Palin, Buchanan and Israel?

"Rep. Bob Wexler, D-Florida, took the AP report, and said "John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans. Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer with a uniquely atrocious record on Israel, even going as far as to denounce bringing former Nazi soldiers to justice and praising Adolf Hitler for his 'great courage.' At a time when standing up for Israel's right to self-defense has never been more critical, John McCain has failed his first test of leadership and judgment by selecting a running mate who has aligned herself with a leading anti-Israel voice in American politics. It is frightening that John McCain would select someone one heartbeat away from the presidency who supported a man who embodies vitriolic anti-Israel sentiments.""  ABC News

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Well, I don't think that Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer, but it is clear that he thinks Israel has had too much influence on American foreign policy.

The Palin/McCain campaign is now doing its best to minimize the degree of Sarah Palin's past support for Pat Buchanan's Quixotic attempts to run for president.  They point to her later (?) support for Forbes as an antidote to the notion that she was a serious Buchanan supporter.  A "pitchfork" mom? 

It will be hard to make that work for a lot of hard core Zionists.  Palin's support for Buchanan was more than casual.  He is quoted in this piece in such a way that he appears to think she was a serious supporter.  You may not like Buchanan but he is not delusional.  In fact, his lack of delusion on many subjects has caused him a lot of trouble.

The big question about Palin and "foreign" policy ought to be how she can have supported Buchanan's view that Israel is a small, foreign place, far away that costs the US more than it is worth.  Now she is the running mate ("soul mate" as well?) of John (Ich bin ein Tel Aviver) McCain.

The cynicism of the people running the McCain campaign will allow for an easy amnesia of her earlier position if the Democrats allow that.  The possibility of relentless questioning on this point beckons.

McCain does not deal well with frustration.  He does not deal well with opposition to his judgment calls.  There is a real possibility that he can be provoked into a moment... "You want the truth, you can't handle the truth.  They stole my strawberries.  They stole my strawberries...."  That would be "The End."

And then, there is Joe (sledgehammer) Biden on the other side... pl

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/08/mccain-camp-den.html

Comments

[Duncan Kinder]

if the Democrats allow [amnesia of her prior position

The Democrats will allow it.

[Will]

pat buchanan did you say?
from a recent email i sent

"probably better at playing checkers than chess
considering another flyboy as Prez
probably something about the G's scrambling their thinking organ

After 9.11, Bush wanted (and did) invade Iraq (which Richard Clarke said would be like invading Mexico as far as having connections to Al-Qaeda) BUT McCain wanted to invade, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, & Syria.

articles well worth reading
you may learn something about what passes for McCain's thinking

And None Dare Call It Treason
by Patrick J. Buchanan (08/22/08)
Who is Randy Scheunemann? He is the principal foreign policy adviser to John McCain. But he has another identity, another role.

Who Started Cold War II
by Patrick J. Buchanan (08/19/08)
The American people should be eternally grateful to Old Europe for having spiked the Bush-McCain plan to bring Georgia into NATO.

Blowback From Bear-Baiting
by Patrick J. Buchanan (08/15/08)
Saakashvili's decision to use the Olympic Games to cover Georgia's invasion of its breakaway province must rank in stupidity with Nasser's decision to close the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships. "

[Cold War Zoomie]

"They stole my strawberries. They stole my strawberries...."

Ouch!

[meletius]

Now, Col Lang, Captain McQueeq's actual line is: "And then there were the strawberries....(starts playing with ball bearings)..I proved using geometric logic that the messboys made a duplicate key to the storeroom....(trails off)....But just ask me questions, ask me questions, and I'll do the best I can to answer them....." No more questions, Captain....courtroom silence.

The climax of the film, of course. Well chosen, Col.

I love the association of McCain with Queeq---you're devilish!

[Maureen Lang]

The debates might provide that provocation moment. Quick thinking, erudite Obama debate skills & subtle (or not so) sniping using same frustrates the hell out of John McTeleprompter, who then goes off like a bottle rocket.

I can dream that Debating Obama will somewhat put decorum aside & go for the gusto, can't I?

[William R. Cumming]

The Jewish vote is still undecided in this one and story could be of importance.

[David W.]

While I hold no love for Buchanan, the fact that he aroused the ire of the Zionist choir brings him up a notch in my eyes. Since he's a well-known conservative, it won't be so easy to, ahem, deny him. Let's hope that Buchanan draws into the debate; I think he'd make mincemeat of McCain's foreign policy, and call needed attention to the work of unreconstructed neocon/war profiteer cum foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann.

btw, Buchanan made a cardinal error of the conservative/fascist wing: never publicly admit your inner admiration for Hitler--save it for private time in your bunker;>

[lina]

Gov. Palin is a Buchanan supporting creationist who boarded an aiplane following the commencement of labor in her 5th pregnancy.

http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=8194634

She is, in a word, nuts.

