William C. Thompson Jr. is a progressive black Democrat running for mayor of New York, and he’s courting Jewish voters, according to this profile by David Chen in the Times. Thompson went to AIPAC, the Israel lobby, and evidently agreed with Dick Cheney there.
Mr. Thompson’s courtship of Jewish voters is emblematic of calculations being made by all of the candidates: perhaps 600,000 New Yorkers are expected to participate in the Democratic primary, and many of those voters are expected to be black or Jewish….
Mr. Thompson said he was the first comptroller to make city investments in Israeli bonds. He also took part in a panel, at a 2007 conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee headlined by Vice President Dick Cheney, on financial sanctions against “Iran and other state sponsors of terror.”
This is the PEP paradox. Progressive Except Palestine. Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal was ranked the most liberal senator in the nation, by National Journal two days ago.
But as we reported during the Chuck Hagel confirmation hearing, Blumenthal is a hawk on Israel; he called on Hagel to correct his error of 13 years ago and endorse a letter he had declined to sign in 2000, which was signed by 96 Senators affirming their solidarity with Israel during the Second Intifada. Blumenthal lectured Hagel:
And I just want to say about that letter: I wasn’t here when the letter was circulated; I would have signed it. But I would certainly join in urging that you reconsider and commit to the statement of support in the letter for the support of Israel. And if it’s appropriate now and applicable to today’s events, I hope you will consider expressing your support for it.
Thanks to Scott McConnell. And oh: Alex Kane covered the fact that Bill Thompson has allied himself with Assemblyman Dov Hikind a couple weeks ago.
No mystery here.
NYC= many Jewish voters + big zio donors + many benefits that can flow from NYC to Jews and Israel ….like those Isr bonds investments…..and many other things.
Money and self serving political careers = treasonous politicians.
New Yorkers! Arise! You have nothing to lose but your chains!
Can we somehow start a “Dump Thompson the Zionist” PAC? Movement?
How can we punish candidates (and I’m sure this includes all or most of the other Dems as well) for blatant PANDERING Zionism? How about “Jews, Palestinians, and Allies for whoever the Republican is?” or “Jews, Palestinians, and Allies for whoever refuses to perform the Zionist Pander”?
Infuriating!
I am absolutely shocked that someone running for mayor of New York feels he has to go bow at the feet of AIPAC in order to be elected. It’s not as if Israel policy is a real part of cleaning the streets of NYC, stopping crime in NYC, housing in NYC, employment in NYC, public education in NYC. Oh, and by the way does he have positions on the issues that are real to the people of NYC? I really wonder how much, if anything, he knows about the history of Palestine and the roots of the Israel/Palestine conflict?
Yeah, it’s the PEPsi generation of liberals; has been for ages.
And, on a related note, ZOA has lost its tax exemption and fired one of its officers for telling donors and potential donors so: http://forward.com/articles/166404/zoa-whistleblower-fired-amid-disarray/?p=all
Why has ZOA been tax-exempt in the first place? And why isn’t ZOA registered as an agent of a foreign government?
Don’t bother to ask all those Dicks and Janes recently polled who think Iran is a big threat to America.