‘NYT’ and ‘MSNBC’ leave Marco Rubio backer’s Israel agenda out of the story

US Politics
on 38 Comments
Norman Braman
Norman Braman

There are a lot of elephants running around the room in this piece in the New York Times today titled, “Billionaire lifts Marco Rubio, Politically and Personally.”

Senator Rubio has vaulted to the front of the Republican presidential field, and the billionaire who is expected to spend $10 million to try and make him president is Norman Braman, 82, South Florida auto dealer and professional sports team owner. The fact that Braman is a big Israel supporter appears just once in the (interminable) piece: his “ardent commitment to Israel.” We don’t learn that a few days after Rubio was elected to the Senate, in 2010, he made his first trip to Israel and met Braman and his family there. We don’t learn that Braman is Jewish– and that he believes that Israel’s creation revolutionized Jewish life in the west.

And so the authors, Michael Barbaro and Steve Eder can get away with this stretcher:

Pressed on his financial ties to Mr. Braman, Mr. Rubio said in an interview that he saw no ethical issue. “What is the conflict?” he asked. “I don’t ever recall Norman Braman ever asking for anything for himself.”

I just watched Rubio on the Senate floor saying he wanted Iran to recognize Israel’s existence before the U.S. cuts any nuclear deal with Iran. Does that have anything to do with the fact that he long discussed Israel with Braman and went there with his donor immediately after he got on to the national stage? I think it does, but our leading newspaper can’t even ask the question, about perhaps the most important foreign-policy issue of the coming election.

More whitewash, at MSNBC. Another piece on Braman that doesn’t mention Israel, and claims Braman wants nothing of Rubio.

“Norm Braman is a great man, a pillar of the South Florida community and someone who I’m personally close to. I’m very proud to be associated with him,” Rubio said in an interview early Saturday evening, after he walked up and down Greenville’s Main Street shaking hands with voters. He repeated past assertions that there’s no ethical conflicts in the relationship because Braman has never asked him for political favors.

Again, just days after he was elected to the Senate, Rubio was traveling to Israel to meet Braman there. Till our press even addresses the issue of the Israel lobby, people are going to form dark and conspiratorial views of the extent of its influence. And until it addresses the issue, some conspiratorial ideas will actually have merit. We need sunshine. Especially from Jewish writers, who understand the role of Zionism inside Jewish life.

And by the way, a piece in the Times today about Republican hopefuls adopting a “muscular foreign policy” at a South Carolina Freedom Summit was more frank about the Israel lobby’s presence in our politics. Nick Corasanti reported:

[Wisconsin Governor Scott] Walker, who does not have as much experience as some of his potential rivals on foreign policy, sought to demonstrate that he is working to address what could be viewed as his greatest weakness. Hours after he left the stage, he boarded a plane to Israel for what is being billed as a “listening tour,” which he has said includes a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a schedule of his trip obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Walker will also tour the Western Wall in Jerusalem, meet with members of Parliament and the Israeli Defense Forces, and take a helicopter tour of Israel.

But aside from a quick mention during his remarks, Mr. Walker was unwilling to discuss the trip.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.

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38 Responses

  1. pabelmont
    May 10, 2015, 12:19 pm

    TPP? Russia? ISIS? Syria? Where better to broaden his education than Israel! Better than a university. And all that money!

  2. Rooster
    May 10, 2015, 1:57 pm

    And this morning on Meet The Press, a story on Sheldon Adelson as GOP Kingmaker, co-investigated by UC Berkeley journalism students according to the intro, mentioned Israel exactly zero times.

    Must not be relevant.

    • Citizen
      May 11, 2015, 9:21 am

      @ Rooster
      Yes, I watched the first segment of a new series on Meet The Press on US Billionaires in our political campaigns; it focused on Sheldon Adelson, the groveling GOP candidates at his feet, and the specific question, what’ s his motive? A side bar stayed on screen near the end, just to stress this is the question. We were treated to a glimpse of an Israeli flag early on, and one candidate singing out his priority as Israel’s security, and then we got a cut of Reid telling us Adelson’s motivated by “ideological reasons, not money.” There’s no follow up; neither the narrative nor anybody shown specifying anything about Sheldon’s motive(s) beyond what Reid said.

      What ideological reasons? The show pinpointed the key question” Why did, and why will Sheldon shower big donations on his selections? Zionism, Israel. Neither word was even mentioned, the key question selected by the show’s makers was asked with no answer, not even any suggestion.

