The Post’s top story this morning is a thumbsucker about the many ways that Obama has failed to kiss the proper quadrant of Bibi Netanyahu’s ass. Here are a few samples:
Obama’s Muslim middle name, former anti-Zionist pastor in Chicago and past friendships with prominent Palestinians had shadowed his presidential campaign. He wanted to restore the United States’ reputation as a credible mediator. To do so, he believed that he needed to regain Arab trust — and talk tough to Israel, publicly and privately.
“What you saw, at several turns during Obama’s management of this, was a complete lack of an emotion-based relationship with Israel,” said a former Palestinian political adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a candid view.
Nearly two weeks later, Netanyahu, reading polls that showed him with a far higher approval rating than Obama in Israel, traveled to Washington for an annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee .
“The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today,” Netanyahu said in his March 2010 speech, openly defying Obama.
“Jerusalem is not a settlement,” he said to sustained applause. “It is our capital.”
Obama’s mind was elsewhere. Earlier that day, he had signed the Affordable Care Act, his historic and politically expensive health-care legislation.
The sense of the whole thing is that the bumbling Obama Administration didn’t understand that complete capitulation to Israel would have fixed everything. I guess I’m too much of an anti-Semite to understand why that makes sense as a foreign policy strategy.
Villago Delenda Est
Two things:
Fuck the WaPo.
Fuck Bibi the Likudnik shit.
Anton Sirius
When did Rev. Wright renounce anti-Zionism?
Oh, it’s just an incompetently written sentence in a floundering, once-respected newspaper. My bad.
Walker
Feature. Not a bug.
dmsilev
I dunno, sounds like Obama knew Netanyahu well enough.
Derelict
The sense of the whole thing is that the bumbling Obama Administration didn’t understand that complete capitulation to Israel would have fixed everything.
But this is very consistent with the WAPO’s–and the Village’s–sense of any Democratic presidency. Everything would be just dandy if the Democrat would just become a Republican!
Obama presents an especially tough case because he has, in many instances, actually pushed through Republican policies. But that danged “D” after his name just ruins everything for the Village.
Todd
Clearly, you want to repeat the Holocaust if you don’t endorse settlement expansion, water diversion and continuing occupation.
maya
Uh, mistermix. I’d watch out for any motor-scooters that might be tailing your car from here on.
Poopyman
@Walker: Yeah, I’m reading those quotes and thinking “Way to go, Mr. Prez!”
Of course, I fully expect the writer/editor wanted it to be a Bibi asskissing. Maybe I’m too much in the bag for BHO and fed up with the too many politicians in the US acting like we’re a colony of Israel.
JPL
mistermix, The headline Where Obama failed on forging Mideast Peace convinced me to skip the article. You are a much better person to wade through the shit that the post offers today.
Wag
Reality has a well known anti-Israeli bias. Not an anti-semitic bias, just an anti-Israeli bias.
beltane
Disgusting.
I concur with Villago Delenda Est’s comment above. The worst part about it is that in order to get a true picture of just how much a shit Bibi really is, you must venture out of the American news media bubble, where Netanyahu is treated with more reverence than even Pope Benedict (who is also unworthy of such reverence.)
DougJ
What’s fucked up is that this is not an editorial, it purports to be a straight news story.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I thought the President of the United States was just that, the President of the United States, not an Israel ass kisser. On my list of what’s important for our country, Israel isn’t. Lacking an emotional involvement with whatever winger is running Israel is a plus IMO. There’s a whole world out there and Israel is a very small part of it. They should be happy that he hasn’t cut off support for Israel. How someone who spies on us and tries to manipulate us for their own gain is supposed to be a “friend” of ours escapes me but I guess Republicans are just fine with that.
With friends like that, who needs enemies?
beltane
@Walker: I have developed a very emotion-based relationship with Israel and can no longer read about anything its right-wing government does without feeling the urge to throw things.
amk
Good. Finally an admin with some common sense.
danielx
Well, yeah. Ideally, US relations with other countries are based on fact and logic, not emotion. In point of fact, that would apply to policy in every arena. Global warming, alternate energy, Supreme Court decisions….
Wait a minute, what am I saying here? Did I just say that wingnut emotion-based thinking is invalid?
Tom Levenson
Just another case of mainstream and ignorant US media conspiring in aid of Israel’s slow rolling suicide. It would help if someone in the MSM understood that support for Israel =! support for Bibi or the apartheid regime the settler community inhabits.
It’s depressing as hell wishing and hoping for Israel’s long-term survival right now while seeing what’s going on…
Which is to say, Obama could very well be the best thing that has happened to Israel since Ben Gurion.
Brian R.
