losthighway wrote:

Rick Reuben wrote:I can't wait to see if the Jewish Power That Does Not Have Extraordinary Influence Over The US Economy And Media And Anyone Who Says Otherwise Is A Total Bigot forces Obama to apologize profusely for his pastor's words.
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Rick Reuben wrote:

Minotaur029 wrote:And as far as the general election goes, McCain doesn't participate in this Bushie sort of game anyway..

What an idiot. Minotaur thinks that for this story to tarnish Obama in the general election, McCain himself would have to get the media to cover it. Hilarious. Will McCain have to write the stories and work the tv cameras and printing presses himself, too? Yeah, dude- the mainstream media never runs negative pieces on candidates, unless they are prompted to do so by the candidates themselves...

Rick Reuben wrote:

Minotaur029 wrote:So would you say that Jews are responsible for our foreign policy problems?

Answer the questions. If you answer Yes to the questions, "Is the US media pro-Israel?" and "Is US foreign policy pro-Israel?", then ask yourself if you are happy with US middle east policy. If you are happy with it, credit pro-Israeli power. If you are not happy with it, blame pro-Israeli power.

The limit of Obama's imagination
At a time when Obama's moral voice was most needed, the reach of his wings proved to be cautiously perforated on an AIPAC line, writes [Columbia University Professor] Hamid Dabashi

All his attempts to appease AIPAC notwithstanding, Obama remains a suspicious character to fanatical Zionists. The same essay that Ali Abunimah wrote in exposing Obama's gradual distancing from the Palestinian cause, was used by Ed Lasky in his essay, "Barack Obama and Israel" for American Thinker (22 March 2007 -- revised and republished again on 16 January 2008) categorically to dismiss Obama as a man for Israel. Lasky accused Obama of concealing his affiliation with a church that is in fact "Afro-centric" in its Christianity, accusing Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr., the Pastor of the Church Obama attended, as the man who coined the term "audacity of hope" (that defines Obama's campaign), and also of having "a militant past."

"Moreover," Lasky points out, "Pastor Wright has beliefs that might disturb some of Obama's supporters. He is a believer in "liberation theology," which makes the liberation of the oppressed a paramount virtue." (This for Lasky is a vice.) Extending his dismissal of liberation theology to its very founder Gustavo Gutierrez, Lasky narrows in on "Pastor Wright for having criticised Israel and uttered the unforgivable sin: 'The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40 years now.'" (Imagine the audacity of uttering that sentence in Chicago!) Then we hear from Lasky that "Once this history came to light, Obama started publicly distancing himself from his spiritual mentor, disinviting Wright from various Obama campaign events. Wright rationalised his current persona non grata status by stating that otherwise 'a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.'" Lasky moves on to expose more of Obama's sins by lining up Ali Abunimah and Edward Said as Palestinians whom Obama has actually met and conversed with. Lasky is particularly incensed that Obama does not have much of a pro-Israel legislative record. Scarce as this young Senator's record might be on being a pro-Israeli stooge, he has nevertheless "already compiled one of the most liberal voting records in the Senate (even more liberal than Ted Kennedy) and a great deal of his most fervent support has come from the left-wing of the party, who have turned against Hillary Clinton . . . This is precisely the wing of the Party that has been increasingly corrupted by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activists."

This is enough reason for Lasky to go after Obama for having, among other things, "decidedly very soft approach on bills dealing with drug, gang and gun control issues," for daring to make a sleight comment about Israel's apartheid wall, for having the audacity to talk about "the desperation and disorder of the powerless . . . of children on the streets of Jakarta or Nairobi," which to Lasky translates to "appeasement, stated clearly and succinctly." The list of Lasky's concerns about Obama goes on and on and includes the support of the former President Jimmy Carter for him. As for his speech in front of AIPAC, Lasky believes this speech "left many nonplussed. This speech was, in part, prompted by his knowledge that a panel of experts in Israel considers him to be the candidate that would support the state of Israel the least." The same speech that caused anger and frustration in Ali Abunimah left Lasky with much to be desired, and not sufficient at all. After a prolonged list of litany against Obama, Lasky finally concludes, "Barack Obama does have a record to run on and it is a record that should be of concern to those who support America's relationship with Israel."

IT IS OF COURSE ultimately unfair to laser-beam on Senator Obama a calamity that has long plagued American political culture. Over the last half a century, American foreign policy is held hostage (as John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have extensively demonstrated) to a single-minded commitment to the Jewish apartheid state, which has in turn degenerated its own political culture to that of Christian imperialism. The US is narratively trapped inside a single-minded commitment to the Jewish state, which now amounts to the worst common denominator of American political culture, and as such it will pull down any sign of hope that may aspire to transform this catastrophe to become the promise that it has always been -- a beacon of hope for the world. But it is equally false to blame the Israeli lobby for the calamity of American imperialism around the globe, a reality entirely sui generis and predicated on the very nature of this economic and military monstrosity.

AP wrote:CLEVELAND - Barack Obama has a solid Senate record in support of Israel.

