What’s Next
I’ve been looking into a bizarre and unacknowledged aspect of Attorneygate and will be reporting on it in next week’s Nation. If I told you the story involved bondage would you believe me? Just wait.
Out Here It’s Hard For Bernard
Is Bernie K. about to be indicted? From First Read:
In what could hardly be good news for Rudy Guiliani’s presidential hopes, his former police commissioner Bernard Kerik appears headed for an indictment, Jonathan Dienst of WNBC reports. Kerik has turned down a guilty plea that would have included federal jail time, Dienst says. The next step is up to federal prosecutors; Kerik has already pleaded guilty to state charges.
Strange Bed(Senior)Fellows
It’s good to know that after getting demolished in the Ohio governor’s race, Ken Blackwell has still managed to make something out of himself. Nevermind that he’ll be working for a friend of white supremacists.
AIPAC Cheers an Anti-Semitic Holocaust Revisionist (and Abe Foxman Approves)
“I think there is a role for [Pastor John Hagee]. He has earned a certain recognition with the community because of his support for Israel.”
–Anti-Defamation League national director Abe Foxman, 3/9/07
“It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God’s chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day…”
–Pastor John Hagee, “Jerusalem Countdown,” pp. 92-93
It does not necessarily matter to AIPAC if you preach “New World Order/Illuminati” conspiracy theories involving “international bankers,” a classic coded anti-Semitic trope. Nor does it necessarily matter to them if the rhetoric you have spewed about the Holocaust sounds like a Christian version of Mahmoud Ahmadenijad. AIPAC doesn’t even necessarily care that you’ve lionized Yigal Amir, the assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. What matters more to AIPAC and its allies — all that matters perhaps — is that you back the hardline Israeli government without reservation, support the institutionalized dehumanization of Palestinians and offer crucial moral support for the illegal usurpation of Palestinian land. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that you lust for war with Iran.
This crackpot “New World Order” video’s creator, Pastor John Hagee, was received with a standing ovation at AIPAC’s annual convention
It should come as no surprise then that an anti-Semitic Holocaust apologist like Pastor John Hagee was invited to AIPAC, and was given a raucous ovation. As I reported for the Nation last year, through his new lobbying organization, Christians United for Israel, Hagee is emerging as the most influential leader of the Christian Zionist movement, which has bolstered the Israeli right with the grassroots muscle of the evangelical right. I go on to explain in detail that Hagee is a dangerous crackpot whose stated desire is to see Israel engage in an apocalyptic nuclear war with Iran.
Hagee does not agonize over the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Jews who would die in such a conflict. Instead, he celebrates this scenario as the pretext for the return of JC. “The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching … rejoice and be exceedingly glad, the best is yet to be,” Hagee writes in his latest pulp prophecy bestseller, “Jerusalem Countdown.”
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Bruce Wilson, who’s been blogging up a storm about Hagee at Talk2Action, has dredged up an even more disturbing passage from “Jerusalem Countdown.” Says Hagee:
“It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God’s chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day….
How utterly repulsive, insulting, and heartbreaking to God for His chosen people to credit idols with bringing blessings He had showered upon the chosen people. Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of anti-Semitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come…. it rises from the judgment of God uppon his rebellious chosen people.” ["Jerusalem Countdown: A Prelude To War", paperback edition, pages 92 and 93]
There’s more. Journalist Michelle Goldberg, one of the keenest observers of the Christian right around, reported for the Huffington Post that Hagee suggested in “Jerusalem Countdown” that Adolph Hitler was a divine agent sent by God to drive the Jews back to Israel in order to fulfill biblical prophecy. Hagee writes:
The Bible is a book of parables and word pictures describing principles of truth from God to man. The prophet Jeremiah puts his pen to parchment and paints a vivid picture of the human agendas God intended to use to bring the Jewish people back to Israel.
“But now I will send for many fishermen” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.”
– Jeremiah 16:16 NIV
I believe this verse indicates that the positive comes before the negative. Grace and mercy come before judgment. The fishermen come before the hunters. First, God sent the fishermen to Israel. These were the Zionists, men like Theodor Herzl who called for the Jews of Europe and the world to come to Palestine to establish the Jewish state. The Jews were encouraged to escape while there was still time. The situation for Jews in Europe would only get worse, not better.