Obama’s acting like he’s the President of the United States of America, looking out for that country’s interests above all else.
Doesn’t that idiot realize he was elected Prime Minister of Israel? The nerve!
Punchy
Please, for the love of Pete, tell me this is snark. Please, dear lord, do not tell me this was written as serious commentary.
I guess Christopher Harold Bawls better not apply for kindergarten cop anywheres.
Shrillhouse
Yes, the president’s decision to use a Muslim middle name is a slap in the face to one of our most important allies. To be frank, it’s below the dignity of the office he holds.
Poopyman
What? “No Drama Obama” wasn’t just a nickname? Who knew?
[rolleyes]
Ben Franklin
If Bibi wants to invoke the emotional, religious History of Jerusalem, he should remember
his own God went out of his way, TWICE to destroy the ‘settlement’ and concluded his support for this dead religion, officially in the year 70.
NotMax
This isn’t a news story, it is an AIPAC press release shout-out while the Sec. of State is in Egypt meeting with Morsi, Tantawi, etc.
JPL
Stephanie Cutter is on Face the Nation.
danielx
OT but this is just too good. Regarding Glen Kessler’s insistence that just because somebody has the title of CEO, it doesn’t necessarily mean that person is actually responsible for anything…
From Brad DeLong’s website….
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2012/07/is-this-the-silliest-thing-glenn-kessler-of-the-washington-post-has-ever-written.html#comment-6a00e551f08003883401676881ca1e970b
Anton Sirius
@beltane:
I remember seeing Netanyahu on Nightline many, many years ago, while he was UN ambassador and before he made his big push to the top in Israeli politics. And even then, I thought “What a dangerous asshole this guy is.”
Mino
Bibi has twice U-turned peace in Israel.
rikyrah
not a fan of the 51st state, so you know I think this article is complete BS.
YellowJournalism
That first sentence screams for an Oxford comma. I had to read it twice before it made sense.
Brian R.
Stephanie Cutter is wiping the floor with a Romney spokesman on “Face the Nation” right now. God, I love this woman.
CUTTER SMASH!
the Conster
@Brian R.:
It takes a woman to straighten things out properly, I always say.
amk
@NotMax: Bingo.
Violet
@JPL:
And Face the Nation is kicking Meet The Press and David Gregory’s ass in the ratings. I wonder if our media overlords are paying attention?
Linda Featheringill
First, let me say that relations between Israel and her neighbors are no worse than they’ve ever been. No US administration has ever “fixed” the Middle East. It’s been a mess since 1948 and I think it was troubled before the post-Holocaust Jews descended on the place.
Then let me say that I also have an emotional tie with Israel. You could say that I’m Judeophilic. I passionately hold that it should exist.
HOWEVER, crap is crap. The search for empire is destructive, no matter who is involved. Right wing nonsense is destructive. Period.
The political state of Israel [as opposed to all the people that make up Israel] has been behaving like a thug and a bully for some time. If they don’t stop behaving that way, it will likely lead to destruction of the political state of Israel, if not to the people themselves. Sucking up to Bibi [a right wing jerk] will not change his behavior.
YellowJournalism
Cutter the Gutter
Brian R.
Romney’s spokesman is robotically repeating “Romney followed the law.”
Cutter is tearing at his face like a goddamn spider monkey. “Instead of whining about what the Obama campaign is doing, why don’t you put the tax returns out there.”
BOOM!
John of Indiana
Long past time the United States stopped sucking Israel’s anus.
Now if we could just quit giving the richest non-oil economy in the Middle East billions of dollar’s worth of munitions to whup-up on the Palestinians with every year…
Congress likes to rim the Likudniks because, well, because Jeebus.
And “Armageddon”. We keep supplying “poor little Israel” with enough arms and someday somebody’s gonna get nervous and lob a nuke at them. then they lob their nukes (probably “gifts of the American People”) back and we’re off to the races and Evangelical Murrika just creams their jeans waiting on the RETURN OF JEEBUS!
beltane
@rikyrah: Maybe we should just go ahead and make Israel the 51st state. Then, at least, the various subject populations would be afforded Constitutional protections.
Ripley
I forget the year, and can’t be arsed to look it up now, but the Bush Admin and Republican Congress devoted $30B over 10 years to Israeli aid (for lack of a better term). Meanwhile, we’re kicking families off SNAP, defunding women’s/children’s health programs, arguing about fair tax rates for the 1%, subsidizing petro corporations, and watching our infrastructure decay and crumble.
But let’s forget all that, and spend our time and energy wondering when Obama will finally recognize the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE EVER!
It’s enough to make a guy think that some people have their priorities out of order.
SFAW
@the Conster:
Hey, watch your mouth, this is a family magazine!
