Dean and Israel

[Mediocrates]

Just last week we said that the GOP attack machine was lying in wait for our new DNC Chair, Howard Dean. We hoped to be proven wrong, but we were right.

Within hours of Governor Dean's election, GOP leaders launched a vicious smear campaign against him within the American Jewish community -- a campaign that dangerously politicizes support for Israel, threatening the crucial legacy of bipartisan support for Israel. Moreover, it blatantly mischaracterizes Howard Dean's record of support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.

Read on to learn the truth about Howard Dean, and please take a moment right now to forward these facts to friends and family by selecting the "Tell-a-Friend" link at the bottom of this message.

The fact is that the Bush administration and its Republican minions use half-truths and innuendos to tear down opponents because they cannot successfully advance their extremist agenda on its merits.

The fact is that Dr. Dean has long been a good friend of the American Jewish community, and it is a friendship based on shared values -- values including strong support for Israel, the separation of church and state, and reproductive rights.

These are the 10 facts every American Jew should know regarding Howard Dean and Israel:

1. Governor Dean told the Arab American Institute, "...I want you to know that I met with a group of Jewish leaders yesterday, and I intend to deliver the same message to you that I did to them. ...Israel has a right to exist and everybody acknowledges that, and those that don't are clearly obstructing peace. ...The Israelis have the right to defend themselves, and I defend the Israelis right to defend themselves" (Speech before Arab American Institute National Leadership Conference, October 18, 2003).

2. Governor Dean wrote that "The U.S. and Israel are partners in the war on terror. As long as that war continues, members of Hamas, who are enemies in that war, are going to be casualties if they continue to target innocent civilians with terrorist acts" (Letter to Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, September 12, 2003).

3. Governor Dean said America must "confront the Iranians, the Syrians, the Saudis, and others who send money to Hamas, and finance a worldwide network of fundamentalist schools which teach small children to hate Americans, Christians, and Jews" (speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, June 25, 2003).

4. Governor Dean on his time in Israel: "On a tour of the Old City in Jerusalem during my 2002 trip to Israel, I experienced first-hand the miracle of the modern Jewish state. ... That experience reinforced my commitment to the special relationship the United States has with Israel. Israel will always have the resources necessary to guarantee its long-term defense and security. ...People ask me about the Middle East conflict all the time and ask me what I would do. I remind them that I saw first-hand the horror of violence when I worked at hospitals as a medical student at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein Medical College. And I always say that we're never going to get peace in the Middle East as long as we have terror. Israel has both the right and the responsibility to protect and defend its citizens against terrorists" (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 11, 2004).

5. Governor Dean "blasted recent anti-Semitic remarks by Malaysia's prime minister, called for U.S. efforts to curtail Saudi Arabian incitement and support for terrorism, and urged pressure to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons" (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 20, 2003).

6. Governor Dean wrote that "the United States must remain committed to the special, longstanding relationship we have with Israel, including providing the resources necessary to guarantee Israel's long-term defense and security. Maintaining Israel's security is a key US national security interest. ... Since Harry Truman's historic decision to make the United States the first nation to recognize the Jewish state, Democrats have been united in their commitment to the state of Israel. I will not allow a split to emerge in our party on this critical issue...." (letter to House Democrats, September 12, 2003).

7. Governor Dean asserted that "The United States has to... take a much harder line on Iran and Saudi Arabia because they're funding terrorism. We need conservation and renewable energy to lessen our dependence on Mideast oil and to have a lever on the funders of terror" (interview with the Forward, November 22, 2002).

8. Governor Dean said that "our alliance with Israel is and must remain unshakeable, and so will be my commitment every day of our administration to work with the parties for a solution that ends decades of blood and tears" (Speech before the Pacific Council on International Policy, Los Angeles, California, December 15, 2003).

9. Governor Dean said, "Israel is not just an ally, but a beacon of hope for people who were abandoned 2,000 years ago and who are afraid of being abandoned again. I will not abandon Israel, ever" (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 20, 2003).

10. Governor Dean's position on Israel "is not 'substantially different' from that of the other Democratic candidates or the current administration, [Union of American Hebrew Congregations President Eric] Yoffie said" (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 20, 2003).

These are the facts, plain and simple.

The attack politics of the GOP only work if people of goodwill do not know the truth. It is imperative that you help get these facts out -- so that as many people as possible know the truth.

Please help us to counter the Karl Rove-style mud-slinging by sharing these facts with friends and family who should know the truth! Please forward this message by selecting the "Tell-a-Friend" link below.