  3. DaBakr
    May 10, 2015, 2:16 pm

    “We don’t learn that Braman is Jewish”

    pw…Jew counting again.

    • eGuard
      May 10, 2015, 2:40 pm

      False quoting, DaBakr. It says: We don’t learn that Braman is Jewish– and that he believes that …. Braman’s “Jewish beliefs” can be found through the link provided. These beliefs are a choice not a descend lest you did not get that, and are expressed as a political motivation for his sponsorship.

    • pabelmont
      May 10, 2015, 3:53 pm

      Right Debakr. A slip of Phil’s pen so to speak. The article mentions he is a big supporter of Israel only once. ZIONISM is, of course, the issue, not Jewishness. Braman’s Jewishness is likely to be the source of his Zionism, but so what? Even if he were a billionaire Christian Evangelist Zionist, Zionism and support for Israel are what’s important, not Jewishness, in this political context, namely, bribery or its near equivalent in support of Israel.

      However: “We don’t learn that Braman is Jewish– and that he believes that Israel’s creation revolutionized Jewish life in the west. ” So, we actually see that he is not only Jewish and a Zionist, but that he believes that the creation (and presumably the continuation indefinitely) of Israel is a strengthener of his kind of Jewish life in the USA. He doesn’t need Israel as a safe haven nor in any other way than to bolster his life here in the USA. At a guess, he supports racism there to avoid it here. (A non-Jewish Zionist mightn’t care about strengthening Jewish life in the USA.) He’s a Zionist because of the nature of his Jewishness, just as many anti-Zionist Jews are anti-Zionists because of the nature of their Jewishness. So perhaps his Jewishness is relevant.

      After all.

      And, O/T, I also believe that Zionism has transformed Jewish life in the USA, most dreadfully and regrettably. Jewishness used to be centered on religion or community and is now a sort of horrible you-must-agree-with-the-program fifth-column political platform.

      • DaBakr
        May 10, 2015, 7:30 pm

        @pb

        well then, since apprx 90% or more Jews in the US and worldwide are professed Zionists then I guess you really do have a problem with most Jews. To say one does not have a problem with Jews when it means only a small % is disingenuous in the extreme. I think that the anti-Zionist movement should just get on with the show and admit that Zionism is a problem with the vast majority of Jews in the world and stop being so apologetic for the belief. Being Jewish no longer lends any credibility to being anti-Zionist any longer either. People are finding out that JVP doesnt really mean its a Jewish organization and neutera cartei Jews are a microscopic and tiny group and third-the 25,000 or so Jews in Iran are not ‘free’ to express their opinions w/o sanction about Zionism and almost 95% of Iranian Jews have family in Israel.
        So really-the ‘Jews’ that commenters keep saying they ‘have no problem with’ are really only a very small % of Jews worldwide.

      • dmm
        May 10, 2015, 8:09 pm

        I’m sorry, pabelmont, when was that exactly when “Jewishness” (or Judaism, as we say in English) was *not* centered on “the land,” “Eretz Yisroel,” “Next year in Jerusalem,” etc.?

      • eGuard
        May 11, 2015, 2:53 am

        DaBakr: since apprx 90% or more Jews in the US and worldwide are professed Zionists.

        That’s Jew counting. Now I don’t mind mentioning & counting the expressed connecting between a chosen religion and a chosen political motivation. But others may “have a problem with that”. You for example.

        It becomes muddy for a person who does not differentiate between a religion and a descend. You for example.

      • hophmi
        May 11, 2015, 9:42 am

        The caption of the first photograph in the piece mentions that they’re at a pro-Israel event and that Israel is part of what brought them together.

        So where should we put in the piece that Braman is Jewish, a fact that is super-obvious already to anyone reading the article with an IQ higher than 5? And what is the journalistic reason for doing so? Mr. Braman supports Israel. So do Christians, Jews, atheists, conservatives, liberals, Muslims, Hindus, and most other Americans. Mr. Braman lives in Miami. So do Christians, atheists, conservatives, liberals, Cubans, Mexicans, African-Americans, Chinese people, Hindus and gay people. Mr. Braman works in the auto industry. So do . . .

        Your approach isn’t defensible, Phil, and it isn’t something the New York Times does for other religious and ethnic groups unless there is some journalistic reason.

      • eljay
        May 11, 2015, 10:58 am

        || pabelmont: ZIONISM is, of course, the issue, not Jewishness. ||

        || DaBakr: @pb well then, since apprx 90% or more Jews in the US and worldwide are professed Zionists then I guess you really do have a problem with most Jews. ||

        If “most Jews” (along with some (many?) non-Jews) support the injustice and immorality of Zio-supremacism, that – and not the fact that people oppose the injustice and immorality of Zio-supremacism – is the problem.