Oh, wait, you didn’t mean it in THAT way.
Never mind.
amk
@YellowJournalism: stealing that.
JPL
@Brian R.: She is good. Okay..I am done watching now..
Brian R.
And now Bob Schieffer is hammering Romney for using a Canadian company to design Olympic uniforms in 2002.
Romney spox says people are concerned about jobs, and Cutter says no, people are concerned about people like Mitt Romney shipping their jobs overseas.
Goddamn, I need a cigarette.
Face
Especially in the bedroom.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@NotMax: QFT. And it’s a shandah that it is presented as a straight news story, as DougJ notes.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brian R.:
Damn. This Cutter woman makes me want to take up smoking. She’s that damn good.
Chris
@Tom Levenson:
This.
Who dreamed up Israel’s policy of “piss off the entire world because America has our back?” What do they suppose will happen when America falls from #1 status? Whether that happens in ten, fifty or five hundred years, it’s bound to happen eventually and I highly doubt if the next superpower will share our Bible-based obsession with obeying the Likudniks’ every whim.
Anya
That’s the Washington Post changing the subject from Bain to “Obama is a Jewish hating, black militant Muslim.” Also, too “JEREMIAH WRIGHT!
Brian R.
@Villago Delenda Est:
Can we get Stephanie Cutter to teach all the other Democrats how to fucking make their case? So, so good.
LosGatosCA
I’m not sure at what point the American establishment became the leading lobbyist for all things Israel, but just like the complete disinterest in financial regulation, the lack of fundamental commitment to maintaining the integrity of the federal government through proper governance or viable taxation this is a clear symptom of the absolute collapse of the competence of the ruling elites.
What’s so hard to understand about the fact that countries don’t have allies, they have interests or what the nature of the relationship with a client state should be. On the Maslow hierarchy these things are on the Safety level. Continually ignoring the basic survival needs of your own nation state is clearly gross criminal negligence. Unfortunately it’s part of an obvious pattern that a significant part of the ruling elites feel no obligation for the safekeeping of the national well being, the continuity and renewed competency of the country with each generation. Instead they believe that all the basics are assured despite widespread economic looting, declining educational attainment, institutional rejection of moral limits on torture, and making a loyalty oath to a foreign leader a litmus test for a US president.
As if we needed more proof of the rapid decline of American civilization being enthusiastically led by the very folks who are supposed to know better. When the ruling class becomes unfocused, byzantine, illogical, and uninterested in maintaining the basic rules of law and national survival it’s time to recognize that these parasites are killing the host.
amk
Isn’t nut n yahoo one the most corrupt isreali prime ministers, who was imported from ‘murka ?
The Republic of Stupidity
Or what in God’s name Obama’s middle name has to do with anything…
Or his first name, or last name… for that matter…
What in Dog’s name is wrong with these idiots?
And is it contagious?
Can I get a shot… some sort of inoculation…
Before I wake up some morning too stupid to realize just how stupid I’ve gotten overnight?
Peter
What blows my mind is that it is often the very same people who try to make hay about Obama showing even the slightest amount of deference and respect to world leaders…who also insist that he should bend over backwards to fellate him.
beltane
I’m not watching but I just read that Matt Dowd ripped the Romney campaign a new one on This Week. Why were all the GOP insiders pushing for Romney when they knew how vulnerable he was? Did they think Obama was just going to sit back and run on Hope and Kumbaya?
SFAW
I, for one, am waiting semi-patiently for CoT’s take on Face The Nation, although I guess I should watch the reruns of it first.
Just gotta make sure I gots my heart meds nearby when I watch.
HRA
@JPL:
“mistermix, The headline Where Obama failed on forging Mideast Peace convinced me to skip the article. You are a much better person to wade through the shit that the post offers today.”
I’ll second that for as long as I have been watching the many attempts to “forge Mideast peace” there is only one conclusion in the forefront and that is it will never ever happen. Most certainly a waste of time and effort to attempt it under Netanyahu.
The Republic of Stupidity
@beltane:
A lot of Puerto Ricans are going to be pissed…
Violet
@Shrillhouse:
Fix’d. Because his choice of names as a newborn, especially being named after his father, is such a slap in the face to Israel.
Anya
@Brian R.: Stephanie Cutter is fabulous. She rocks! That particular Romney advisor is one of their best, in this instance the poor guy doesn’t have a case and he knows it.
At times like these, I hate not having a teevee.
Poopyman
@John of Indiana:
Nope, follow the money.
the Conster
@beltane:
Which one of the other boobs could they have pushed for, really? Gingrich? You can bury a lot of things under fucktons of cash, and they knew Mitt was clean living.