A fisherman is one who draws his target toward him with bait. Herzl and his fellow Zionists were God’s fishermen, calling the sons and daughters of Abraham home. Herzl was deeply disappointed that the Jews of the world did not respond in greater numbers.
God then sent the hunters. The hunter is one who pursues his target with force and fear. No one could see the horror of the Holocaust coming, but the force and fear of Hitler’s Nazis drove the Jewish people back to the only home God ever intended for the Jews to have — Israel. I stand amazed at the accuracy of God’s Word and its relevance for our time. I am stricken with awe and wonder at His boundless love for Israel and the Jewish people and His divine determination that the promise He gave Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob become reality.
Certainly AIPAC and allies like Abe Foxman, who says “there is role for” Hagee, were aware of the pastor’s anti-Semitic statements. But they have their priorities. Foxman, for his part, has been rehearsing his Roy Cohn impersonation with increasing enthusiasm.
In the type of stunt that is becoming all too familiar, in October, 2006, Foxman pressured the Polish Consulate to cancel a lecture by renowned historian Tony Judt entitled, “The Israel Lobby & US Foreign Policy.” After torpedoeing the event, Consul General Krzysztof Kasprzyk told a reporter, “I don’t have to subscribe to the First Amendment.” Kasprzyk’s move was hailed by American Jewish Committee executive director David Harris, who exclaimed, “Bravo to them for doing the right thing.”
To Foxman and company, critics of the Israel Lobby pose a dire threat to the safety and well-being of the Jewish people, even — or perhaps, especially — if they are Jewish themselves. But as for those like Hagee who blame the Jews for their own persecution and celebrate the Holocaust, well, it all depends on how useful they are.
The altar upon which Ted Haggard sacrificed his credibility is for sale.
Why the Dems Pulled Out of Fox News’ Psyops “Debate”
Still not sure the Dems should have pulled out of the Fox News debate? Are you wondering if the ever-charismatic Dennis Kucinich could have convinced legions of NRA members and James Dobson listeners to support his call for the creation of a Department of Peace? Suzy Creamcheese, what’s got into you?
Just take a trip over to Potterville where Jurassicpork has posted his masterful photo essay and you’ll see why the Fox debate would be transformed by Roger “Barack Obama is a Terrorist” Ailes and his minions into just another GOP psy-ops production.
Below is one of countless examples of Fox News’ calculated use of propaganda to spin negative stories about Republicans, distort the positions of progressives, and generally condition the minds of its reactionary viewers.
Former Fox News analyst Larry Johnson knows from first-hand experience how Fox perverts and distorts the views of even the few progressives who agree to appear on the Republican network.
If you had any lingering doubt about the propaganda and disinformation that spews forth regularly from the demon child fathered by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, just take a look. These are not isolated, out of context, screen shots. These are reflective of a mindset and standard of practice that is truly evil.
As a former Fox News analyst I have some first hand experience of dealing with the beast and have the satisfcation of knowing that Rupert Murdoch had me removed from Fox air for daring to suggest that invading Iraq would be a diversion in the war on terrorism.
The time has come that every thoughtful, informed person should refuse to watch Fox, appear on Fox, or support the advertisers who enable this group of nuts.
Though I wholeheartedly agree with Johnson, I have to admit that I’ve always fantasized about having the opportunity to offer Bill O’Reilly a falafel sandwich on his show.
Following in his Footsteps
Reverend George Bush (1796 – 1859)
From Planetary Movement:
In 1837, the Reverend George Bush wrote a book titled, The Life of Mohammed: Founder of the Religion of Islam, and the Empire of the Saracens. It should be needless to state that the Reverend George Bush has little complimentary to say about the founder of one of the world’s great religions. Worse. Reverend George Bush launched what should be considered a deliberate attack on Mohammed, his teaching and the religious tradition that he founded, Islam. The Reverend Bush constantly referred to Mohammed as an, “impostor.†He wrote,
“(Mohammed’s) whole history makes it evident, that fanaticism, ambition, and lust were his master passions . . . An enthusiast by nature, he became a hypocrite by policy; and as the violence of his corrupt propensities increased, he scrupled not to gratify them at the expense of truth, justice, friendship and humanity.â€
From the theological writings of his ancestor, it cannot be disputed that the family of President George Bush has been incubating Islamophobia for at least four generations.