Only in America.

[zanzibar]

I have noticed several Democratic party elected representatives bring up McCain's temperament and his hot headed nature over the past couple weeks. Followed up by Obama's convention challenge to debate temperament and judgment.

I guess the next step would be to provoke an outburst that could then be sent out on YouTube to substantiate that meme.

Palin's got several issues that are percolating in the "tubes" waiting for an intrepid corporate media reporter to latch on. From Troopergate to membership in the Alaskan Independence Party that wants to secede to being a Buchanan supporter. All its going to take is one of these issues to get interesting enough for the piranas and it could quickly devolve into questions about McCain's judgment and his response could lead to the temperament moment. The good news for McCain is that the elections are just 2 months away.

[J]

Colonel,

it appears that the palin choice was to avert a disaffection of the republican base over mccain picking lieberman. had mccain committed the cardinal sin of having lieberman as his number 2, the republican base would have bolted mccain 'for sure'. ergo mccain would have lost any chances he had for a seat in the oval office. lieberman was leprosy for mccain's presidential aspirations.

to the israel first crowd (i.e. the israeli govt. through their various 'store-fronts') lieberman was their 'hope for' as given mccain's rather fragile health and possiblity he could not last his four year term in office, the israel firster crowd would have a fellow israel firster a heartbeat away from the presidency. ergo israel would have its first unelected in the u.s. presidental position. and with the israeli govt. having bought and sold the congress through their various store-fronts, would then have had the necessaries to commit to their full steam quest for their total, TOTAL hegemony over the entire middle east and in a position for possible global conquest through their 'second state' as they see the u.s..

israel was up to no good in georgia, and thankfully the russian military machine put a stop to israel's plans for another very unnecessary mideast war.

with mccain picking palin as his 'second', it has put the israel first crowd to nashing their teeth, and has given the u.s. a breather (for a while anyway) from an israel firster take-over of the u.s. white house.

[Cieran]

Lina:

Gov. Palin is a Buchanan supporting creationist who boarded an aiplane following the commencement of labor in her 5th pregnancy.

And from the news report you cite, she's apparently satisfied with risking the health of her unborn child if her professional schedule benefits.

So that's perhaps one of the reasons McCain sees her as a soulmate: they are both adamantly against compromising the health of the unborn, unless said fetus is a member of their family, in which case their resolute opposition morphs into "well, it all depends..."

(my oldest son was born under similar circumstances, with his mom's water breaking a month early... we had excellent medical care, and our doctors made it completely clear that nobody was going anyplace save for "straight to the hospital" to deliver our now-thankfully-healthy son. Rupture of the amniotic sac involves substantial risks of infection for the fetus. The strategy of heading to the airport simply boggles the mind...)

[Tim]

We Democrats mock Governor Sarah Palin at our peril. She is a social conservative, a populist, and a women. She connects with three important demographics and if you want to talk energy she will eat your lunch.

[rjj]

It will be hard to make that work for a lot of hard core Zionists.

What about generic voters who outnumber hardcore Zionists?

It will certainly affect media coverage. But these generic voters do not have much regard for CorpsMedia embalmed-head mouthpieces.

[Marcus]

The neo-cons will get word back to the fold how pliable Ms. Palin is, and we can bet the answer is an open slate.

Everybody would know about these Randy Scheunemann associations if we still had a responsible media:

"During the 2002 and early 2003 campaign by the George W. Bush administration to generate public support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Scheunemann had a close association with Iraq exile Ahmad Chalabi."

"While the foreign affairs advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Scheunemann was also a registered foreign agent (lobbyist) for the Republic of Georgia"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Scheunemann

[fnord]

Again channeling H.S. Thompson, he noted that Pat Buchanan was one of the few people surrounding Nixon that had a open perspective and was intelectualy able to communicate with wildly different opinions. (He seemed to like Thompsons rock n roll/anarchist approach to "the game".) "Fear and loathing on the Campaign Trail 72" stands for me as the one book to understand us politics...

But, as earlier mentioned, it seems to me that the repubs are throwing this election. Palin seems like a sure no-winner. Seen in the light of mr. Kiracofes comments, it seems more like the loonatic right consolidating.

[Canuck]

I'm lost...what does this article have to do with Palin's qualifications as Vice President?

