Last night on ‘Hardball,’ Chris Matthews welcomed Va. Congressman Jim Moran on to talk about Iraq policy. Moran was in the headlines last week for blaming the war on an Israel lobby. The devilish Matthews was clearly pleased to be giving Moran a forum (though he said nada about the lobby).
The last time Moran mentioned the lobby, at the outset of the war, he stepped on the third rail of U.S. politics and was denounced as an antisemite and disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke. This time around, Moran’s comments were published by the admirable Michael Lerner in Tikkun, whose piece was of course keyed to Walt and Mearsheimer’s book. And lo, Moran has survived!
The point here is that the very thing the lobby feared has come to pass: Walt and Mearsheimer have changed America: they have created space for mainstream voices to criticize Israel’s role in our foreign policy. Look for Ron Paul and–fingers crossed–Obama to jump in next!
