South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham’s decision to drop out of the presidential race has been hailed by several establishment figures as a decisive action aimed at at last ridding the Republican Party of the terrifying Donald Trump– and possibly solidifying that establishment behind Marco Rubio. For the Republican establishment includes many Israel supporters who like the fact that Graham pushed the party toward a more hawkish policy in the Middle East.
Note that Graham’s drop-out speech was a neoconservative call to arms– against isolationism, and against President Obama’s resistance to further entanglement over there.
I got into this race to put forward a plan to win a war we cannot afford to lose and to turn back the tide of isolationism that was rising in our party. I believe we’ve made enormous progress in this effort.
Four months ago at the very first debate, I said that any candidate that did not understand that we need more American troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria to defeat ISIL was not ready to be commander-in-chief. At that time, no one stepped forward to join me. Today, most of my fellow candidates have come to recognize this is what’s needed to secure our homeland.
I am far more confident today that our party will reject the Obama doctrine of leading from behind and will provide the strong leadership America needs to restore our military, take the fight to our enemies and do what it takes to make our country safe and preserve our way of life.
This is a generational struggle that demands a strategy and the will to win.
By contrast, Donald Trump for all his bigotry has sounded an isolationist note at times.
Dana Milbank at the Washington Post says that Lindsey Graham is a “mensch” for dropping out– “Oy vey! Enough of Trump” is the headline– and he makes Rubio predictions:
Republican strategists I’ve talked with believe voters would flock to Rubio if he were to rise above 20 percent in the polls — a reasonable possibility, given that 58 percent of Republican voters who named a candidate in the Quinnipiac survey said they might change their minds. The sooner other Republican candidates follow Graham out of the race, the better the chances of them presenting voters with a unified alternative to Trump.
Graham has become the Senator Henry Jackson of his era, an intelligent hawk who enjoys the company of neoconservative Jews and vice versa. Graham told the Jewish Insider a couple weeks ago at a Jewish Federation fundraiser in New York:
I’ve eaten enough Salmon to sink a battleship and I’m beginning to like it, but not so much for breakfast!
And back in April Graham said that he was raising so much Jewish money he was going to have an all-Jewish cabinet:
“If I put together a finance team that will make me financially competitive enough to stay in this thing…I may have the first all-Jewish cabinet in America because of the pro-Israel funding. [Chuckles.] Bottom line is, I’ve got a lot of support from the pro-Israel funding.”
Yesterday a PR firm serving the Jewish community praised Graham’s success in the Jewish world, and Jewish Insider’s interview with the senator in New York had him saying that he might as well be Jewish and tearing up the Iran Deal.
Senator, what brings you here tonight? “Michael Milken invited me. I’m not Jewish but I might as well be (laughter). The pro-Israel community has been the heart and soul of my campaign, I’m honored to be here. What a great organization doing good throughout the world.”
We’ve heard you joke on several occasions that you might get an all-Jewish cabinet, any potential members here tonight? “Yes, 1,900 of them.” Any specific nominees? “Oh I’ve got a list a mile long.
Graham went directly on to say that Jews liked him because of his opposition to isolationism. It’s the old neocon formula, stated by Irving Kristol, a weak defense budget holds a knife to Israel.
The reason I think people like me is because I’ve been resolute in the face of isolationist movement in my party, I’ve stood up for an internationalist view of being a Republican, unwavering in my desire to defeat radical Islam by building up others over there so we don’t have to get hit here, and understanding that the fate of Israel and the United States are intertwined — common enemies and common values. I think people in the community have been very supportive because they see me as a reliable friend.”
This Iranian deal is a death sentence to Israel over time and a nightmare for America. I wouldn’t give the Ayatollah another dime or a bullet until he stops becoming the largest state-sponsor of terrorism. What John Kerry has done is given the Ayatollah a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it. As president of the United States, I would tear this deal up and get America and Israel a better deal.
Milbank’s Washington Post “Oy vey” column, by the way, is filled with Yiddish phrases and sayings. The pretext is a comment by Donald Trump about Hillary Clinton getting “shlonged” by Barack Obama in 2008. But it is surely further evidence of the fact that our establishment is in many ways Jewish. Hillary Clinton’s daughter married a Jew. So did Donald Trump’s. Milbank is a committed Zionist.
It is simply impossible to imagine a columnist at the Washington Post writing a column filled with humorous Arabic sayings.
Thanks as always to Adam Horowitz (co-editor, guide, and friend, responsible more than anyone for the success of this site).
This exchange perhaps describes best of all how the power of the Lobby is assumed on Capitol Hill but cannot be spoken about.. except when Graham decides to joke about it..