      • Boo
        May 11, 2015, 3:59 pm

        I agree that instead of “Jew counting”, we should be “Zionist counting”. The issue here is political philosophy, not religion. And its relevance to American politics is therefore indisputable.

      • DaBakr
        May 11, 2015, 4:21 pm

        not sure what @ej @cz or @eg even meant by their response but the main point still stands. Over 90% of Jews around the world identify as Zionist. how is Jewishness ‘not the problem’ except in the minds of the far-left wing fringe?

      • eljay
        May 12, 2015, 7:38 am

        || DaBakr: not sure what @ej @cz or @eg even meant by their response but the main point still stands. Over 90% of Jews around the world identify as Zionist. how is Jewishness ‘not the problem’ except in the minds of the far-left wing fringe? ||

        Are you seriously that dense? If over 90% of non-Jews were to identify as anti-Semitic, would you excuse the injustice and immorality of anti-Semitism on the ground that to oppose it would be to “have a problem with most Gentiles”?

        If your answer is ‘yes’, you’re full of sh*t. If you’re answer is ‘no’, you’re a hypocrite for excusing Zionism.

      • DaBakr
        May 12, 2015, 8:00 pm

        @ej

        well ej ‘the brilliant one’. If 90% of the world were anti-Semitic there wouldn’t be very many-if any jews in the world and it would be a topic of history-not morality. 10% is not much to stand up to a force of 90. You may feel like you are the morally superior one but if 90% of the world truly hated Jews I’d have to start wondering why. As it is-the very small % of Jew-haters that exist now I understand very well how they hide behind their exclusive and irrational focus on Israel to assuage their anti-semeitic guilt . While it may be a persistent problem in the world its a small problem with very loud espousers who just remain on a historical continuum ad nauseam.
        This blog is entertainment to me. What about you with your highly evolved morals?

      • eljay
        May 13, 2015, 7:26 am

        || DaBakr @ May 12, 2015, 8:00 pm ||

        Another Zio-supremacist writes yet another blather-filled paragraph in defence of the injustice and immorality that is Zio-supremacism.

        Their arguments in defence of Zio-supremacism always boil down to essentially two points:
        – “Jews have a right to do unto others things they would not have others do unto them. ”
        – “Yes, we are brutal serial rapists but, hey, at least we’re not serial killers!”

    • Citizen
      May 11, 2015, 9:58 am

      @ DaBakr

      Concerned Americans should be counting Zionists, especially Jewish ones since they have much more clout than insane Hagee’s poor minions:

      No US candidate 4 POTUS can afford 2 buck #AIPAC line & Zionist Billionaires R all #IsraelFirst guys link to shar.es via @grtvnews

      • DaBakr
        May 12, 2015, 8:04 pm

        @cz

        well-to repeat- as a “concerned” American if you were to count “Zionists” you would be counting over 90% of the Jewish population along with the other non-Jewish Zionists. As a truly concerned person you may not want to know the % of Zionists there actually are in the US. It might make you feel like a voice in the wilderness and it would be almost absurd for you to claim your ‘morally superior’ to all of these folks.

  4. just
    May 10, 2015, 2:53 pm

    Terribly sorry if this has already been reported, but it’s definitely troubling/gagworthy.

    …”GOP 2016 contender John Bolton touts foreign policy expertise on Isis and Iran
    John Bolton, ex-Bush administration ambassador to UN, warns of Isis infiltration into US and says Iran could lead ‘nuclear holocaust’ against Israel

    A former ambassador to the United Nations may soon add his name to the list of candidates, citing a lack of experience among rivals on what many Republicans believe will be one of the defining issues of the next election: foreign policy.

    John Bolton, who served in the administration of George W Bush, descended upon the South Carolina Freedom Summit on Saturday to test the waters for a 2016 presidential bid. His message: under Barack Obama, a terrorist attack is imminent.

    “Whether that attack in Garland, Texas was legitimately an Isis attack, I don’t know. They’ve taken credit for it; it may just be bluster,” Bolton said in an interview with the Guardian. “But even if it’s not an Isis attack, Isis is coming.”…

    …Most candidates have chosen rhetoric over proposals, pledging simply to bomb Isis into oblivion. On Saturday in Greenville, Florida senator Marco Rubio, considered relatively experienced in foreign policy matters, quoted Liam Neeson in the 2008 action movie Taken when he defined his message to terrorists as: “We will look for you, we will find you and we will kill you.”