Danack
I know it’s pointless to pick on the small things when the whole article is rediculous but:
Epic fail, is epic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barak
Mino
@John of Indiana: Uh, no. They’re gonna get nuclear winter.
Davis X. Machina
@beltane: Like the right to a ballot?
Davis X. Machina
@John of Indiana: Israeli nukes are, if the gift of anybody, gifts of France….
dmsilev
Apparently, the Intertubes are telling me, the Romneytronic’s latest talking point is that he “retired retroactively” from Bain.
Did somebody accidentally reinstall RomneyOS Vista or something?
Violet
@dmsilev: There’s a letter, dated in 2002, I think, that says he retired in 1999. I don’t think they’re just making that up now. But it’s still ridiculous. Either he was or wasn’t CEO. He was because the SEC documents say he was. End of story.
amk
@dmsilev: “retired retroactively” or not, mittbot is still radioactive for the goppers brand.
Ben Franklin
@Danack:
Barak was a military general in the Book of Judges
The Judges (ie Samson) like Barak were the Seal Team Six of the Old Testament.
Barak jumped into a pit and killed a Lion with only his sword.
Violet
Keep it up, Obama campaign. It’s working:
If Karl Rove tells them to stop, you know it’s working.
If “beneath his dignity” is the best Rove can come up with, it’s a sure sign it’s hit right where it was supposed to.
Violet
Oh, and Bill Kristol says Romney should release the tax returns tomorrow.
gogol's wife
@Violet:
I seem to miss all the Romney discussions when they’re fresh, because I have a house guest and can’t be glued to the computer as usual, but why do I have this cognitive dissonance, that when I look at Balloon Juice, it seems as if Romney’s campaign is about to implode, but I can’t find a trace of any of that in the entire New York Times? I realize there’s always a disconnect, but if you were to read only the Times you wouldn’t know there’s any problem for Romney at all. It’s making my head explode.
bcinaz
Apparently, the WaPo position is to support the apartheid state.
NonyNony
@Violet:
They’re not just making it up now, they made it up in 2002 so that he could distance himself from Bain for his bid at the MA governor’s mansion.
He’s known that Bain is toxic stuff since 2002 at least. I can only figure that he assumed that since it didn’t hurt his run for governor, it wasn’t going to hurt his run for President.
(I’m not exactly sure how he won the governor’s mansion in Massachusetts, but I seem to recall hearing that he was losing until the Democratic candidate got tied to the Enron scandal and Romney pounded the shit out of that connection for every ounce it was worth. Anyone from MA have memories of that campaign and how he won it?)
JPL
@dmsilev: Michael J. Fox must be so proud.
Amir Khalid
It will take more than one presidential term, or even two, for the US to reverse what most damages its standing as an honest broker in the Middle East and makes it the most enemies there: its partiality to Israel.
If anything, Obama should be even less friendly to Israel. Withhold whatever it takes to make them behave themselves. America doesn’t do enough of that, even under Obama; it spends a little too much time and effort stroking Israel for national politics’ sake.
I say this not because I’m an anti-Semite; but because I think the modern Israel’s formation was a mistake, one the world must live with for the next few generations. And because US military support has helped one small nation become a regional bully.
Israel’s establishment is a done deed. I wouldn’t have put it there myself, had I been Emperor of all Earth in 1948; but there it is now, and while it exists its security is to be defended like any nation’s. But in return for that defense, Israel needs to be less of a problem and more of a solution to its allies.
JPL
@NonyNony: Massachusetts doesn’t have a governor’s mansion.
dmsilev
@Violet: Now I’m confused and conflicted. We all know that Bill Kristol is always wrong, so that means that Romney should continue to conceal his tax returns. However, we also know that for some bizarre reason Republicans actually listen to Kristol, which could mean that Romney actually will release his tax forms, which he doesn’t want to do.
I guess the only way out of this supposed contradiction is for Romney to release the forms, which will reveal that he’s secretly funneled a million dollars to Planned Parenthood over the last decade or so.
Todd
@beltane:
Because they all knew that Romney was the only one who reliably kept his dick tucked in his pants. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t figure on the notion that fucking everybody in the country left him too spent for amorous adventures.
Danack
Awesome quote for the next print ad:
“The fact of the matter is…Mitt Romney is guilty of felonious activity” said Karl Rove on Fox News Sunday.
salacious crumb
Well Obama does need to win this election, all this threat to remove Assad and the Iranian mullahs is not being done just for doing sake…this is his way of making the Israelis and the right wingers in our Congress happy, Democrats and Republicans alike. So what if a bunch of brown people get blown up? Obama needs the Pro-Israel vote. He has already shown he has cajones by helping overthrow Gaddhafi..but of course all Democrats supported it because its now being done by Obama and not Bush.
