Israel

Republicans In Trouble:Todd Akin and Kevin Yoder— How It Could Hurt Mitt Romney And Paul Ryan!

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The Republican Party and the Romney-Ryan campaign are reeling from two controversies that could affect not only the party fortunes in November, but also their Presidential campaign.

Republican Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite, Congressman Todd Akin, who is opposed by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, declared yesterday that there was such a thing as “legitimate rape”, but that women should still bring the pregnancy through to birth, causing an uproar, which has led some to demand that the Congressman resign as the Republican Senate nominee.

At the same time, it was revealed by Politico that a group of Republican Congressmen, while in Israel on a “fact finding tour’, got drunk at the Sea of Galilee, and jumped in the water partially clothed, including aides of Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy, who are part of the GOP leadership in the House of Representatives. But Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder, a freshman member, fully stripped and jumped in, and now there arr calls for him to resign, in what has been seen as a major scandal by many! Yoder also has had an incident with a police officer, who stopped him for speeding, and Yoder refused a breathalyzer test, and paid a fine.

It is not that Democratic Congressman or Senators, or other Democratic officeholders, are incapable of similar incidents, but that the Republican Party professes a “holier than thou” attitude on moral issues, and then becomes involved in such controversies.

It will be interesting to see how the extreme right view of abortion, that under no circumstances should abortion be legal in any situation, will cause a controversy for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, now that they have declared that rape is an exception where abortion should be allowed, in reaction to the Akin controversy. It also contradicts Ryan’s public stand in his 14 years in the House of Representatives! So we shall see how this all works itself out!

The Battle For The Jewish Vote In The Presidential Election Of 2012: The Role Of The Republican Jewish Coalition

Ronald 3 Comments

The Jewish vote may be a small percentage of all votes cast in national elections, but it is well known that the Jewish community votes in higher percentages than any other group in American society, and the concentration of the Jewish population in certain states can have a great impact on the electoral college, as for example, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, all swing or battleground states.

So the battle for the Jewish vote is intense, with the Republican Jewish Coalition trying to increase the percentage of the Jewish population willing to vote Republican, which was unsuccessful in 2008, when 78 percent of the Jewish vote went to Barack Obama.

Latest indications are that 64 percent of the Jewish vote presently is in the Obama camp, down 14 points, but still two thirds of all Jews. So the Republican Jewish Coalition is hard at work trying to convince even more Jews of the following ideas:

1, Obama is not sufficiently pro Israel, and cannot be trusted to support Israel, due to the well known tension that exists at times between the Obama Administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

2. Obama refuses to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, because of concerns about the Middle East balance.

3. Obama has not visited Israel as President in his first term, although he did as a candidate in 2008.

The reality is that the Republican Jewish Coalition has distorted reality dramatically, so how can one answer these three accusations?

1. Obama has backed Israel in the United Nations, has supported lots of extra aid and military support to Israel, has spoken up in defense of Israel in every way possible. And Israeli Defense Minister and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Shimon Peres have issued lavish praise on Obama as a great friend of Israel, as good as any other American President from Harry Truman through George W. Bush, and both Israeli leaders went out of their way to issue these statements of support.

2. It is true that no move has been made to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but NO President from Lyndon B. Johnson through George W. Bush has been willing to do so, because of sensitivity about peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and this includes Republican Presidents Richard Nixon,. Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, a total of FIVE Republican Presidents, as compared to FOUR Democratic Presidents, including Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Obama!

3. It is true that Obama has not visited Israel in his first term, but NO President, Democratic nor Republican, has done so in their first term, and of course, Ford, Carter, and Bush I only served one term or less as President.

So the accusations of the Republican Jewish coalition are distorted, untrue, purely propaganda, and it will not succeed in bringing larger than about a third of the Jewish vote to Mitt Romney!

Is It “Good” Politics And “Good” Diplomacy” For Mitt Romney To Be So Outspoken Publicly Overseas? NO!