    Bolton called for a broader military campaign and questioned whether the US-led coalition is actually bombing Isis and training Syrian rebels. US-led air strikes against Isis began in Iraq on 8 August and Syria on 23 September, and have now run into the thousands.

    Like other 2016 contenders, he also assailed the Obama administration’s nuclear accord with Iran, going so far as to say the Islamic Republic was “capable of carrying out a nuclear holocaust” against Israel.

    Bolton pointed to public polling showing that most Americans oppose the Iran deal. In recent weeks, however, polling has found that a majority support the framework agreement announced last month and oppose action by Congress that would sabotage the deal.

    Bolton has nonetheless been a constant critic of the negotiations. In March, he penned a controversial op-ed in the New York Times in which he called for bombing Iran before it got a nuclear weapon.

    He has also adopted one of the central conservative arguments against Obama’s foreign policy – that the president lacks leadership ability and is anti-war. Asked if American voters, increasingly wary of military intervention after more than a decade of war, would want a return to a hawkish foreign policy, Bolton again blamed Obama for such public sentiment.

    “If he doesn’t explain that defending ourselves at a distance there is better than defending ourselves here, then people don’t understand why we’re there,” he said. “They don’t understand why Americans are dying. They don’t understand why it’s necessary.”

    So what would make Bolton stand out in a primary in which most candidates are drawing on the same themes?

    “I think I’ve got the most real experience of foreign policy of any of them, so the real question is how they’re going to catch up with me,” he said.”…

    link to theguardian.com

    Never mind that his “foreign policy” was an abject failure that its millions of victims and the world are still paying for.

    • Boo
      May 11, 2015, 4:02 pm

      John “Goo Goo Ga Joob” Bolton has no chance at the GOP presidential nomination. He’s running for two reasons only: to feed his gigantic ego and to position himself as potential kingmaker to the eventual nominee. The latter isn’t going to happen either, because he’s glow-in-the-dark radioactive.

      • Qualtrough
        May 11, 2015, 11:40 pm

        Boo–More like John “Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog’s eye” Bolton.

    • piotr
      May 11, 2015, 10:38 pm

      You can rationalize your ugly prejudice against walrus-Americans by saying that you merely oppose psychopaths, but that conveniently ignores the fact that 100% of public figures in USA that resemble walruses both with their mustaches and favoring mode of communication (loud bellowing) are all psychopaths. (A photo of John Bolton link to animal-backgrounds.com )

  5. eGuard
    May 10, 2015, 2:53 pm

    lol at NYT writing: [Braman] helped cover the cost of Mr. Rubio’s salary as an instructor at a Miami college.

    Whose cost was that salary before, then? Did the college not pay Rubio?

  6. eGuard
    May 10, 2015, 2:59 pm

    Then there is this well constructed micro-statement by Rubio: I don’t ever recall Norman Braman ever asking for anything for himself., repeated in various forms. A type of statement that breaks down into a lie when you change one letter.

    Of course, after reading this NYT piece Rubio cannot claim this ignorance any more. On top of this, Rubio shows a dangerous lack of sensitivity to the concept of “buying influence”. He could start asking himself: “Did Braman ever ask or push a favour that is contrary to US’s interests?”

    • piotr
      May 11, 2015, 11:03 pm

      The newest on the topic from NYT is a bit surprising:

      Norman Braman, the billionaire Miami auto dealer who is prepared to pour $10 million into Senator Marco Rubio‘s “super PAC,” has an unexpected view of campaign donations.

      He hates them.

      “It’s a colossal waste of good money,” he said during a recent interview in Miami.

      “It’s a shame for any of this money to have to go into politics,” he added. “It should be utilized for much better purposes. There’s too many needs out there for this money to flow.”

      But he sees no way around generously bankrolling candidates like Mr. Rubio, given the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United and the rising reliance on super PACs that can accept unlimited donations.

      “In the world of politics today, unfortunately, super PACs are the name of the game,” Mr. Braman said. “The system has it where you have to have it in order to compete.”

      I see a good attack spot against Rubio: “Rubio – a colossal waste of good money, in the words of his mentor and sponsor”. Actually, the problem was already described, namely that most GOP candidates got their billionaire friends, so either those fat cats will get to some kind of agreement or they will waste what Braman called “good money”.