[I am David]

Great article. It's true Howard Dean is a strong supporter of Israel as many democrats are (Errr, most). But I don't expect the Pro-Israel-Republotards to be reasonable and accept this. When they said John Kerry, someone who could be used as the definition of Pro-Israel, was in fact a pro-Islamic and anti-Israel, you can't do much else but throw up your hands in frustration and give up. (At least for the moment)

In any case Howard Dean will make a great Chairmen I think and I look foward to an erosion in the Republican dominence of US politics.

[KettleWhistle]

So he made a few speaches. What's the big deal? You can find a good number of quotes from Chirac that say the same as half of those by Dean.

[tandem]

is that the same howard dean who said hamas suicide bombers are soldiers?

[Mediocrates]

Yes probably. Is this the White House that says "Israel must make serious concessions on all fronts" and gives 420 million dollars to PLO/Hamas?

See I tend to put more weight behind what people do as opposed to what they say. Don't you?

[tandem]

you got me there.

[I am David]

What Dean said about hamas and soldiers actually was in Israel favor. His point was NOT that terrorists are ligimate soldiers, but that since Israel is fighting a war on terror, and hamas members are soldiers on the side AGAINST Israel, there is a likely hood they will die.

People who thought he meant that were just looking for any excuse to make it look like he doesn't support Israel.

[minusthejihad]

This is probably the only time in history that the republotards are happier with the DNC nomination than the demonocrats. Good luck with all that!

[Mediocrates]

Well saying that they are simply republican-lite hasn't served them. Neither has being insane. The fact is, you attack Bush you really do attack the 40-45% of America that likes him. So the key for them is to establish a message that undercuts the administration phoney calls for traditional values. The fact is, this country really WAS a progressive state for the entire time from Teddy Roosevelt to now with brief pauses for Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan of course. In effect what they have to do is say here is where were were, here is where we are, there is a way to get back to that foundation and away from this fundamentalist diversion. None of those so called right wingers had any trouble growing up as children under the GI bill, the Civil Rights act, farm subsidies, public education, OSHA, the EPA, social security and all the other things that they label evil today. None of them turned down student loans or worse, financial aid. That is the America they came from. That's the message that the democrats have to get out.

Do you
Like child labor law enforcement? Like a minimum wage? Like no openended amnesty for illegal aliens? Like laws against cracking open private pension plans? Then stand by us.

Or Do you
Like $8500 tax breaks on average for millionaires and zero for you. Like the systematic reduction in public education funding. Like religious education substution for math and science where we are already ranked about 20th world wide in that. Like a return to the Supreme Court of Lochner which is a rollback of essentially all corporate regulations including antitrust, product safety, labor laws, etc. Then stick with them.

[minusthejihad]

See, that is something I could get behind and I'm glad to see that some of you don't want to keep going further to the left. After all, with Dean in power, you'll be lucky to have a party by 2008.

You know, this whole thing reminds me of something I thought about Michael Moore, Davidson's hometowm hero, yesterday:

If you consider GW a moron or at least intellectually challenged, and then you have to fabricate lies and mistruths to defeat him, and he still beats you, what does that say about you?

[I am David]

What it says is that despite how bad a leader you are, there is always a way hide that from the public and present yourself as whatever the hell you want to. Karl Rove did just that and he did it masterfully. Actually, the fact that Kerry almost won says how terrible a president Bush is. If Bush was even just a mediocre president, or very bad but not as bad as he is, Bush would have Kremed Kerry Reagen-Mondale style.

So what it says about the Democrats is that we don't have a political propogandist genius like Karl Rove or anything close to it.


Or did you mean JUST Michael Moore? In that case it's irrellevant.

[minusthejihad]

So what it says about the Democrats is that we don't have a political propogandist genius like Karl Rove or anything close to it.

Wow. I didn't know that Karl Rove is more powerful or talented than say:

Michael Moore, Google, Ben Affleck, Susan Surandon, P Ditty, Janine Garafolo, John Stewart, Hollywood, CBS, CNN, broadcast television, Miramax, George Soros, etc., as they were your propagandists.

No, what is says is that your message(s) or platform a) weren't clear enough, or that b) the majority of people weren't buying them.

But whatever, all 51% that voted for Bush are idiots anyway, what do they know? Right?

[Mediocrates]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/20...old/index.html

The truth about Arnold
The movie star poses as a corruption-fighting moderate. But since taking office, he's pursued a blatantly right-wing agenda while raking in big bucks from special interests -- and ignoring his own financial conflicts.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Peter Byrne

Feb. 15, 2005 |

Titillated by the star power of his populist coup in California, the national media has swooned in Arnold Schwarzenegger's muscular embrace for over a year. The New Yorker profiled him as "Supermoderate!" Wired found him to be "surprisingly effective." The editors of the New York Times proclaimed, "The last action hero can seemingly do no wrong." On the cover of its January 2005 issue, Vanity Fair featured the leather-jacketed Schwarzenegger posing atop a Harley with his silken spouse, Maria Shriver. The story, like so many others, portrayed the glam couple as the future of American politics: bipartisan, moderate, effective ... presidential.

