The latest display of idiocy coming out of the Jewish leadership has reached an all-time low. Imagine my excitement when I heard Palin and Clinton were to speak at the UN rally against Ahmadinejad. Here we would have two heavyweigths publicly displaying their opposition. To borrow an overused cliche, this would at least energize the base. A large rally with these figures would perhaps at least create the illusion we care enough to vote on these issues. Unfortunatly, this hasn't been the case for a long time; for all intents and purposes, Israel is hardly a significant issue in the Jewish vote, but it may have at least created the illusion that opposition to terrorism is a deal-breaker for a significant portion of us. Of course it would also send a message to the UN that we are enraged at letting Ahmadinejad come and will use every tool at our disposal to fight him. Having these important pols shows we mean business. This would be especially effective since Palin has publicly said she would not rule out any means, including military, to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons; she has even said she would trust Israel if it destroyed their base. By putting her up on the podium, we would show how far we are willing to go. And having everyone show up and cheering them on certainly shows we are determined and powerful. Of course that is how things get done in this country; we use politics as a tool to push our agenda.
After hearing that Hillary cancelled, my only thought was that it showed how small and petty she was. After all, if McCain and Obama could put aside their campaigns for 9/111 and lay wreaths together at Ground Zero, surely Hillary, who, in case she forgtot, is not running, could show up with Palin to rally against a terrorist. If the parties can come together on an important issue, wouldn't that be best? Isn't bipartisanship generally a good thing? But okay if Hillary doesn't feel that way and wants to let personal issues get in the way, fine. She alone looks ridiculous.
But of course the Jewish leadership decided we also had to look ridculous. By "we'" I mean all those who would go to the rally who want to send a clear and srident message against Ahmadinejad. They decided to disinivite Palin. The rationale given is they do not want this to be about who to vote for. It's not political, but only to say we don't really like Ahmdinenad and would prefer he not show up at the UN. We would also prefer for Iran not to get their hands on nuclear weapons.
And actually it's even worse. Politically, we're saying: Even if you support us, we have no qualms about publicly insulting you. We are clueless about politics.
So the rally's message now is: We would never suggest voting for someone who supports our message; we must not even make it look like we might use opposition to terror as a factor. And we will have no people in positions of power, who could make any diffference, display their support. So the rally will kind of say: We don't like Ahmadinejad but not enough to do anythung about it. We also couldn't get our acts togetehr enough to have anyone important shopw up. But: Please UN listen to us anyway because we'd like you to. Reminds me of the MadTV of Kerrry's hypothetical reactionto 9/11.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5onpavKbWSg.
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