It is often said that Social Security is "the third rail" of our political life; touch it, and die a screaming, horrid death. I don't think so. Trying to have a realistic discussion of our policy towards the nation-state of Israel causes everyone in mainstream and right-wing politics (increasingly difficult to distinguish) to lose whatever equanimity they might possess and start frothing at the mouth. Alan Dershowitz lost whatever credibility he once had by carrying on this way. David Horowitz actually requires a bib when he starts on this tack. Joe "Likudnik" Lieberman is an embarrassment when he starts talking about Israel.
Back in the summer of '06, on my first attempt at blogging, I wrote a very tentative criticism of Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon, and got a comment without a trackback that, when boiled down to its essentials, called me anti-Semitic. I have rarely ventured forth since then, because I weary of having to explain the obvious - criticizing Israeli foreign policy is not the same thing as desiring the death of all Jews; wishing we could have an honest debate about American policy towards Israel is not the same thing as tossing a Hitlergruss and having Arbeit Mach Frei stenciled above my house; wondering about the political sanity of some members of the American Jewish community who demand a narrow range of debate on Israel is not seeing hook-nosed usurists behind every hedge-row. Alas, I am quite sure that my use of various bigoted comments in this paragraph will draw the weirdos like my dog's manure draws flies.
Today, Glenn Greenwald commends Barack Obama for a speech in which he asks, not exactly rhetorically, for a more open debate on our policy towards Israel. In the process, Greenwald shows the results of a recent opinion survey in Israel that shows how warped our own discourse is. I have no doubt that his comments are chock-a-block with accusations of Jew-hating and closet goose-stepping on Greenwald's part. Yet, how can we move forward if we don't actually move from the stalemate we currently find ourselves in on this whole issue? How tiring does it get to repeat, yet again, that the equation of "Israel" and "Jewishness" is simply false?
It should be noted that part of this debate is driven by religious fanatics who actually believe that the current nation-state of Israel is the reincarnation (resurrection?) of the ancient, Biblical kingdom, and therefore it is the duty of all good (American) Christians to defend it, so that it can be destroyed when Jesus descends from the clouds and saves all the Christians and kills all the heathen, including those Christ-killing Jews who live in Israel. CBN actually negotiated with Egypt to build a small, air-conditioned storage facility to house television equipment so that, when Jesus does return, they will have the equipment staged at the foot of Mt. Sinai to broadcast it around the world (I kid you not).
Our entire discourse is so warped, I wonder how we function.
UPDATE: Missing last night's debate, I now see that Russert managed to get his dig in, with the TN state GOP piling on. If it weren't for the fact that Russert is admired by so many people as a "tough journalist", I would laugh. Knowing, however, that there are so many who admire the Boy from Buffalo (and his dad, "Big Russ", God help us), I weep because someone this God-awful stupid actually manages to legitimate idiocy in our public discourse.
Rather than boycott FOXNews, I think Democrats should boycott any debate moderated by Russert. Not because he's a partisan hack. Rather, because he's just so goddamn stupid.
Virtual Tin Cup
