This is pretty interesting. Jon Stewart took on AIPAC last night, and the shameless pandering of the presidential candidates, in a 5 minute sketch. This would never be happening but for Walt and Mearsheimer. The secret's out. Now everyone can make fun of the Israel lobby. Stewart calls them the "elders of Zion." Anyone else says that it's antisemitic. Or is it? The problem with the term "elders of Zion" is that it truly does describe AIPAC. They're old, and they're Zionist. Money quote in the sketch is when Stewart airs clips of each candidate saying something critical of Israel. Silence each time. "You can't say anything remotely critical of Israel and still get elected president," he says. Which is funny, he adds, because in Israel they have lots of criticism of Israel.
You're gonna have to wait for my piece in The American Conservative to get my full take (hey, they're paying me), but Stewart's jibes, along with Dana Milbank's, demonstrate that it's coming to an end for AIPAC. It's a decadent organization. The continual insistence by politician after politician that they love Israel is so shallow that it raises the question of when they're all going to feel safe enough to turn on AIPAC, and maybe Israel too.
