I hear whispers that NJ Senator Cory Booker is tilting in favor of the Iran Deal. NJ.com quotes an Israel lobbyist calling this the biggest vote of Booker’s career. And the newspaper is perfectly frank about the money angle. Reporter Jonathan D. Salant writes:
Booker faces a familiar dilemma: Side with President Obama or the pro-Israel community that gave him more money during the 2014 election than any other member of Congress.
Booker received $364,876 from the pro-Israel community for the 2014 elections, his seventh biggest source of campaign contributions and more than any other candidate running that year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.
“Everybody’s talking to him,” said [Ben] Chouake, whose NorPAC contributed or raised $158,871 for Booker, his biggest source of campaign cash for the 2014 elections. “He’s a natural leader. This is the most important vote of his career.”…
An AIPAC-backed advocacy group, Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, is running television ads against the deal, including in the two markets that cover New Jersey, New York City and Philadelphia.
Booker is getting more cover. Mel Levine, the former California congressman who speaks at AIPAC and J Street, is for the deal. Levine is a macher, he counts in the Jewish community. Senator Jon Tester of Montana also announced for the deal yesterday.
So the Washington Post whipcount lists 57 senators against the deal, 30 in favor, and 13 undeclared. That means opponents need to get 10 of those 13 to override a presidential veto. The smart money is that they won’t be able to get there.
Hillary Clinton’s big backer, Haim Saban, is against the deal but he says it’s a done deal, per a report by Julie Hirschfeld Davis at the Times; and he says pro Israel forces ought to accept it and work to shore up the relationship between the US and Israel.
“Therefore, the United States and Israel, as staunch allies, should focus on the day after…”
Netanyahu may already be focused on that day. Chemi Shalev of Haaretz has a grim analysis: Netanyahu has resisted the buyout that the American government has offered him (tons of arms) over the Iran deal so that he can wage a long game, to try and burn down Obama’s Democratic (donor) base and get a Republican in the White House in 2016:
According to his view, after the dust settles in Congress, Democrats will be desperate to mend fences with Jewish voters and donors in advance of the 2016 elections and will be pressing the administration to mollify Netanyahu, who will continue to wax indignant for as long as possible. His leverage against an administration that has gotten its way will be far greater than it is against a president who is pulling out all stops to achieve victory, he believes.
Netanyahu also sees fringe benefits in his strategy, according to people who have heard him. He believes that the fight over the Iran deal will weaken the Democrats not only with Jews but also with the American public overall. ..
This could be Netanyahu’s contribution to a Republican victory in November 2016. He would then gain a grateful GOP President who may not scuttle the deal overnight, as he or she now promises, but would certainly adopt a tougher attitude on its implementation, Netanyahu believes.
From Netanyahu’s point of view, this could be a win-win rather than a lose-lose situation: he would take credit for extracting the best possible security compensation for Israel’s defense.
Speaking of 2016, here is a report from Roger Simon of Politico:
Bush in Iowa: “Paul Wolfowitz is providing some advice (to me.)”
Remember Wolfowitz? He said the Iraqis would welcome an invasion with flowers. So why do you think Bush has him on board? To try and win the Sheldon Adelson primary; to make himself credible to moneyed neoconservatives after he screwed up by having James A. Baker, who spoke at J Street in favor of a Palestinian state and against the settlement project, on his team.
This new Gallup poll shows how volatile the issue is. Democrats approve Obama’s handling of Iran 56-29, but Republicans disapprove by 82-10 and Independents also disapprove by 58-31. I do believe the ad onslaught against the deal has worked. They could demonize Cuba too, if they chose to.
More on Netanyahu’s game. Paul W. Kahn, a professor of law at Yale, writes at Al Jazeera America that Netanyahu doesn’t give a hoot about nuclear weapons, this is about maintaining Iran as a pariah state so as to keep Hezbollah and Hamas on their back heels, and not let anyone talk about the Palestinians:
He does not fear the bomb, he fears an Iran that is back in the mainstream of nations and has ample resources to support its allies, including Hamas and Hezbollah…
Israel’s immediate security concerns are in Gaza and southern Lebanon, where it has repeatedly fought Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran provides millions of dollars of support, including weapons, to Israel’s enemies. It is altogether likely that that support will increase when and if the Iranian economy improves. American-led sanctions would continue to hobble that economy.
Money and politics are what this dispute is about, not nuclear bombs. This is what Netanyahu will not say, for to focus on Israel’s real enemies is also to raise the issue of what more Israel could do to end the dispute with the Palestinians, which is at the heart of all of this.