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He sings the praises, too, of Jewish civil rights workers who fought for blacks' rights in the U.S. And he says he wants to patch up "a historically powerful bond between the African-American and Jewish communities."

Yet there is unease among some Jewish voters about the Illinois senator and Democratic presidential contender.

Why?

Part of it is a division between blacks and Jews that's been growing for years, a split that Obama has challenged fellow blacks to confront.

Another element is the praise Obama has received from Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, whose disparaging comments about Judaism are toxic to many voters. Obama's own pastor has a history of supporting Palestinian causes.

And there are questions about Obama advisers who some U.S. Jews see as less than ardent advocates of Israel.

Finally, there are rumors and outright lies about the candidate that have gained an audience through repetition in e-mails and on Web sites.

Obama is working hard to win over this vocal, powerful and reliably Democratic voting bloc.

Jews have accounted for about 4 percent of Democratic primary voters so far this year, and Clinton has held a 52-46 percent edge over Obama among them, according to exit polls.

On the day of the Mississippi primary this week, Obama took time to call Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to express condolences over the deadly terrorist attack on a rabbinical seminary in Jerusalem. He also reaffirmed his support for Israel's right to defend itself and for its commitment to negotiations with Palestinians and underscored the need to stop Iran from supporting terrorism or getting nuclear weapons.

The effort by the candidate and his advisers to calm disquiet among Jewish voters began more than a year ago.

"The Jewish community cannot be taken for granted," said Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida, one of Obama's chief surrogates before Jewish audiences. Wexler sent an e-mail last March to supporters urging them not to be swayed by rumors, a message he repeated during a recent forum in Cleveland.

Obama used a speech in January at Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta to chastise blacks for latent anti-Semitism. And during a recent debate, Obama alluded to James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, one black and two Jewish civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi in 1964 as they worked together on a campaign to register black voters.

"You know, I would not be sitting here were it not for a whole host of Jewish-Americans who supported the civil rights movement and helped to ensure that justice was served in the South," Obama said. "And that coalition has frayed over time around a whole host of issues, and part of my task in this process is making sure that those lines of communication and understanding are reopened."

Still, there remains some "nervousness over Senator Obama" among Jewish voters, said Rabbi Joshua Skoff, who attended a private meeting with Obama in Cleveland last month. "The rumors still have some legs."

At the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, President Howard Friedman said Obama's Senate record on Israel has given his critics no reason to doubt him.

But that record is thin. Just a little over three years ago, Obama was a state legislator in Illinois.

"Right now, Obama's big problem with the Jewish community is similar to his problem with other communities: He's just not clearly defined among any voter groups," said Kenneth Wald, director of Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida-Gainesville. "The fact he has a name that sounds Muslim and has a Muslim father underlines questions about what we do and what we do not know about him."

Some critics on the Internet have gone far beyond raising questions.

Contrary to some e-mails, Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim. He took his oath of office on the family Bible, not a Quran.

"There has been a concerted effort, largely out of the conservative Web sites and anonymous e-mails," says Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, which set up a Stop The Smears Web site to correct the rumors.

"I don't think it moves tons and tons of votes, but at the fringes, if left unchecked, it could move a few," he said.

In the private meeting in Cleveland with 100 Jewish leaders last month, Obama talked about his 2005 trip to Israel, his views on a Palestinian state and regional Middle East security. He was quickly questioned about his own pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and an award his church magazine gave last year that said Farrakhan "truly epitomized greatness."

Farrakhan is intolerable to Jewish voters because of a history of anti-Semitic remarks, like calling Judaism a "gutter religion."

Obama, who has rejected support from Farrakhan, assured voters his Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago does not endorse such messages.

"I have never heard an anti-Semitic (remark) made inside of our church. I have never heard anything that would suggest anti-Semitism on the part of the pastor," Obama said in a transcript of his remarks released later. "He (Wright) is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with. And I suspect there are some of the people in this room who have heard relatives say some things that they don't agree with — including, on occasion, directed at African-Americans."

Obama took the title of his 2006 book "The Audacity of Hope" from a Wright sermon. But last year, he asked Wright not to offer a prayer at his campaign's kickoff in Springfield, Ill.

The questioners in Cleveland also raised Obama's use of foreign policy advisers the doubters say are foes of Israel, including former President Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Obama replied that Brzezinski is an informal, not a key, adviser, and "I do not share his views with respect to Israel."

He said he has other foreign policy advisers from the Clinton administration who share his belief that Israel has to remain a Jewish state with special ties to the U.S. and that the Palestinians have been irresponsible. And he said critics' e-mails never mention Lester Crown, a member of his national finance committee who is "considered about as hawkish and tough when it comes to Israel as anybody in the country."

"This is where I get to be honest, and I hope I'm not out of school here," Obama told Jewish leaders at the private meeting. "I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering, pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel, and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel."

Rick Reuben wrote:

Minotaur029 wrote:So

Are you unable to answer two simple questions?

Is the US media pro-Israel?

Is the US foreign policy pro-Israel?

And then another:

Do you like the policies that result from this bias?

Rick Reuben wrote:Dude, you practically NEVER answer any of my questions unless you have a snappy/convenient answer.