the world. Last night on the News Hour Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch said that if Mubarak cracks down on the demonstrators, the U.S. should put its aid package "on the table." Israel has been cracking down on demonstrators for ages, and the aid package has never been on the table...
Rand Paul is a very interesting character. I still wouldn’t vote for him ,however.
“Darn it I wanna de-vorce, I’m keeping the dawg and NO you ain’t getting no alimony!”
Was heard all over Kentucky.
Where do you live?
Los Angeles. And you, pineywoodslim?
God bless Rand Paul.
I’m hearing if the demonstrations continue in Egypt for two more days, just two more days, then its GAME OVER for Mubarak.
TWO MORE DAYS!!
Hang in brave and beautiful people of Egypt!
Ever since history began, you have always wowed the world!
i just read on bijou’s AJ live blogging link there are 15,000 marching in luxor!
Hang in brave and beautiful people of Egypt!!!!!!!!!
Turn to live reporting on Al Jazeera English… it’s amazing. “Not limited to any one part of the country…” “Not limited to any one sector of the population…”
thank you again for that AJ link bijou..i’ll be following it all day.
I’ve seen many tweets saying Suez has fallen altogether – protestors in total control.
Suez liberated is CRUCIAL!
And guys – I’m serious about the TWO DAYS AND IT’S ROLL OVER MUBARAKOVER!
ya! here’s the AJ liveblog link again.
new current video. less than 1/2 hr ago
Look at the talkbacks for the Ha’aretz article, Phil. Almost unanimous support for Paul.
I’ve been saying this for some time now, that it’s time for some US politician to stand up and openly declare that it’s time to cut Israel off, that the American people would stand up to applaud this position. Now we’ll see. And maybe the rest of the US politicians will see.
This move by Paul has the potential to shift Congress in a way that a century of BDS never could.
It’s definitely on the ‘debating table’ at the next election.
If the region survives our continuing covert/overt interference, that is.
Critical times!
The lid is coming off.
The lid is coming off.
it’s about time.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. (Rand Paul made the right decision, but for the wrong reasons.) He believes Israel is “a fountain of peace and a fountain of democracy within the Middle East,” but he still wants to end all foreign aid to everyone, because he is a total isolationist, a right-wing libertarian, and a Tea Party zealot.
Actually he voiced it behind the shield of a ‘poll’ and buttered it up as much as possible with the by now memorized by every dumb American: a fountain of democracy etc.
Meh, whatyagonnado? Sometimes creeps say the right thing.
Cut aid to Israel??? !!!
Ron, we hardly knew ye!
Drop us a line when you find work.
Don’t write him off so soon. Teabaggers aren’t neocons and don’t much like them. A lot of teabaggers resent Israel.
Well good for Rand Paul. Don’t agree with the guy on responsibility for the BP spill, the Civil Rights Act of ’64 or political economy in general, but credit where it’s due.
And by the way, why the need to smear Rand Paul or his father as “isolationists”? Paul pere et fils want trade, diplomatic relations, travel just like everyone else. Cutting off aid to Egypt & Israel will not suddenly turn us into a hermit-kingdom like North Korea, that’s ridiculous. Let’s hope Rand Paul gets more unequivocal and bolder on this topic. Because the center-left in this country just doesn’t have the guts to talk like that.
Case in point is Human Rights Watch’s Tom Malinowski, who says aid to Egypt should go on the chopping block only if Mubarak doesn’t call off his riot police. Does this mean that the aid to Mubarak was somehow legit before all this? Sorry, there is just no possible justification for US aid to Egypt, or to Israel. Aid shouldn’t be conditioned on improvements in human rights or some illusory slowdown in West Bank colonization, aid should just be zeroed out immediately.
And thank you J Street for revealing your true ethno-chauvinist colors by calling Paul’s statement “alarming.” Honestly, how can nice liberals insist that Israel deserves more foreign aid than Haiti or Nicaragua? Pathetic!
You can always count on J Street to turn yellow.
why the need to smear Rand Paul or his father as “isolationists”
i didn’t realize isolationist was a smear. wasn’t george washington an isolationist?
ever since i heard rand paul say he wouldn’t have voted for the civil rights act i knew we had deep chasm between us.
He wants to repeal Roe V Wade, too.
I agree with Paul about cutting aid to Israel, and not just because of the “financial crisis” – but I think my objections to the US’s enablement of Israel are a bit more principled; Paul is a straight up anti-semite. Hes not thinking “fiscally” hes thinking ” I really just dont like Jews.”
I hate throwing sht like that around (especially since Im not in the Tribe) but I went to prep school with about two hundred guys like him. they’ve come up with a million terms and covers for their racism etc.
Paul is a straight up anti-semite. Hes not thinking “fiscally” hes thinking ” I really just dont like Jews
how do you know?
He courted the white supremacist vote with his “not sure about the civil rights act” bit last year- he’s taken their money. Hes a big hit with the Liberty Lobby and the Militia scene. Restricted Country Club all his life – But you cant for the life of you think that he might not like Jews. His old man openly longs for the Confederacy but no way could his kid be a racist and a anti-semite…..
“Paul is a straight up anti-semite. Hes not thinking “fiscally” hes thinking ” I really just dont like Jews.”
I dunno, Dan. Hitler was an anti-semite; Martin Luther was an anti-semite.
But Rand Paul? It’s hard to see this guy like those two or others like them.