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August 29, 2006
It's The Joooooooos!
Oh Dana, you bad, bad man. If only you'd less time goring our sacred oxen, we'd just love to bear your illegitimate children:
It was quite a boner.University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer was in town yesterday to elaborate on his view that American Jewish groups are responsible for the war in Iraq, the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure and many other bad things. As evidence, he cited the influence pro-Israel groups have on "John Boner, the House majority leader."
Actually, Professor, it's "BAY-ner." But Mearsheimer quickly dispensed with Boehner (R-Ohio) and moved on to Jewish groups' nefarious sway over Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who Mearsheimer called " Von Hollen."
Such gaffes would be trivial -- if Mearsheimer weren't claiming to be an authority on Washington and how power is wielded here. But Mearsheimer, with co-author Stephen Walt of Harvard's Kennedy School, set off a furious debate this spring when they argued that "the Israel lobby" is exerting undue influence in Washington; opponents called them anti-Semitic.
Milbanks' snarky column is quickly becoming an addiction, if only for passages like this:
Whatever motivated the performance, the result wasn't exactly scholarly.Walt singled out two Jews who worked at the Pentagon for their pro-Israel views. "People like Paul Wolfowitz or Doug Feith . . . advocate policies they think are good for Israel and the United States alike," he said. "We don't think there's anything wrong with that, but we also don't think there's anything wrong for others to point out that these individuals do have attachments that shape how they think about the Middle East."
"Attachments" sounds much better than "dual loyalties." But why single out Wolfowitz and Feith and not their non-Jewish boss, Donald Rumsfeld?
"I could have mentioned non-Jewish people like John Bolton," Walt allowed when the question was put to him.
Picking up on the "attachments" lingo, Mearsheimer did mention Bolton but cited two Jews, Elliott Abrams and David Wurmser, as "the two most influential advisers on Middle East affairs in the White House. Both, he said, are " fervent supporters of Israel." Never mind that others in the White House, such as national security adviser Stephen Hadley, Vice President Cheney and President Bush, have been just as fervent despite the lack of "attachments."
This line of argument could be considered a precarious one for two blue-eyed men with Germanic surnames. And, indeed, Walt seemed defensive about the charges of anti-Semitism. He cautioned that the Israel lobby "is not a cabal," that it is "not synonymous with American Jews" and that "there is nothing improper or illegitimate about its activities."
But Mearsheimer made no such distinctions as he used "Jewish activists," "major Jewish organizations" and the "Israel lobby" interchangeably. Clenching the lectern so tightly his knuckles whitened, Mearsheimer accused Israel of using the kidnapping of its soldiers by Hezbollah as a convenient excuse to attack Lebanon.
We suppose Buchenwald and Dachau were a convenient excuse for millions of Jews to flee Germany with little more than the clothing on their backs, too. Mearsheimer might find a more receptive audience for his thesis in Iran. We hear it's lovely this time of year.
Posted by Cassandra at August 29, 2006 08:45 AM
Comments
Who funded Walt's endowed chair for seven and a half million bucks?
Why, Jewish Harvard Law grad Robert Belfer of Enron fame.
You'd think Mr. Belfer would have some comments about the appearance of the professor he paid for with terrorist-tied CAIR? Just a short while after terrorists killed a good number of Israelis with rather indiscriminate kidnappings, murders, and unguided missiles?
Mr. Belfer, we're WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU about the FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER you funded.
Mr. Belfer is VP of The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Foundation Inc.,767 5th Ave., 46th Fl., New York, NY 10153. IRS filings here. Phone (212)644-2200.
Hello...Mr Belfer...WE CAN'T HEEEEEEEEEAR YOU...
Posted by: anon at August 29, 2006 10:35 AM
Good point. I often wonder (and we were just talking about this at the Cotillion - you must be psychic) about the unbelievable blindness of some American Jews to the rabid anti-semitism in our midst. It frightens me at times. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why it does not worry them.
We should all be allowed to speak freely but sponsoring this kind of speech or allowing it to go unchallenged by intelligent opposing viewpoints is not the smartest survival tactic I've seen.
Posted by: Cassandra at August 29, 2006 10:45 AM
Cass, it doesn't worry them because it won't happen here. So they think.
Posted by: Cricket at August 29, 2006 11:24 AM