At first, the new governor sporadically fit the role of social liberal but fiscal conservative. He endorsed stem cell research, strengthened protections for domestic partners and supported access to public records. Conversely, he campaigned against reforming the penal law, called for setting up a DNA database for felons, and vetoed a bill allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses. But, overall, people bought into his seeming moderation -- fully two-thirds of the state's general public favored his governorship. No California governor in modern times has enjoyed such a broad-based mandate to tinker with the government of the world's fifth-largest economy.



But with his defiantly immoderate State of the State speech in early January, when he proposed to drastically cut back education and social services in lieu of taxing the rich, Schwarzenegger blindsided liberal Californians with his nakedly Republican agenda. This week, the celebrity governor travels to Washington to mine his relationship with President Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress to boost federal spending for California. Since arriving in Sacramento, Schwarzenegger has:

• Taken governmental actions that benefit his personal finances, in apparent violation of state law.
• Collected tens of millions of dollars from many of the same "special interests" he had sworn to kick out of town when he was elected.
• Vetoed bills that would have protected labor, the environment, workplace safety and consumers.
• Sought to centralize his power by abolishing citizen-run boards that make important regulatory decisions.
• Advocated for increased deregulation of the electricity market.

For more than a year, proximity to the "Governator" has blinded Democratic Party leaders, reporters, editors and the public to the tawdry reality taking place in front of their eyes -- the huckstering of a conservative product line and the glorification of the Schwarzenegger brand in California's highest public office.

[I am David]

Wow. I didn't know that Karl Rove is more powerful or talented than say:

Michael Moore, Google, Ben Affleck, Susan Surandon, P Ditty, Janine Garafolo, John Stewart, Hollywood, CBS, CNN, broadcast television, Miramax, George Soros, etc., as they were your propagandists.

No, what is says is that your message(s) or platform a) weren't clear enough, or that b) the majority of people weren't buying them.

But whatever, all 51% that voted for Bush are idiots anyway, what do they know? Right?

Karl Rove was part of the Bush campaign. It is vastly different to work for the otherside but for a third party orginization. In any case I never said that Kerry's campaign was superb. It was not very good in my opinion, which again says how terrible a president Bush is that Kerry nearly won.

As for the ~50% that voted for Kerry, they are idiots anyway, what do they know? Right? RIGHT?

[minusthejihad]

Karl Rove was part of the Bush campaign. It is vastly different to work for the otherside but for a third party orginization. In any case I never said that Kerry's campaign was superb. It was not very good in my opinion, which again says how terrible a president Bush is that Kerry nearly won.

As for the ~50% that voted for Kerry, they are idiots anyway, what do they know? Right? RIGHT?

I'd love for you to show me where I ever said that. I don't believe people on either "side" are right or wrong. Smart or idiotic. But I can certainly sense quite a condescending tone from our blatantly liberal entertainment industry which happens to think that people in cities know what is better for the US than the rest of the people in states "you fly over". I'm happy that I have had the opportunity to associate with liberals and conservatives throughout the last couple years and it is pretty obvious that there are many differneces of opinions.

Just look at Jews, about 65% voted demonocrats and 35% voted for republotards. To me, this says that people have a wide range of opinions and beliefs and in most cases, one or the other party can't be pro-everything they believe in. As I've pointed out before, I agree and disagree with both parties and for that reason I am no memeber of either. Just look at this forum, where I agree with Kettlewhistle and Mediocrates about Israeli issues alomst 100% of the time, but when it came to our elections, I side mainly with Kettlewhistle.

The point is, stereotyping and generalizations are very common to see, even from my favorite poster, Medio. I personally think he is the best writer here and I trust his opinions greatly. But to see him paint everyone that voted for Dubya (even other ardent Zionists) as idiots, misinformed, brainwashed, ignorant fools that support abortion doctor killers and bibles in our classrooms, is disheartening. It's great to be opinionated, but you loose some of the righteousness when you look at the world as so black and white. It appears to me there are no easy choices, but serious ones that people need to make, and occasionally you have to make some compromises here and there to carry out what you think is positive for our country.

Basically, this is devisive and forces us to battle each other rather than our enemies. It's counterproductive and exactly what pur enemies want.