Ronald 1 Comment

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is making controversy and creating turmoil as he continues on his foreign policy trip to convince Americans and the world that he is ready for the Presidency.

After his flubs in Great Britain, antagonizing our closest ally, he has now gone “off the bridge” in his speeches and comments in Israel.

While trying to demonstrate his strong support of Israel, and hope to wean away many Jewish voters in America from Barack Obama, Romney has managed to make things worse by his actions.

Stating that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel by the United States, when both Republican and Democratic Presidents without fail from Lyndon B. Johnson to Barack Obama have felt it unwise to do so, creates a new problem for Middle East negotiations, which should not have been brought up at all.

It is not an issue of whether the US should recognize Jerusalem as the capital, but since both parties and all Presidents have steered clear of it up to now, for a total of 45 years, a campaign trip is the wrong place to bring it up.

Also, Romney compared Israeli and Jewish achievements to the failures of the Palestinians, which are indeed true, but should have been left unsaid, as all it does is antagonize the Arabs, which still have to be dealt with if there is to be any chance of Middle East peace at any point in the future.

And comparing israel and the Palestinians to the US and Mexico or Chile and Ecuador as examples also, unnecessarily, can make those nations angry, and serves no purpose!

Mitt Romney is demonstrating his recklessness in speech, so one wonders about his potential recklessness in action, were he to become President of the United States in 2013!

Mitt Romney And Foreign Policy: What Foreign Policy?

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, spoke before the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention today, and attacked President Barack Obama on his foreign policy.

Romney said that Obama has apologized for America overseas, and has said that Obama does not believe in American exceptionalism, both assertions totally fabricated.

Romney said that Obama has not stood fully behind Israel, when despite some differences personally between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , Obama has fully backed Israel’s security.

Romney failed to mention Obama’s role in fighting terrorism and eliminating Osama Bin Laden, and his role in helping to push Moammar Gaddafi out of power in Libya, for obvious reasons.

Romney in reality has NO foreign policy, except to threaten an immediate war on Iran, allowing the neoconservatives who took us into unnecessary war in Iraq, to have growing influence.

Romney is a man without “cajones”, as he allows right wing evangelical Christians and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform to push him into support, even though his previous record would show he has taken a different stand in the past.

This is a man without conviction or principles, and has ZERO foreign policy experience!

Some might say that Barack Obama had the same situation, but actually, as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for four years, he dealt with foreign policy more than Romney has ever done!

Romney’s total foreign policy background is serving as a Mormon missionary trying to convert people in France to avoid military service; taking vacations overseas with his family; and doing business dealings with Israeli Prime Minister Behjamin Netanyahu back in the 1970s.

Mitt Romney has no clue on foreign policy, and would allow himself to be manipulated by the warmonger neoconservatives.

Foreign policy is Barack Obama’s strongest stand, and this is not the time to experiment on such a crucial area as foreign policy!

The Summer: Again The Danger Time In International Affairs, Leading To War

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He we are in the heat of summer, and once again, in danger of international war, which has occurred so often in American and world history.

America went to war against Great Britain in June 1812 under President James Madison, in the two and a half year war known as the War Of 1812.

World War I began in August 1914, after the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary in late June. America did not enter that war until the spring of 1917, but the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 presented a challenge to President Woodrow Wilson, nevertheless.

World War II began officially at the beginning of September 1939 after a summer of growing tensions, and although America did not enter the war until December 1941, the outbreak of the war caused a serious crisis of leadership for Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Korean War began in the last days of June 1950, with President Harry Truman making the fateful decision to commit troops to United Nations forces fighting for the sovereignty of South Korea against North Korea and its Communist allies, the Soviet Union and Communist China.

The Gulf of Tonkin Crisis leading to US bombing of North Vietnam took place in August 1964 under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which led to the Persian Gulf War under President George H. W. Bush in 1991, began in August 1990.

And the attack on September 11, 2001 by Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda occurred technically in a time still part of the official summer season, under President George W. Bush.

