Say It Ain't Jew, Joe

Ever since their diaspora, Jews have been accused of putting something else -- themselves, the dispersed Israelite people, then Israel itself -- ahead of their own country. Jewish citizens of Russia, Germany and America, to pick just a few, have been slandered (and sometimes killed) for allegedly putting their allegiances to the Hebrew nation ahead of their patriotism toward the motherland, the fatherland or the homeland. This is vintage Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

And yet what do we hear today from Orthodox Jew Joe Lieberman?

"In my opinion, the choice could not be more clear: between one candidate, John McCain, who's had experience, been tested in war and tried in peace, another candidate who has not. Between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not."

And just in case the media failed to notice, the McCain campaign -- whose slogans include "Country First" -- has now sent Lieberman's remarks to the entire political press corps.

What is to be made of this? Does Joe Lieberman not realize that he is using one of the oldest anti-semitic tricks in the book to accuse Obama of being the Islamic candidate?

Follow Marty Kaplan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/martykaplan

Comments

[PLUMPLUM]

This is not strange. Most Jewish people I know put Israel before their own country. Look at one example - Andrea Mitchell, who did not seem to think that Obama was okay to lead the USA until he had pulled off a positive visit in Israel. The jist of he reporting at that time was that if he was not able to handle the party leaders in Israel, then he would lose a lot of Jewish support which would then render him unfit to lead. She claimed she was "shocked" to see how Obama handled himself on his trip to Europe and Israel. She said she had never seen a presidential candidate behave in this way - so cool calm and collected.

The way she reports about Obama now and then (before the trip) is worlds apart. She is not alone.

[Hankskool]

Excellent point brought up in this article. That was the first thing I thought when Lieberman played this "America First" card. How can someone with an Israeli citizenship turn around and play this card himself? Particularly since it's a spineless exploitation of the lie that Obama is Islamic. Better be careful Joe, you're old but not so old that you won't live to see the day when it will no longer be taboo for mainstream pundits to question YOUR allegiances.

[shadow322]

Our country is at a point where we can no longer afford to be lied to. The book that just came out by the Swift Boat author who now slanders Sen. Obama is a prime example. We also have Sen. Lieberman saying anything he wants to slander the oposition! Truth is our main strength and look at how Russia now views us. We have become a "has been" on the world stage and look at the self-centered people who put us there. The citizens of this country deserve better but if we do not collectively insist on leaders who speak honestly - we will in a very short time period, ghet what we have coming to us! I for one am trying to do better.

[marm]

I am Jewish, and I say that Joe Lieberman is a disgrace to the Democratic party and to Jews in general. I have long maintained that he should go to Israel and run for the Knesset, since that's where his constituency really is. He has been in the forefront of pushing for action against Iran, one of Israel's major goals, no matter what disaster that might bring to the region and to the world.

I'd also like to point out that we're hearing a lot of rhetoric about Russia's "disproportionate" retaliation against Georgia for that country's initial agression, yet it is nothing compared to the extensive devastation Israel visited upon Lebanon when responding to Hezbollah a few years back. The US Administration said nary a word in protest as Lebanon's infrastructure was laid waste and declined to call on Israel to back off. So Israelis carpeted the larger Lebanon landscape with cluster bombs they falsely denied using and the US falsely denied providing to them. Nobody -- absolutely nobody -- has a right to point fingers at anyone else in this crazy world where so-called standards of ethics and justice are bent at will to fit particular 'druthers. It's sickening.

[BrianMac]

Read it again and parse: "...worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not." The reference about "one candidate who has not" refers to "work(ing) across party lines." It's a bit like the pesky wording about "bearing arms" in the Second Amendment. Those damned commas! Of course, this is a very slick trick: we know the message Joe is transmitting because it's pick up by his audience the way he wants folks to hear it. However, if you call him or the McCain campaign on it, he'll simply point out that he's accusing Obama of not working "across party lines."

[Doots]

Another idiot in the wilderness.

[ilovemydoggy]

My impression is that Obama is supportive of Israel. None is us can really "judge" Israel. We don't know what it's like to be surrounded by enemies who want to wipe us off the face of the earth.

Baby boomer viewpoints: http://www.Vaboomer.com
Baby boomer art: http://www.VaboomerViosks.com

[jabee]

The above post survived the heavy editing overnight.

Whether it was by the posting editor or by those flagging everything even slightly critical of things any
jewish or zionist or Israeli... et. al. it's a bad idea.

Heard a conversation last night about how many posts were showing Amerians flirting on the edges of anti-semitism and wondering what to do about it. Nobody thought censoring everything would help, rather make the problem bloom. One of these days we'll hear about all the surprise when the stuff hits the fan. Better let it be discussed, particularly since the Georgian thing seems by many to be related.
The Amerian peple aren't stupid. And things are getting trough.

[DANOSC]

Question for posters (voters) from Connecticut? Why on earth did you reelect this man to the Senate? I thought that voters from Connecticut were, generally, well informed. Who knew?

[Darnamell]

So I'm not the only one confused by that?

[geobushono]

I was sending money to Ned from California.....

[MrUnlimited]

Connecticut voters kicked Lieberman out during the (D) Senate primary in 2006, but some independents and a hell of a lot of party-switching Republicans voted him in during the general election. Conservative Connecticut voters swung the election to Lieberman because they knew that, since Connecticut is a fairly progressive state (despite having many wealthy people), Lieberman was as close to a Republican as they were going to get.

[Spiritgirl2]

I appreciate the article, however, you could have gone farther. Joe has aligned himself with Isreals' nuclear ambitions (bomb, bomb, bomb Iran). What everyone fails to realize is that if they do not only will the Islamic nations come together to fight back, but nuclear might render anyone from retrieving oil from that region!