Romney Buys the Right
Once upon a time, Mitt Romney was a pro-choice, moderately pro-gay governor of a liberal state. Now he is the darling of certain ostensibly anti-gay, anti-abortion figures and groups. All of them have been paid by Romney. The question is whether they’ve been paid off.
One of Romney’s biggest fans is the National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez, a right-wing Catholic who opposes abortion with all of her soul. As I reported in the Nation last November, Lopez was given a private reception by Romney last October. The visit yielded a fawning blog post and a softball interview in which NR editors acknowledged that KLo “has some pro-Romney tendencies.”
What the National Review failed to acknowledge was that Romney donated $10,000 to its in-house think tank, the National Review Institute, right before declaring his presidential candidacy. As David Kirpatrick of the Times reported yesterday, NR is not the only right-wing group awash in Romney’s riches.
The Federalist Society, a right-wing legal cabal that
hosted, Romney as a speaker at its 2005 convention, has been granted $35,000 by the ex-governor over the past two years.
Romney’s relationship with the Massachusetts Family Institute is more telling. The Family Institute, a local affiliate of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, was one of Romney’s most aggressive critics during his term as governor. But in 2006, after Romney donated $10,000 to the group, it changed its tune.
This January, Family Institute director Kris Mineau released a mass letter supporting Romney’s “pro-family” agenda to local social conservatives, urging them to sign it. Mineau was rebuked by his allies, however. With none of Romney’s cash to entice them, they had no reason to support him.
As Romney seeks to position himself squarely in the center of the hard-right, his fortune is flooding the conservative movement. Many observers of the recent conservative movement gathering, CPAC, were suprised that Romney defeated other Republican presidential contenders in the event’s straw poll. Yet his victory was assured from the beginning: unlike his opponents, Romney paid droves of student “volunteers” to attend CPAC, purchasing their plane tickets and hotel fare in exchange for their votes in the poll.
Romney has also sought the loyalty of some of the conservative movement’s heaviest hitters. Movement leader and anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist organized a private banquet for Romney at CPAC, then introduced him during his prime-time speech. While Norquist is not officially affiliated with Romney’s campaign Pat Robertson’s former in-house lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is.
Sekulow has signed on as an adviser to Romney’s campaign and was seen working the halls at CPAC. Sekulow happens to be one of the biggest hucksters in American politics: through his 501 c-3, the American Center for Law and Justice, he solicits millions in small donations from little old ladies, then uses it to pay his family, finance his two mansions, private jet, and himself — Sekulow “earns” over $600,000, an unheard of salary for the director of a non-profit group. Sekulow should feel at home on the mercenary-minded Romney campaign.
If Romney secures the Republican nomination, he will confirm Will Rogers’ words of wisdom, “A fool and his money are soon elected.”
The Minutemen Implode
The story of the Minutemen’s demise has kind of flown under the radar but it’s an important one given what this organization — the official national umbrella group run by Jim Gilchrist, not the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps of Chris Simcox — has accomplished since its inception. Under Gilchrist’s leadership, the group has garnered enormous publicity and expanded the grassroots reach of the grassroots anti-immigrant movement.
But according to the LA Times, $750,000 dollars is missing from Minutemen coffers. Where did it go? Only Jim Gilchrist knows.
Once one of Gilchrist’s staunchest supporters, Barb “Mexicans are Savages” Coe, has joined two other Minutemen board members in voting Gilchrist out of his leadership post. She also resigned from the group in protest of Gilchrist’s leadership. Gilchrist has retaliated by suing her and her allies. He told the Times, “My adversaries still have more wackos than we have.” But it was unclear whether he was referring to fellow Minutemen or the Mexican Reconquistadores he usually rants about.
Down on the border, meanwhile, Simcox (with a little help from his Beltway puppeteer, Alan Keyes), is having his own financial troubles.
Quote of the Week
“There is no conservative outing machine.” — David Horowitz, 3/08/07
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