“Sen. GRAHAM: Now, let’s talk a little bit about statements you’ve made. You’ve explained this a bit. You said, “The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here. I’m not an Israeli senator; I’m a United States senator. This pressure makes us do dumb things at times.” You said “the Jewish lobby” should not have been — that term shouldn’t have been used, it should have been some other term. Name one person, in your opinion, who is intimidated by the Israeli lobby in the United States Senate.
Mr. HAGEL: Well, first —
Sen. GRAHAM: Name one.
Mr. HAGEL: I don’t know.
Sen. GRAHAM: Well, why would you say it?
Mr. HAGEL: I didn’t have in mind a specific person.
Sen. GRAHAM: Do you agree it’s a provocative statement, that I can’t think of a more provocative thing to say about the relationship between the United States and Israel and the Senate or the Congress than what you said? Name one dumb thing we’ve been goaded into doing because of the pressure from the Israeli or Jewish lobby.
Mr. HAGEL: I have already stated that I regret the terminology I used.
Sen. GRAHAM: But you said back then, “It makes us do dumb things.” You can’t name one senator intimidated. Now give me one example of the dumb things that we’re pressured to do up here.
Mr. HAGEL: We were talking in that interview about the Middle East, about positions, about Israel.
Sen. GRAHAM: So give me an example of where we’ve been intimidated by the Israeli Jewish lobby to do something dumb regarding the Mideast, Israel, or anywhere else.
Mr. HAGEL: Well, I can’t give you an example.
Sen. GRAHAM: Thank you. Do you agree with me you shouldn’t have said something like that?
Mr. HAGEL: Yes, I do. I’ve already said that.”
– See more at: https://mondoweiss.net/2013/02/transcript-services-committee#sthash.kIaIXVfj.dpuf
So sick and tired of you claiming that the “Establishment” is “Jewish” because there are prominent Jews. This is exactly the type of antisemitic nonsense that Germans used to say in the 1930’s. You can’t stop judging people based on their religion.
Graham found a group of people who would be willing to support him with cash for a cause not in the interest of the country he was supposed to serve and he gladly took it.
Milbank is naturally praising him. Remember the neocons are not just in the GOP. They are cross-party and they have ALWAYS relied on “liberal” commenters like Milbank or Goldberg or a Beinart or a Chait to do their dirty work.
The common purpose is protection of Israel – seen as a key goal for the Jewish establishment. That’s why Scoop Jackson was so loved. He was liberal on domestic issues, which helps Jews, and a conservative/militant on foreign policy, which helps Israel(and in turn helps Jews).
The irony is that this old equation is breaking down. The Beinart’s of the world are writing much more clever articles on foreign policy and are not willing to be used as propaganda tools for neoconservatism/Zionism anymore.
Sure, Milbank/Goldberg will remain committed to Apartheid Israel until the end, but that circle is growing smaller.
The major contenders in the GOP are pro-American first and not pro-Israel first, unlike Graham. Even after Trump, Cruz is far more cautious. Rubio isn’t, but he will get crushed by the GOP base.
Clinton is still an interventionist/neocon but Sanders proved in the last debate that he’s essentially a realist. The base is with Sanders, the money and the older people are with Clinton. Clinton is the last one standing for a neocon foreign policy.
So the shifts are changing rapidly. I will not be surprised to see the neocons in the media, who were never a group with any support from the base and in any case in many instances were never really Republican anyway, just political opportunists with money to spend to corrupt candidates, I expect them to attack the GOP and just move over to the democrats once Clintin wins the WH.
Let them destroy that party too and then we can finally purge them for good from the American political system. Better yet; deport them for Israel and throw the keys away. That’s where their heart belongs anyway.
P.S. Phil, don’t use a term like “isolationist” so casually. It’s a term used by the enemy and framed by the enemy(the neocons, whether in the GOP or the Democratic party). Use the term “non-interventionist” and “neocon/liberal interventionist” instead.
If you want to be really mean, use America Firster and Israel Firster. Those terms are still accurate, especially in the case of the people supporting Lindsay Graham.
Philip
Btw:
Did you notice that Dana Milbank seems to have no idea of Yiddish language and to have just googled the phrases he used? And neither seems to have anybody else at the Wapo any idea of Yiddish.
You see it here at the end of his WaPo article:
While you can google the phrase and it has multiple entries:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Du+kannst+nicht+auf+meinem+rucken+pishen+unt+mir+sagen+class+es+regen+ist.%22
But it seems to me that it has a typo from scanning it from a book: “class” needs to be “dass” to make sense. At least I would think that as a German, and Yiddish is very much like German.
Twitter user Mark A.R. Kleiman seems to have a better understanding of Yiddish and did correct the mistake while quoting Milbank:
https://twitter.com/MarkARKleiman/status/679737235743309824