[gregohb]

The article didn't go far enough - only hinting at the issue. Lieberman is clearly only concerned with Israel's agenda, which is now wanting to start a war with Iran while Israel has hundreds of nukes. The pull of his pro-Israel agenda has caused him to stab his own party in the back. But he is not alone. The senate let Mukassey become the Attorney General even though he wouldn't condemn torture - when Diane Feinstein and Shurmer (who by coincidence are Jewish just as Mukasey is) would not vote against him with their democratic colleagues. Again the pull of Jewishness is stronger than anything else. This is like Chinese-American lawmakers acting in China's best interests instead of America's. Lieberman is another Jonathan Pollard.

[eyecon]

Did you bother to actually READ this article? Doing so might have spared us all from your anti-Semitic rant.

[gregohb]

The actual point made by the author is fairly timid, but Lieberman's actions which are highly puzzling to his former colleagues in congress are quite clear. The author is probably afraid of the name calling you just engaged in - smearing someone as anti-semetic if they don't say glorious things about Jews. I have a simple solution. Just imagine if 12% of congress were Chinese-American, and CHIPAC was the biggest and most powerful foreign lobby which affected every congressperson, and congress voted to allow US citizens to get tax write offs for donating money to China but no other country. Would you call that biased or not?

[flipbiscut24]

Shut up!
They were merely making an observation.

What a pointless label, with the intention of silencing observation and discussion.

[jabee]

sorry eycon

I don't think calilng someone anti-semitic works anymore.
Been done too many times to bully. Doesn't work.
AND in fact, most people are sick of the Israel firsters and zionists
that conned us to war , took over and are the reason for Bush being detested ,and haven't done too much for greedy Wall Street either.

[Big0725]

Eyecon,

When did the word "Semite" become exclusive to decsribe Jews? Do you not know that there are Arabs that are semites? May if you READ something other than pro-Israeli propaganda you could have spared us from your ill-informed ravings!

[eyecon]

Presumably, you have not actually READ this article. Had you done so, you could have spared us all your anti-Semitic rant. If, perchance, you did indulge in more than just a scan then I suggest you use the Google to find a version with pictures that will make the whole thing more comprehensible.

[AbbieHoffman2]

Who is this man's rabbi? I thought Jews (I am) were not THIS stupid. Would somebody please show Joe Lieberman the door. And put a foot up his tuchis as he goes out.

[TrooAmerican]

So............
McCain was "ALWAYS" putting the Country first, when he used his Legislator Seat and power to BLOCK the investigation into his long time friend and ally KEATING that cost American Taxpayers Billions of dollars in the Failed Savings & Loan Scandal of Theft, and Fraud, harming Tens of Thousands of elderly retirees and their life savings, and costing Taxpayers an UNHEARD of amount of Tax money to fix?

OK?? Media...Hello? are you listening to this? Call them out on thier fraudulent statements

[hawkeye58]

"Call them out on thier fraudulent statements"

That's would be something I'd like to see, just once.

[Jenoah2008]

What Media? Did you notice that probably 99% of the pontificators are lawyers, especially on TV, practicing in a sphere none dare monitor? Deprived of a courtroom environment, they keep their legal intellectual muscles tuned with word games played on a news-deprived populace. Notice how much time is spent attributing motives; describing exchanges occurring in private conversations as if they were part of the discussion; interjecting subtle negatives adjectives to predict imagined questions to be raised by voters; giving some facts and, then interpreting the facts-- dumbing down the populace. Notice that the greatest depth is semantic antics covering sophisticated subjective­-objectivi­ty? It is distressing that these actors operate unaware or uncaring that television instantly carries the hollow, repetitious, pseudo-scientific rhetoric and polls across the globe and cause the populace to appear as vacuous as the administration they support or deride.

[brandon102]

I think of Joe Lieberman as the batty old aunt in the attick. Try as we might, he keeps getting out and displaying his looney mood-swinging opinions to the world, before someone gets him back on his meds and he's quiet for awhile.

Joe is very lucky to be out & about in the years that the Dems need that one vote (not that they did much with it). With Democratic Executive and Legislative branches, he can join forces with Ralph Nader and the two of them can live blissfully in the land of political fantasy and wonder.

[mikep007]

Lieberman isn't putting Israel first... he is putting Lieberman first. Joe is about Joe. He is using his religion and his devotion to Israel as a cover to get to a higher office. Most Jewish people I know disdain how he is using their religion as a weapon. I think it is high time there is a re-call election like they did in California.

[Janelynne]

What does Connecticut think of this guy? Leiberman is a disgrace. He uses everyone to get ahead. He stands for nothing.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

CT is littered with republicans..... and I mean littered.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

I can only speak for my friends who live their, whom are not activist or even partially liberal in the case of a family I know well, I would call them old school NE moderate Democrats as were my parents, who supported Lieberman for years because they viewed him the same way. I can assure you all of them are puzzled, disappointed, and even angry. A 75 year old family friend told me that he thought Lieberman had degenerated into a political opportunist after the 2,000 campaign and viewed the Liberman / Cheney debate as a cream puff thawing contest. Contempt for this man is building in CT and Lieberman he knows it, my friends are sick of watching on TV following McCain around like a puppy. If he shows up the GOP convention, he is finished in CT and will not be reelected; you could even see a strong recall campaign against him, although there is history for such an action. Ironically up to 10 GOP Senators are passing on the RNC Convention, including Susan Collins R Maine, one of Liberman’s best buds in the Senate.

[Georgiadude]

He's doing a hell of a lot better job for McCain than he did for Gore. There was absolutely no fight in him for the Democratic party, he made Gore look like a one legged man, going to as kicking contest.
I was wondering where the tea and crumpets were during his so called debate with Cheney, the whole thing makes me sick, Joe makes me sick!