Further evidence of how slanted the mainstream American discourse is by the Israel lobby. Michael Tomasky is a liberal Democrat. But at the Daily Beast he tells Obama to get reelected by pursing the most conservative course on Israel– do whatever AIPAC tells you to do.
…But Democrats need to avoid becoming cocky. Republicans will not give up their narrative of liberal weakness so easily. Over the coming weeks, the GOP is likely to strike back on three fronts.
First, Israel. Because of the recent entente between Fatah and Hamas, many in Congress are calling for cancellation of the $450 million in aid the U.S. is slated to give the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, the U.N. is scheduled to vote on Palestinian statehood in September. If the administration takes anything less than a hard line on either, conservatives will surely accuse the president of weakness. As a former Bush White House official put it to me last week: “You have to have a hand-in-glove relationship with the Israelis, and this administration doesn’t have that.”
And note how Tomasky mistakes the lobby for “Republicans.” It’s not Republicans, it’s Republicans and Democrats, it’s the political establishment. It’s Tomasky himself serving as the lobby’s Charlie McCarthy here.