Mino
@Danack: What is sauce for the goose….
NonyNony
@JPL:
Governor’s office then.
My previous comment is rated at 5 Pinocchios on fire. Make sure you vote for it for “Lie of the Year”.
WereBear
@Brian R.: I’m not surprised to hear Stephanie Cutter is from the IT side; this operates entirely on reality, in that the server is either working, or it isn’t.
It’s not marketing.
amk
@Violet: So should Obama launch his own ‘I demand apology’ tour on the networks ? If faux poutrage is all they got, they got nothing.
JPL
@NonyNony: Actually it’s technically true because you were basing your knowledge on what is common about our various states.
Mino
@NonyNony: A Mass Dem got tied to the Enron scandal–what, did she own stock? That’s a Republican talking point, I guess.
Bain was doing the same damn thing before 1999 as they did after. It’s just a quibble over which company’s demise you want to discuss. There were plenty.
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
Well, everyone knows how decisive and beneficial all of Bill Kristol’s previous offerings of advice have been. By all means, OvenMitt, go forth to victory by following Bill Kristol’s advice!
My Schadenfreude meter is in danger, once again, of being broken in the pegged out position.
SFAW
@JPL:
They did, though. It was in Belmont.
hueyplong
Thank God Karl Rove has lent his voice to the procedings about Bain. Not a moment too soon.
I don’t see how the Democrats can go wrong if they meticulously follow Karl Rove’s advice between now and November.
Violet
@dmsilev: Well, we’ve noticed the odd occurrence where Bill Kristol has been right. I think it’s the broken clock effect. He may have had his broken clock moment with this one.
I don’t think Romney is going to release his returns anytime soon. They’re toxic and he’ll avoid it as long as possible. But Bill Kristol isn’t the first to call for it. The GOP Gov of Alabama said it yesterday. Others have also said. it.
Cacti
@Violet:
For those who aren’t familiar with Mormonism, I don’t think it can be misunderestimated how much R-money’s religion is feeding the secrecy around his finances.
The Mormon church practices ZERO financial accountability to its membership. They haven’t disclosed the path of a single dollar since 1960. You are to pay a tithe of your income, then accept on faith that it will be used for righteous purposes.
R-money is tut-tuting everyone for not accepting his statements on faith.
Linda Featheringill
@Violet:
Rove:
All right! This is the indication I was looking for.
[happy dance]
VICTORY!
[singing, “Happy days are here again . . “]
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL:
“Running for the governor’s mansion” is a cliche used by the press, as an alternative for the a bit too $25 a word “gubernatorial bid”, so, yeah, even though there isn’t a governor’s mansion in MA, it’s true in that the phrase is used as more poetic than “office of governor” or whatever.
Violet
@Cacti: Don’t forget that Romney may not have been tithing the full 10% on his income either. If his tax returns get out and it becomes public knowledge that Mr. Super Mormon has only been tithing 3% or so, that’s not going to go down well in the Mormon community. So there’s that to consider too. He’s got his reputation and standing in that community at stake as well.
Cacti
@Danack:
You’d think that none of them had studied PR.
You never mention what you’re promoting plus a bad thing in the same sentence, as people are likely to remember just the first and last thing said.
Amateur hour, I tells ya.
amk
Where the fuck is that fucker mccain of all days, today ? Isn’t he, the fucker who really knows the political poison that is mittbot’s tax-returns and yet this permanent fucking fixture on sunday shows is notably missing today.
honus
@beltane: We can’t. As you note, Israeli law would violate the Establishment clause and the 14th amendment among other things.
Fact is, Israel already gets more US aid than any state, and with none of those silly constitutional strings attached.
Mark S.
@dmsilev:
These guys really don’t know how to play the game. It’s like watching the Charlotte Hornets.
As someone who just started a new job and hasn’t paid much attention to this story, what was so toxic about 1999-2002 Bain that wasn’t toxic about pre-1999 Bain? In other words, why did Mitt lie about this in the first place?
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti:
For this, among about a zillion other things, I invite Rmoney to go DIAF.
His dad was upfront about taxes paid. Sometimes the seriously vile acorns get carried away from the tree.
hueyplong
It’s probably just a coincidence that going back 10 years from today would leave undisclosed the returns tied to those 2000 and 2001 SEC filings that refer to Romney’s “over $100,000” salary for being CEO and President of Bain.
By my finger counting, 10 years would mean the 2002-2011 returns.
Cacti
@amk:
I’m guessing he is avoiding having to lie like a rug for Mittens.