From what I've read, she has an undergraduate degree in Journalism, was elected major of a small town and later voted Governor of a state with a population smaller than the smallest state in the Union (2006 Population Estimates: Rhode Island 1,067,610 compared to Alaska's 670,053.

With such a small resume, she's not qualified to take on the role of President of the lone superpower in the world. I didn't see gardening among her accomplishments, but if she adds that to her curriculum vitae; she could perhaps help the Head Gardener look after the Rose Garden?

[David Bernstein]

Palin supported Steve Forbes, not Pat Buchanan, so your entire premise is mistaken.

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_08_31-2008_09_06.shtml#1220187078

[Arun]

Anybody know anything about the Council for National Policy? Apparently they vetted and picked Palin.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/1/24846/28141/Front_Page/The_Council_For_National_Policy_Meets_In_Minn_Vets_Palin

[Steve]

While I disagree with Pat Buchanan on many things, I have always found him to speak with candor and intelligence regarding the influence of the neo-conservatives, the influence of the Israeli lobby, and the plight of the American economy.

I have no idea if Palin is an antisemite--I doubt it--but her support for Buchanan should in no way indicate that.

And neither should "vitriolic anti-Israel sentiments", whatever Wexler meant by that.

[Paul]

Hope the Democracts find the gonads to pursue Palin on the Buchanan angle.

The Palin show is just days old and we are getting new information about her weirdness every hour. She could not have been vetted, at all.

Just "shows to go you" how impetuous McCain is. His "soulmate"; it's a farce. Imagine him with his finger on the trigger!

I have a feeling that she will be dropped from the ticket before the elections a-la-Eagleton. AIPAC will raise so much hell Joe Lieberman will be installed as co-pilot.

[Patrick Lang]

all

Obama struck exactly the right note in re the wretched rumot mongering about Governor Palin and her family.

That does not mean that Palin is not fair game with regard to her political positions, background, etc. pl

[DH]

" Rupture of the amniotic sac involves substantial risks of infection for the fetus. The strategy of heading to the airport simply boggles the mind...)"

Add to that, without the cusioning of the fluid, the infant's head can compress the umbilical cord. One also assumes that a fifth delivery can go rather quickly.

[rc thweatt]

Sun Tzu said(as quoted by Tony Soprano), "Your enemy is of a choleric temper-irritate him."

[alnval]

Col. Lang:

The Palin/McCain campaign is now doing its best to minimize [fill in the blank] pl

In hashing this Palin thing around with Valerie she said: “The McCain campaign didn’t even have the good sense to be embarrassed.” What a topic sentence.

A denial of embarrassment has clearly been the subtext motivating all the McCain responses to the negatives that have been brought up about the choice of Governor Palin to be his running mate. Since her selection, the campaign has been doing everything it could to minimize the importance of allegations of abuse of power, that Governor Palin had been a supporter of Pat Buchanan, and now the fact that her daughter is five months pregnant.

This last situation was described today as a ‘bombshell’ by Chris Cillizza in WaPo and as a “new element of (GOP) tumult” by Kit Seelye in the NYT. The McCain campaign’s only response to this was not in the context of “bombshell’ or “new element of tumult”, but, as with all the others, that this issue and how it might reflect on Governor Palin's policy decisions on matters important to the votor, are really not important to Senator McCain as he had known about it prior to his selecting Governor Palin.

Obviously we are stuck with asking: If these things are not important to Senator McCain then what things are?

If what the campaign says is true, that Senator McCain knew about these and other things but went ahead anyway, one is forced to conclude that Senator McCain is either some kind of libertarian anarchist who doesn’t really give a fig about what potential vice-presidents of the United States do with their lives, or else he thinks that what matters to him about the candidate he selects is not nearly as important as how the candidate is viewed by selected conservatives in the Republican party. So far, of course, he seems to be doing well on that score.

Given that the press genuinely appears to be nonplussed by this continuous minimizing by McCain’s campaign of potentially important issues related to his choice of Governor Palin, I have to believe that the press is not going to give up but instead will become even more vigorous in their pursuit of the potentially embarrassing negatives in Governor Palin’s history. You then have to wonder how long it will take this chorus of negatives to reach critical mass before someone decides to shoot the piano player.

[Kelly]

On Troopergate, regardless of whether Palin intervened or not while she was governor I believe selecting her as his VP running mate is a step back in time for women. Many women, including Republican women, have worked hard to obtain creditable positions in government and have a long list credentials. Selecting Palin is like a slap in the face to these individuals and to any educated woman or being. Whether she returned the money on the bridge to nowhere doesn’t even began to equal whether she has any foreign policy experience.