Dan Halloran is a Republican City Councilman in New York City who is running for Gary Ackerman’s congressional seat in Queens and Long Island.
You’d think this is a safe Democratic district. According to the Almanac of American Politics for 2010, it was 29 percent Asian, 24 percent Hispanic, and 41 percent white. (40 percent Asian, per the NYT.)
But, big surprise, Halloran is now in Israel giving red meat quotes on standing by Israel and attacking Iran:
“The Arab Spring has turned into a nightmare in Egypt, where an Islamist government is coming into power, Syria is a complete mess, and of course Iran is on the brink of nuclear weapons,” he added.
And Halloran’s opponent Grace Meng, a liberal NY assemblywoman, is running to Obama’s right, and Halloran’s right, on Israel. Check out her statement “Where Grace Meng Agrees and Disagrees with President Obama on Israel,” in the NY Jewish Week, in which she invokes the neoconservative red line: even an Iranian “capability” to produce nuclear weapons should bring us to war.
And she sells out the president on the ’67 lines! Reminder: there will be no Palestinian state, ever.
Although I truly believe President Barack Obama has had good intentions in his policies toward Israel, and has accomplished much in the region, there are several key respects where he could have been — and still can be — a greater friend to Israel.
With regard to the Iranian nuclear threat, the President needs to clarify that he will not allow Iran to become capable of developing a nuclear weapon. We cannot allow Iran to get within sprinting distance of developing a nuclear warhead that can be used against Israel. President Obama should make clear to Iran and the world that the United States will use military force against Iran’s nuclear program if Iran achieves nuclear weapons capability. So there are no tragic mistakes on the world stage, there should be no misunderstanding on this point.
On the issue of negotiations with the Palestinians, the President was misguided in calling for a return to pre-1967 borders, and he was misguided in linking the freezing of West Bank housing construction to the advancement of peace negotiations. Furthermore, he should have visited Israel. The failure of the President’s peace initiative largely results from these missteps.
Several months ago the Times warned us this race would become “Israelapalooza,” on the heels of Robert Turner’s defeat of David Weprin in the Brooklyn congressional election. The Times said it was a competition for Jewish voters; which is to say, Jewish swing voters are hard right on Israel. I have to believe fundraising is also a big issue…
Halloran, btw, is neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a worshipper of the Norse Gods. Apparently, in this country, even Thor must stand with Israel.
Don’t be a thor lother.
“Don’t be a thor lother.”
Fredblogs, to make a pun in writing you must know how to spell, or do you think just denoting a lisp brings boffo yoks galore?
If true then that is totally hilarious. Stranger than fiction, indeed!
Apparently, in this country, even Thor must stand with Israel.
Even worse, he had to give up his Krauthammer in reparations.
Supporting Israel isn’t a left-right issue.
“Supporting Israel isn’t a left-right issue.”
You bet! By the time it’s over, both sides will be eager to disassociate themselves from Israel. Maybe you can’t spell, but I guess there is some awareness in there.
“Supporting Israel isn’t a left-right issue.”
Almost every poll I’ve seen suggests you’re wrong. Republicans support Israel much more strongly than Democrats do. Moreover, I distinctly recall the crowds at those anti-Cast Lead protests in San Francisco. It was like a reunion of every flavor of leftist known over the last fifty years — that and a lot of nice middle-class Palestinian children out of the suburbs.
Sorry, the people who don’t like Israel are on the fringes of both left and right. You just think the leftists generally don’t like Israel because this is a blog of the left fringe, not the right one. In San Francisco most of the Israel haters were on the left. Couldn’t be because San Francisco is about the left most city in the country. Except maybe Berkley. You probably couldn’t find as many people on the right in the whole city as were at that rally. But the rally was probably still a very small percentage of the whole city.
RE: “Even in majority-minority congressional district, Dem runs way right of Obama on Israel” ~ Weiss
MY COMMENT: Lick AIPAC’s jackboots! Did you hear me slave? Lick those boots! NOW!
P.S. And while you’re at it, lick the Zionist Organization of America’s Doc Martens too! Lick ‘em good, boy! REAL GOOD!
DOC MARTENS SKINHEAD CULTURE:
• PHOTO – link to google.com
• PHOTO – link to google.com
• PHOTO – link to google.com
P.P.S. SPEAKING OF “DOC MARTENS SKINHEAD CULTURE”,
MEET THE EDL: This Is England , 2006, NR, 100 minutes
Set in 1983, this semiautobiographical drama from writer-director Shane Meadows follows a lonely 11-year-old boy named Shaun [played by "wee man" Thomas Turgoose] as he grieves over the recent death of his father, who was killed fighting in the Falklands War. When he falls in with a gang of young skinheads, Shaun’s pain and anger make him susceptible to carrying out the group’s hateful agenda, exposing a dark side of modern Britain not often seen in the movies.</b?
Netflix Availability: Streaming and DVD
• Netflix listing – link to movies.netflix.com
• Internet Movie Datase – link to imdb.com
• This Is England Trailer HQ (VIDEO, 02:28) – link to youtube.com
• Thomas Turgoose first audition (VIDEO, 02:05) – link to youtube.com
P.S. MORE OF THAT IRREPRESSIBLE URCHIN, THOMAS TURGOOSE
• Somers Town (2008) – link to movies.netflix.com
• Somers Town, Movie Trailer (VIDEO, 02:04) – link to youtube.com
“I have to believe fundraising is also a big issue…”…Phil
The Dem party picks a liberal to back in a race against a repub but then also has to make sure they are Pro Israel to get the donors for their candidate.
Also hardly ever does a candidate just pop on and run on his own without approaching the party officials or being approached by them as a possible candidate.
The inordinate number of Jewish politicians in the Dem party compared to Jews in the Republican party is as much about money as about the candidate being liberal.