At some point though, he’ll have to answer: “What was it about Mitt that made you decide Sarah Stupid was a better running mate?”
pseudonymous in nc
Bibi took very deliberate strides to cultivate the US press on his way up the political ladder, though it doesn’t hurt that the default posture in the US is to treat Israel right-wing pols as if they’re patriotic Americans who happen to live abroad, while their Arab neighbours are uncouth barbarians.
Villago Delenda Est
@honus:
Especially the part where ultra-ultra-orthodox dipshits demand that everyone comply with their broomstick-up-the-ass beliefs.
Violet
In case anyone missed it last night, Rick Perry called it in the primaries:
Idiot savant or just dumb luck or he had oppo research? Hmmmm….
SRW1
Obama has failed to kiss the proper quadrant of Bibi Netanyahu’s ass.
Netanyahu’s ass has four parts? What is that additional divide on Bibi’s posterior for? Have the Israelis just gone haywire in their urge to divide up everything?
Valdivia
@dmsilev:
the retroactively retired sounds so deliciously weasely I think I am going to have a cigarette.
Linda Featheringill
@Mark S.:
Bain 1999 to 2002:
Mainly outsourcing of jobs to other countries and profiting from the disposal of aborted fetuses.
NonyNony
@gogol’s wife:
A good-sized portion of what you’re seeing here is people coming to the realization that the Obama team knows what they’re doing when it comes to this “politics” thing. The Bain stuff isn’t about winning the media cycle – it’s about the slow burn damage being done to Romney’s campaign in swing states by the “reveal” that he’s a lying douchebag asshole twinned with the realization that Romney really has no defense to the charges that he’s a lying douchebag asshole.
I think a lot of this it the sudden exhale as people remember that the Obama Team is really, really, really damn good at the campaign side of the political life of the USA. Many folks have been underwhelmed by his performance as an executive and were worried that Romney was just going to stomp into the White House uncontested and bring back the W years good and hard. They’re happy that Romney may well get stomped and stomped hard before this is all done.
SRW1
@Violet:
Did McCain ever come out in favor of Perry? If anybody other than Mitt and his money-jugglers would have had possibly compromising info on Romney’s tax return, it would have to be McCain and his inner cycle. After all they saw 20 years worth of Romney tax returns when they vetted him for the VP slot in 2008.
beltane
@Violet: It appears that Perry’s campaign was privy to the same oppo research than the other GOP candidates, along with Obama, were privy to. The one I’m really waiting to hear from is Newt who was the one making the loudest noises about this during the primary. This might be the one instance where Gingrich’s big mouth is keeping him OFF the Sunday talking head shows.
jefft452
“Netanyahu, reading polls that showed him with a far higher approval rating than Obama in Israel…”
I didnt know that Obama was running for PM of Isreal
Cacti
@Valdivia:
Not to mention, from a legal perspective, it’s complete horse shit.
If there was a suit against Bain Capital for activity btwn 1999 and 2002, Mitt would have been completely on the hook as the legal principal. His “retroactive retirement” would get laughed out of court.
Nellcote
@DougJ:
THIS!!!
Mark S.
@Linda Featheringill:
Man, it’s kinda sleazy but I would make a ton of commercials about that aborted fetus business. Getting some of those fundies to stay home or vote third party would be full of win.
Violet
@Mark S.: I suspect the Obama campaign is holding off on those until after the convention. September/October-ish probably. No need to use all their ammo now, especially if it means they’ll end up with another candidate they’re less well acquainted with, perhaps. Although a chaotic GOP convention and brand new nominee is also a delicious option.
Cacti
@NonyNony:
I remember seeing stories trickle out during the 2008 cycle, that behind the scenes, most of the other R candidates thought Mitt was a raging arsehole.
Getting professional pols to privately hate you is quite an accomplishment.
Valdivia
@Cacti:
I really can’t believe this is what they came up with, it just sounds awful and as you say it’s total bs. Usually they come up with better sounding bs.
on topic: fuck Bibi.
dork nerd
Am I the only one who saw Poopyman’s comment and thought “Our President-the Browser Helper Object.”
Linda Featheringill
@Mark S.: #115
One of our commenters said that the issue is getting a lot of attention on FaceBook and probably other social media. The facts about Stericycle are out there and fermenting and won’t go away.
Whether things are moving along fast enough, I don’t know.
Mike G
@WereBear:
This. My line of work tends to be low on tolerance of bullshit and grandstanding, and big on knowledge, preparation and advance planning. Politics could use more of a IT/engineering mindset; FSM knows it has more than enough of sales/lawyering/televangelism.
Mino
Are the two known Jewish big Romney doners Likud-sympathizers? I would expect so. Adelson for sure.