  7. David Doppler
    May 10, 2015, 3:51 pm

    “Till our press even addresses the issue of the Israel lobby, people are going to form dark and conspiratorial views of the extent of its influence. And until it addresses the issue, some conspiratorial ideas will actually have merit. We need sunshine. Especially from Jewish writers, who [may from personal experience be in a better position to] understand the role of Zionism inside Jewish life.”

    A good thought, Phil, but your last sentence claims a special place for Jewish writers, as if others are less qualified, and should therefore be discouraged or should self-edit to discourage themselves from trying. See my suggested edit in brackets, intended to eliminate this bias.

    Or do you endorse the idea that non-Jews should be discouraged from expressing their views and opinions on the role of Zionism in Jewish life and, by extension, in the lives of American Jews and America generally?

    I personally think it would be valuable for people addressing issues relating to the Middle East to clarify their relationship to Zionism, from deep opposition, through total ignorance or indifference through historical justification, through gooey eyed love, through having loved ones fighting in the IDF, to drawing direct justification for Israel’s oppression and expansion based on biblical passages from 2500 years ago, and the many shades of variation and combination mixed in. Same goes for those with special attachments or reasons to oppose the goals of the Palestinian people for their own country.

    They should all have permission to speak their freely speak their minds in good faith, because only through such discourse can an issue be fully vetted in American society.

  8. JeffB
    May 10, 2015, 4:33 pm

    @Phil

    Let me help you out.

    Till our press even addresses the issue of the Israel lobby, people are going to form dark and conspiratorial views of the extent of its influence.

    Pro-Israel views poll around 70%. The Israeli lobby isn’t needed for shaping popular opinion. The Israeli lobby’s job is to counter Arabist oil interests so that Jews don’t experience what they did before the 2nd World War and during Eisenhower where the policy of Britain and the USA was functionally anti-Zionist. The human rights lobby is just a loud annoyance and a tool of the oil lobby. With Saudi Arabia apparently having turned against the Palestinians and the USA moving to becoming an oil exporter and thus less concerned about Middle East stability all-together it is likely that this fight is won.

    So in short the extent of the Israeli lobby is to counter the oil lobby where possible but the situation on the ground is getting better and that may improve this decade.

    Especially from Jewish writers, who understand the role of Zionism inside Jewish life.

    Zionism is the center of Jewish life both communally and often individually. About 1/2 the Jews on the planet live in Israel. Of the remaining 1/2 80% are American. Those American Jews are often biologically 1/2 Jewish and mostly only lightly affiliated with Jewish ritual. Zionism is a cheap and effective way of showing their religious identity.

    The Orthodox are migrating to Israel and from Israel. So for them more and more they or their relatives are living in Israel, and not only do their relatives life their but most of them have been to Israel multiple times. For the Orthodox American Jewish community they are probably about 2 generations from functioning like an Israeli immigrant community that flows back and forth similar to Mexican Americans in the Southwest or Canadian Americans in New England.

    The political newspapers cover this. Jews are Zionists. Jews vote the Israel issue. Jews are secular and educated and thus by and large Democrats. They are also well off and white (since the 1950s) and thus the richest among them lean Republican. Jews mostly consider anti-Zionism to be full on Jew baiting anti-Semitism they don’t distinguish between
    a) X hates Israel
    b) X hates American Jews

    And like any other voting group “does politician Y care about my me” rates higher than “do I agree with Y on the issues”. Which means they react very aggressively to anti-Israeli politicians and their support plunges. Same as other groups in a similar situation. Ask Mitt Romney how many Hispanics who thought he was an anti-Hispanic bigot but agreed with him over Obama on the social issues voted for him. The situation with Obama over Israel and Iran a few months back shows how this works. Secular Democratic fundraisers and pollsters freaked out when Obama’s Jewish approval dropped 8 points over what was an inside the beltway squabble.

    Right now calling Netanyahu “the Republican Senator from Israel” is a joke. But that sort of attitude is how Jews avoid dual loyalty issues. Israel as a USA vassal solves their problem of dual loyalty.

    No great conspiracy. Just the system working like it should.

    • Annie Robbins
      May 10, 2015, 4:40 pm

      The human rights lobby is just a loud annoyance and a tool of the oil lobby.

      uh huh. what a waste of bandwidth you are.

      • Abierno
        May 10, 2015, 9:52 pm

        And my impression after Netanyahu’s speeches to our congress, absent an invitation from the our president , shows the reverse – that the US is a vassal of israel, directing our foreign policy, enlisting the US in wars and. being subsidized to the tune of nearly $9 million per day, plus additional armaments in times of crisis as well as funding the Iron Dome and David ‘s sling.