Now the ante is going up on possible war between the radical Islamic government of Iran and the Western nations which are imposing an oil embargo and other trade and financial restrictions in reaction to the belief that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. And Iran is threatening missile attacks on US military bases in the Middle East; threatening to close the Straits Of Hormuz, which provide the major path for oil shipments around the world, and if closed, would create an energy crisis for the world at large; has talked about destroying Israel, eliminating it off the face of the earth, leading to Israeli plans to strike at Iranian nuclear facilities if nothing is done to stop their development; and has also threatened British and Saudi Arabia interests and other Gulf States facilities in the event of war. The US is upping its troops and ships in the area, and tensions are growing, creating a test of leadership for President Barack Obama.

Barbara Tuchman, the famous historian, wrote a book called THE GUNS OF AUGUST about the outbreak of World War I.

Right now, as the earth heats up into the warmest summer on record, we can say the heat of possible war is also heating up, sadly!

The Lie About Barack Obama And Israel

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For 40 months now, a rumor, and resulting lie, has been spread that Barack Obama is not good for Israel and its security.

Republicans and conservatives have said that Obama is the worst President in history for Israel, and they emphasize that relations between the President and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are frosty at times.

Netanyahu, himself, has cozied up to the Republican Party, since he is basically a conservative in his political views.

But below the surface of what seems to be a breach between Israel and the United States, we now learn that the two nations have been working together to develop cyber weapons to shut down and, ultimately, destroy the ability of Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

This is one of the great collaborations of US history, if one thinks about it, but is often covered up, purposely, in the view of the author of this blog.

It is clear that Barack Obama will go to the extreme to protect our traditional ally, Israel, and that while he and Netanyahu may disagree on details of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, that Obama, who has had more contact with Jews in his life than any other President, and has many Jewish advisers, officially and unofficially, can be relied upon to put the interests of Israel at the top of his foreign policy agenda.

When the history of US-Israel relations under President Obama are written in the future, the “big lie” technique that has been utilized by Republicans and conservatives will be exposed, but already one can see elements of it.

While every President has his critics and detractors, Barack Obama has been subjected to endless attacks and the use of the “big lie” to undermine him, but the truth shall win out, and the critics are still likely to have to deal with the 44th President for another four years, as his efforts for Israel only add to his stature as a diplomat and statesman!

Ironic Turn Of Events: British Prime Minister David Cameron Endorses Gay Marriage Rights While Billy Graham Promotes A North Carolina Ban!

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It is extremely ironic that we find out that British Prime Minister David Cameron has endorsed gay marriage, although not requiring churches to administer them, while the revered Reverend Billy Graham, now 93 years old, did not have the courage and guts to defy many Christian haters of gays, including his own son, Franklin Graham, and endorsed a ban on gay marriage in the North Carolina Constitution in a vote coming this November.

Why is it that the British and other Europeans, and Israel as well, have no issue with gays,while America is so uptight and regressive on this human rights issue? And why does a Conservative Prime Minister endorse gay rights, while conservatives in America bitterly oppose them?

And one must keep in mind that Billy Graham, as revered as he is, has now come out as favoring discrimination against gays, but if one looks at his career, we know that he also has been very anti Semitic, including on the Richard Nixon Watergate tapes, and was not a leader in promoting African American civil rights in the 1960s.

So in a way, Billy Graham is just following his forgotten belief in prejudice, hate, and discrimination in his old age, instead of being a statesman, and helping to promote unity and tolerance in the future! What a disgrace!

In Defense Of Jimmy Carter In The Controversy Over Osama Bin Laden

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With the debate over the question of whether President Barack Obama should be able to take credit for the death of Osama Bin Laden and use it in the upcoming campaign, we have heard the name “Jimmy Carter” constantly brought up in a derisive manner by Mitt Romney, John McCain and other Republicans, and it makes one want to scream!