And why oh why is the New York Times running a long story about anti-Deal forces, Secure America Now, putting out a Snapchat ap to lobby against the deal? More serious coverage of the deal opponents’ propaganda, in the paper of record. Some editors there really oppose the Iran Deal. And some other editors there are for it.
Thanks to James North.
This would explain Netanyahu’s decision to appoint Danon. This is a continuation of appointing his “natural allies”, starting with Dermer.
Say what you will about Oren, but he came across as a Clinton democrat to me. He tried to reach out to minorities, he had friendly relations with the black community etc. Dermer is hated by the CBC, tries to emotionally blackmail them to betray Obama by mentioning MLK and how he was a Zionist, how Jews marched with MLK, oh and openly campaigns for Republicans, too.
And now we get this right-wing buffoon?
Yahoo doesn’t even bother to put appearances anymore. Maybe he expects the Obama admin to let the French-sponsored milquetoast resolution go through, so Danon can thunder in broken English and with a poor vocabulary his objections?
P.S. The 2012 election showed that demographics beat money every day of the week. Yahoo still hasn’t understood that the future of America is California. Permanent democratic WH. In time, Congress will follow.
I definitely want some of the kind that Netanyahoo is smoking. I know many Jewish Democrats, like every single one of m,y relatives and 100 of my Jewish and half Jewish friends, reform and conservative, who are all Democrats and will never ever ever vote a Republican in in 2016, 2028, or 3024 for that matter. That is a silly idea. There may be a few people like that here and there., but they are probably young and haven’t formed a true picture of this situation yet. It must have been a long time ago that yahoo lived here in the USA, or maybe when he did he didn’t meet anyone who isn’t spending every Friday night in Temple or who isn’t wearing a yarmulke in Brooklyn.
I assure you we aren’t susceptible to his BS, and no, I will not vote Republican.
Never ever, its just not even in the most abstract realm of an iota of a possibility.
NetanYahoo is as usual totally wrong and delusional. So are most people these days.
Thanks for asking, but the long game is over, yahoo will likely be overturned next year, in all aspects of matter.
Maybe he can work to increase Isreal’s minimum wage since next year he’ll be picking up garbage in east Jerusalem, once Hilary fires him from his job
All of this is still political theatre.
Mark my word, next pres. is already Hillary.
“Bush screwed up by having James A. Baker, who spoke at J Street in favor of a Palestinian state and against the settlement project, on his team.”
Extending this speculation on Republican candidate strategies –
Trump supports Huckabee’s “doors of the ovens” comparison. This is factually absurd and inciting. So is Trump on Adelson’s payroll too? A little backroom arrangement between two casino guys? Or in his bankruptcies did Trump incur debts to certain financiers?
If so, Trump’s purpose could be to create the chaos that will help derail Bush. Bush has James Baker in his conversation orbit, who briefly tried to stand up to Israeli military outposts (aka “settlements”).
Ted Cruz, the Senator from Goldman Saches is also trying to derail Bush. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has no obvious purpose in running, could be merely aiming to block a Bush primary resurgence in South Carolina, of the sort W had. Dirty racism of the sort W’s forces used against McCain still works in South Carolina. Huckabee is merely another strident voice in Israel’s chorus, also getting free publicity for his products aimed at the more primitive segment of Christians.
The Israelis like Rubio for his eager slavishness to Israel’s war (profits), perhaps having been “groomed” for the role. But his enthusiastic simple-mindedness may not be ready for prime time. So Walker may be a more plausible back-up to Bush. But since he may be too extreme for the general population, Kasich has entered the race as a more realistic back-up to Bush.
The belittling treatment of the GOP’s second tier candidates by Fox, arranging their debate to a visibly empty auditorium (as Rachel Maddow pointed out), may mean the financial central committee has decided Lindsey will not be needed in South Carolina. That would imply they see Bush as already derailed.
Herman Cain and Carly Fiorina are the token black and woman to put a facade of inclusiveness on the GOP, presumably well compensated.
Given the way “reality” TV shows are actually heavily scripted, one has to wonder about the “celebrity conflict” between Trump, Ailes, and Megyn Kelly.
Obama’s hypocrisy is extraordinary and he needs to be called to task over his duplicity.
Firstly he accuses Netanyahu of interfering in US foreign policy over the Iran deal and then he himself comes in to interfere in the landmark PA terror case ruling asking a US judge in that case to “carefully consider” the Palestinian Authority’s financial condition in determining the size of any bond it must post to appeal a jury’s finding that it supported terrorist attacks in Israel against Israelis and Jews.
The Americans afraid that they may have wasted millions of dollars on the Palestinians and trying to recover their losses from a dreadful investment.