      • Annie Robbins
        May 12, 2015, 3:42 pm

        exactly abierno

    • Keith
      May 10, 2015, 8:53 pm

      JEFFB- “Pro-Israel views poll around 70%.”

      Yes, Zionist influence within the doctrinal system in general and the media in particular is most impressive.

      • bryan
        May 11, 2015, 5:33 am

        JEFFB: “Pro-Israel views poll around 70%.”

        KEITH: It may be “the impressive influence of the Zionist media”, but it may be a far broader problem i.e. the amazing ignorance of the the American public and their susceptibility to crazy religious and political ideas. “The US has one of the highest levels of public belief in biblical or other religious accounts of the origins of life on earth among industrialized countries. According to a 2007 Gallup poll, about 43% of Americans believe that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.” This is only slightly less than the 46% reported in a 2006 Gallup poll.” According to Gallop, belief in Young Earth Creationism stands at 60% among Republicans and at 38% among Democrats. In advanced and well-educated Western countries like Iceland, Norway, France, UK, Japan over 80% of the public agree with the statement that “Human Beings developed from earlier species of animals, while 40% of Americans (less than in any European country) subscribe to this view. Acceptance of the theory of evolution in the USA is as low as 8% among Jehovah’s Witnesses, 22% among Mormons, and 23% among Evangelical Protestants.42% of Americans believe that people can be possessed by the devil; 37% that houses can be haunted; 21% believe there are witches; not to mention the countless millions who believe Elvis has been kidnapped by three-legged aliens. Can I therefore humbly suggest that their are far more serious problems afflicting American society than simply the malign influence of Zionism.

        See link to en.wikipedia.org and link to gallup.com

    • Boo
      May 11, 2015, 4:07 pm

      “The extent of the Israeli lobby is to counter the oil lobby”

      So as soon as the US achieves energy independence, the Israel lobby will fold up its tents and vanish in the gloom of night?

      In that case, all good Americans need to be contributing to the alternative-energy lobby.

  9. Keith
    May 10, 2015, 8:48 pm

    PHIL- “We don’t learn that Braman is Jewish– and that he believes that Israel’s creation revolutionized Jewish life in the west.”

    This is exactly what I have been saying. American Jewish (particularly Jewish Zionist) success has been facilitated by organized Jewish Zionist solidarity. You can’t really understand the phenomenal success of American Jews without reference to Israel and Zionism and the exploitation of Jewish victimhood. Likewise, you can’t understand ongoing support for Israel and Zionism without taking account of Zionism’s success in achieving Jewish access to the corridors of power. The Jewish Zionist cadres are genuinely fearful of the myth of eternal and irrational anti-Semitism whereas the elites are fearful that they will lose their competitive advantage. I end with a quote from the article you linked:

    “All the advantages that Jews have today, that generations have since the establishment of Israel has been augmented by Israel…” link to mondoweiss.net

    • Keith
      May 10, 2015, 9:00 pm

      On a closely related issue, is anyone familiar with the percent of Jewish billionaires who are Zionists? How closely related is support for Israel and Zionism to becoming a Jewish fat-cat? Any anti-Zionist Jewish billionaires out there?

  10. just
    May 10, 2015, 11:36 pm

    gaaak!

    “Jeb Bush: I would have invaded Iraq
    Presumed Republican presidential hopeful tells Fox News say Hillary Clinton would have signed off the 2003 invasion, too, though admits mistakes were made in the aftermath”

    John Bolton, Jeb Bush, the Neocons, and the Clintons. It’s that awful and irritating movie all over again…Killer Groundhog Day, aka War Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry.

    link to theguardian.com

    • bryan
      May 15, 2015, 9:57 am

      Don’t judge a book by its cover, Just. Shortly after saying I would have invaded Iraq, he flips-flops to say, if I, or my brother had given it proper thought, done due diligence and not been influenced by the bastards he appointed the invasion wouldn’t have taken place, but it would still have been the right thing to do. Tomorrow he might be saying the whole thing was a disastrous shambles and could only happen because those bastards he appointed were, unknown to him, agents of a foreign state. They say a society gets the politicians they deserve, but I wouldn’t wish these idiots on my worst enemies.

  11. RobertHenryEller
    May 11, 2015, 8:59 am

    “How to Push Back Against Billionaire Donors:

    Reporters should apply the same level of scrutiny to campaign financiers as they do to political candidates.”

    by Peter Beinart, The Atlantic

    link to theatlantic.com

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