PeakVT
@dmsilev: Kristol is wrong because he’s only calling for 10 years to be released, which excludes 1999, 2000, and possibly 2001 and 2002 (don’t know from when Kristol is counting backwards). Those are all critical years to the current controversy. Releasing just 10 years worth of returns would keep the issue in the media until all the relevant years are released. Which would suit the Obama campaign just fine.
So, you can stop feeling conflicted. :)
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
The most infuriating thing about American Politics is its persistent insistence that Both Sides Are To Blame in the US when one party has constantly sabotaged politics for their own gain, but only Those Dirty MOOSLIMS are to blame in the Middle East when Israel has as much blood and blame on their hands as Palestine et. al.
eric
@Linda Featheringill: i am betting on a lot of planned parenthood charitable donations
JPL
@Linda Featheringill: I can’t wait until the evangelicals explain that it’s okay to make money on dead children because someone has to.
PeakVT
@Mino: Adelson is a bit more than a sympathizer.
Linda Featheringill
@JPL:
Yep, I’m waiting on that one, too. :-)
JoyfulA
@Amir Khalid: I’ve always said Israel should have been made out of Bavaria, but I couldn’t write a letter to the editor in 1948.
Ash Can
First Kessler gets his whatzis caught in his zipper, and now this great heaping pile of shit is passed off as a straight news story. Is the WaPo trying to put itself out of business?
mainmati
Having worked in the Middle East for a long time, two things are worth noting: one, Netanyahu has long been an utter cynic and actually not a very clever politician. His first time as PM was an utter failure. He has no long term vision for Israel, which is true generally for the Likud. I agree that Obama knows exactly what kind of person he’s dealing with.
The second is that over the last 35 years only two presidents actually made any progress on the Arab-Israel problem: Jimmy Carter’s Camp David Agreement and Clinton’s within-a-whisker agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. That was sabotaged by Arafat and, yes, Clinton started too late. But the larger point is that they were both Democrats and that GOP presidents, i.e. Reagan and the two Bushes administrations with their fervent pro-Israeli positions accomplished exactly nothing whatsoever in bringing peace to the Middle East. In fact, of course, W’s administration was a colossal failure in that respect.
LanceThruster
@Anton Sirius: I am embarassed to say at the time I thought he was an effective and compelling spokesperson for his side. I hadn’t discovered for myself just how much disinformation was required to maintain the Israelis as the “white hats.”
gogol's wife
@Mino: @PeakVT:
I’ve also been recommending this article. I didn’t know the extent of Adelson’s involvement with Netanyahu until I read it.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/07/benjamin-netanyahu-on-israel-mitt-romney
The Republic of Stupidity
@Violet:
Considering all the other truly inane comments Perry’s made in the past, I’m forced to go w/ idiot savant on this one…
What’s that old saying about even a blind pig will occasionally get lucky and find an acorn?
PeakVT
@mainmati: Most Republicans want Israel to annex the West Bank permanently and kick out the Palestinians (or something; the pesky details are left unsaid). A lasting peace will never be found while they are in charge.
Joey Maloney
@mainmati:
I know everyone knows this, but just for the record…
Chris
@mainmati:
Bibi and Mittens, kindred spirits.
Origuy
@dmsilev: It won’t matter either way. Obama has spent the past few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.
quannlace
So funny that Rove is having hurt fees-fees.
*************
Romney’s still wanting an apology? Is he gonna apologize to Gingrich, Perry and Santorum for all those nasty negative ads during the primaries?
Brachiator
@beltane:
Yes, they did. They truly believe that Obama is a hapless aristocrat who can barely read a TelePrompTer.
This is what happens when wingnuts live in the Fox News/Limbaugh bubble. They are totally shocked when sane people call them on their BS.
BTW, hasn’t Romney done a fundraiser in Israel, or has one scheduled soon? The WaPo piece is a strange bit of propaganda posing as news analysis in support of Mitt’s Jewish outreach.
Patricia Kayden
Israel never has to worry — both Dems and Repubs will cater to what it wants. That’s not going to change in the foreseeable future. If Romneybot 2.0 gets in, either the US will declare war against Iran, or support Israel if it does the same.
In any case, Israel will get the financial support it needs to continue building settlements, regardless of the election results.
Gator90
@JoyfulA: Yeah, Germany was totally where Jews wanted to be in the late 40s. Lovely idea.
Lyrebird
@Tom Levenson: Yeah.
I was nervous about reading this article, but clearly Wilson (WaPo writer) and mistermix are both lacking enough anti-semitism to know the *real* story… at least in some sick minds…
[during the primary and election last time, the hate sites were all about the half-Black/Jewish axis of evil or whatever… guess what faith a lotta those folks who supported Obama’s senatorial bid belonged to, mmm???]