Jimmy Carter is very proud of the fact that we did not go to war in his administration; that he helped to negotiate a long lasting agreement, the Camp David Accords, between Egypt and Israel; that he successfully negotiated an agreement to give back the Panama Canal to that nation’s control; promoted human rights, setting a standard principle which has been utilized as a principle of American foreign policy since; and had the courage to take strong action to try and rescue American hostages in Iran, the failed mission occurring in April 1980.

Yes, the rescue mission failed, but Carter could take the credit for the fact that all of the hostages came home, upon the inauguration of Ronald Reagan. The problem was that all of the good that Carter did in foreign policy, as well as domestic policy, was overshadowed by the Iran crisis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the economic recession that occurred, including an oil embargo that raised gasoline prices.

Carter was the victim of circumstance, but deserves much better treatment and respect, as the only other President so attacked on a regular basis after his Presidency as incompetent, who was Herbert Hoover.

It is ironic that these two Presidents, educated as engineers, both brilliant in intellect, both one term Presidents soundly defeated for re-election, ended up having longer retirements than any other President, with Hoover’s thirty one and a half years in retirement to be passed by Carter on September 8, 2012, just four months from now.

Hopefully, when he reaches that milestone in September, we will see the country celebrate Carter’s longevity, and celebrate his contributions to the country, instead of constant ridicule and disrespect.

But, if anything, Carter’s failure to rescue the hostages probably led to his defeat in 1980 by Ronald Reagan, and that makes Barack Obama’s gamble on Osama Bin Laden, and his courage and decisiveness in the matter, even more impressive, and means everyone should be willing to applaud Obama, and give him the right to use it as an issue in the Presidential Election of 2012!

One can be sure a Republican President would use it as a campaign issue, and we all know that George W. Bush politicized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to his political advantage!

The Special American-British Relationship Prevails: Obama And David Cameron

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The long term American-British friendship and relationship prevails, even now with a “progressive” President and a “conservative” Prime Minister.

Just the opposite of the relationship between a “conservative” President George W. Bush and a “progressive” Prime Minister Tony Blair, still the common ties connect the two nations, which have been closely allied since Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt linked in the Second World War era.

Britain has been America’s greatest ally in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are committed to work together against the growing threat presented by the Islamic Republic of Iran, with its move toward a nuclear program that is seen as likely to cause danger not only to Israel and its Arab neighbors, but to Europe and the United States as well.

While Great Britain is promoting austerity to deal with its economic problems, a policy that does not seem to be working very well, the Conservative Party of that nation is nowhere near as right wing as the Republican Party and the conservative movement in America has become.

David Cameron has decided to be part of the cheering section for Barack Obama, something certainly not appreciated by Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul. It is clear that the British government does not have high regard for any of them, while recognizing the need, if any of them are elected, to deal with them.

Another Moral Lapse: Syria Added To Cambodia And Rwanda

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Any decent human being, witnessing the horrors of a Holocaust in Syria, as the world sits by and takes no action to stop the massacre of the citizenry by the government of Bashar Al Assad, feels helpless.

This massacre has been going on for almost a year now, and yet no nation or group of nations is doing anything other than to express horror at what is going on. In America, there is a feeling that we cannot intervene, as Barack Obama did in Libya, because of lack of international support and the exhaustion felt in this country about our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iranian influence in Syria, which also prevents intervention, as Russia and China side with both nations, is in itself an alarm bell, that could be looked upon in the future as a tremendous mistake that causes a worse overall situation in the Middle East, and endangers Israeli national security.

No one is saying that it is an easy decision to think of American intervention in Syria, but the feeling of helplessness is disturbing.

We must not forget that the world stood by as the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia slaughtered 2.5 million between 1975 and 1978, during the administrations of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

And we must not forget that the world stood by as we had the mass murder of about two thirds of a million in Rwanda in 1994 during the administration of Bill Clinton.

Will we be able to keep our heads from being in shame when we look back at this time in the future?