However, Wilson’s ignorance of the HUGE support for Obama in Jewish communities outside and even inside Florida makes the rest of his article pretty effing dubious from the outset. Seems he’s never read Ha’aretz (excellent left-leaning Israeli paper) either.
Ugh. Pray for peace. Give money to J street, and to Zogby’s (non-pollster) institute every time Newt says something dehumanizing… Rinse, lather, repeat?
Kilkee
@Danack: Perfectly within the Romney rules of engagement, based on his ads.
Brachiator
@Anya:
I am out running errands, so missing the tv fun here; but I think that Face the Nation is available as an iTunes podcast download, so I will try to catch it later.
BTW, Stepanie Miller recently interviewed Cutter and seems to have developed a bit of a girl crush. I am looking forward to lots of fun soundbites and commentary about Cutter on Miller’s radio show tomorrow morning.
The cherry on top would be more of Mitten’s tax returns to look at.
red dog
Romneys tax returns must contain some really good stuff for the Dems to use. Must have some investment profits from many un-American stuff like BP…we can hope that the GOP convention has to find a new candidate like Santorum.
Kilkee
@Linda Featheringill:
Can we possibly work in the Marriott Hotels in-room porn empire as well, or is that in a separate timeframe we save for later?
Citizen_X
Try to imagine that phrase using any other country:
“President-elect Peña Nieto, reading polls that showed him with a far higher approval rating than Obama in Mexico,”
“Premier Hu, reading polls that showed him with a far higher approval rating than Obama in China,”
“PM Hollande, reading polls that showed him with a far higher approval rating than Obama in France,”
You would never see it. It doesn’t make sense with any other country. But Special Flower Israel is different.
Brachiator
@PeakVT:
Blind support for right wing Israeli policy is fairly recent, and can be linked to neo-con ascendency. Bush the Elder was not seen as a strong supporter of Israel and threatened a cut in aid over settlement expansion. And the GOP has long been comfortable with the Saudis and authoritarian rulers of Middle Eastern oil patches.
On the other hand, no one gives much of a rat’s ass about the Palestinians, including their brothers in the Middle East, who have kept them in camps and exploited them as part of their anti-Israelt political theater.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
Rmoney was going to have a fundraiser on 29 July, which happens to be a big fast day in the Jewish calendar, commemorating the oppression of Jews in Spain, the Holocaust, and similar events.
They figured that out and cancelled the fundraiser.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
Yup, this.
Also, recall that James Baker in a congressional hearing gave Israel the number to the State Department and told them to call him if they were ever serious about wanting peace. It was a major slam of Likud.
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’m not sure that was a good choice: I think it would be a stunning political coup for Rmoney to combine that event with a mass-postmortem-conversion-of-teh-Jews-to-Mormonism event. They could invite Bibi, too, tell him Yoni is now a Mormon, “aren’t you happy about that? Isn’t that great, for Pete’s sake?”
What could possibly go wrong?
Villago Delenda Est
@SFAW:
Well, he could announce the temple ceremony for Ariel Sharon had just been held.
The problem is, Sharon is still alive, although not in any state to contemplate a religious conversion.
Not that I expect OvenMitt to understand the implications of such an announcement, mind you. This is the guy who is having all those teensy problems with signing documents that carry a penalty of perjury for falsehoods.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est: From Slate magazine on Elder Bush and James Baker and the GOP shift to a more pro Israel stance:
Ultimately, I don’t think that the current GOP love affair with the Israeli right wing is very sincere, but it does siphon money and some votes away from the Democrats, which is the main point.
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s just a quirk of the law.
As Mitt, having graduated near the top of his class at Hahvahd Law School, could tell you, you unedumacated prole who is not fit to hand-wash Mitt’s magic underwear.
SFAW
Please also understand that I, being a person of high class and breeding (not unlike Mitt) typed that last comment with my pinky fingers upraised, about which you lower-class persons know nothing.
Jeeves! Fetch my Rolls-Royce, we’re going for a drive!
Nellcote
@Brachiator:
He had one scheduled during his visit to Israel after the Olympics. But it turned out the date is the second biggerst FAST day on the calendar so has been postponed.
SFAW
@Nellcote:
There’s probably a joke to be made somewhere in there regarding whether horse meat is Kosher (if Rafalca gets offshored for not getting the gold), but I’ll be darned if I can figure it out.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@dmsilev: “Did somebody accidentally reinstall RomneyOS Vista or something?”
Nope, they went back to the earlier version: RomneyOS ME (Millionaire Edition).
That explains all of the crashing.
g
Netanyahu, reading polls that showed him with a far higher approval rating than Obama in Israel,
Oh, so Obama has failed by not being admired more in Israel than Israel’s own president?