Where are the Christians?

I know it's Pat Buchanan, but sometimes even Pat gets it right.


Where are the Christians?

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Posted: July 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 Creators Syndicate Inc.

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an "act of war," the last pillar of Bush's Middle East policy collapsed.

First came capitulation on the Bush Doctrine, as Pyongyang and Tehran defied Bush's dictum: The world's worst regimes will not be allowed to acquire the world's worst weapons. Then came suspension of the democracy crusade as Islamic militants exploited free elections to advance to power and office in Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq and Iran.

Now, Israel's rampage against a defenseless Lebanon – smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads and the occasional refugee convoy – has exposed Bush's folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out to Tel Aviv, thus making Israel the custodian of our reputation and interests in the Middle East.

The Lebanon that Israel, with Bush's blessing, is smashing up has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade. Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its airstrikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights.

What Israel is up to was described by its army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, when he threatened to "turn back the clock in Lebanon 20 years."

Olmert seized upon Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers to unleash the IDF in a pre-planned attack to make the Lebanese people suffer until the Lebanese government disarms Hezbollah, a task the Israeli army could not accomplish in 18 years of occupation.

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PER DU RULES.

What is anti-Israeli or what is pro-Israeli? I'm not sure I understand the distinction.

anti-Semitic by some of his critics.

Sometimes he says things that I just shake my head and wonder what planet he is on, and then other times he says things that make perfect sense.

Maybe he is not real consistent about his medication.

He voted for this nonsense. His critiques of Bush were just as pointed and pungent 2 years ago, but he wouldn't stand for a President Kerry. I agree with a lot of this piece, but he's just reaping what he sowed, the miserable fucktard.

Buchanan's piece reeks of out-and-out anti-Semitism:

"Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights."

"Israel and her paid and pro-bono agents here appear determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and have America fight and finish all of Israel's enemies."

"Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace?"

Who lives in Brooklyn Heights? Jews.

Who is Buchanan referring to as Israels "paid and pro bono agents here have America fight and finish all of Israel's enemies"? Jews.

Who does Buchanan say is whispering in Bush's ear? Jewish Neocons.

Buchanan is an anti-Semitic Paleocon whose prime motivation seems to be hatred of Jews and their influence in America. To join with Buchanan in denouncing Israel is to be slimed by his wretched baggage.

that Jews make him squirmy. But don't bother with that Neocons = Jews bit, it's a canard.

Pat is one of those who sat in the basement of the Nixon White House and watched nazi films?

Pat is an anti-semetic paleoconservative who has never supported the support of the state of Israel by the US, (maybe hasn't even supported the state of Israel?)

He is anti war in Iraq, because he believes that we are fighting Israel's wars.

Now, there is no doubt that Israel has better lobbying than Arab nations with our politicians, and that there are Jewish hard-liners in the Bush Administration.

so it is a hard thing to sort out, what is anti-semetic, vs. what is genuine anti American imperialism?

I tend to think that Pat Buchanan shows where these two views run parallel to each other on one issue, Israel.

I don't think that opposing US intervention in a war that Israel is waging is anti-semitic.

I don't know what to make of Bush's refusal to ask for restraint by Israel.

I don't know what to make of Israel's lates incursion into Lebanon to "destroy Hezbollah", when they are in fact destroying the infrastructure of Lebanon, killing Lebanese civilians, etc.

I have no doubt that Jewish neocons in the Bush administration that are also hardliners for Israel are in fact supporting Israel.

I have no doubt that some Christian fundamentalists are supporting Israel (I encountered this at work today which surprised me as I was sternly telling this idiot that works with me who is a super fundie and hypocrite IMO, that I didn't think that Christ would approve of "killing all of them" as he had just stated regarding Israel's actions against Lebanon.)

So, it is a hard thing to say that holding the views that Pat does regarding Israel being overly zealous in their pursuit of Hezbollah in order to get 2 soldiers returned (we know that isn't really what this is about, it's about stabilizing a weak Lebanon so that Hezbollah doesn't end up running the country)

But Pat is an anti semite

"I don't think that opposing US intervention in a war that Israel is waging is anti-semitic." Neither do I. In fact, for years I have objected to the notion that anyone who criticizes Israeli policy is anti-Semitic. Clearly, one can disagree with Israeli policy and denounce Israeli government actions without being anti-Semitic.

However, in Pat's case, it really seems to be anti-Semitism, and not some principled policy difference. His piece just oozes anti-Semitism. Brooklyn Heights? Gimme a break! What else could be possibly have meant by that remark?

and when he was the candidate indicated as the choice on the infamous West Palm Beach butterfly ballots, in an area of W. Palm Beach that was predominantly Jewish retirees, it was more than irony, it was perhaps the best example that something was amiss in the Bush v. Gore 2000 election, Even Pat admitted he couldn't imagine that Jewish retirees (who voted primarily for Democrats at that time) would ever have chosen Pat Buchanan.

But it didn't matter, the fix was in, they'd already removed thousands of legal voters from the roles in the "felon purge" of the year leading up to the election. Amazingly they admitted that they (Florida Government and Choicepoint) had removed thousands of people who they shouldn't have from the election roles (voters who were primarily African American) but they didn't get around to fixing it until AFTER the 2002 elections when Jeb had handily won re-election.

Florida elections are the cesspool of America right now.

and honestly, they looked pretty clear to me. I can't imagine a lot of people being so stupid as to vote for Pat Buchanan by accident. But I guess anything is possible.

Badly designed ballot, especially for older people in a retirement community. To vote the 2nd choice on the left (Gore), you punch the 3rd hole down. 2nd hole is for Buchanan. That's a layout primed for mistakes.

you know I remember looking on some website before 2004, a website that made ballots, voting machines, etc., and they were selling souveneir butterfly ballots.

that's some flaunting of something.

interesting that the designer of the butterfly ballot, while a democrat, had been a repuke in the past, and again became a repuke after the butterfly and the 2000 debacle. Teresa something or other

Same thing happened to Bob Dole in 1996 from one of her designs, some 10,000 votes miscast. She's a disaster. She only switched parties for one electoral office, kinda like Bloomberg.

How can you miss that? That's why I have a hard time believing that a lot of people voted for Buchanan by accident. But I do agree that it seems weird that Buchanan's share was so much higher than expected in that area. Somethings a bit fishy.

Or navigation for a website? If you don't design cleanly, umambiguously, and with some guidance for your users you'll be deluged with mail claiming that features are missing or broken.

A staggered two-page list of choices with a single column of punch holes is nuts. The presence of arrows screams after-the-fact kludge, not a design with forethought.

A few thousand may have mistakenly voted for Pat, but a near 20,000 voided their ballots by punching the 2 holes adjacent to Al Gore's section. Bob Dole suffered 14,000 votes lost for the same reason the previous election. That's a klaxon going off telling you the design is fucked up.

Consider this -- Gore lost 20-23,000 votes through this ballot system. If Jeb Bush hadn't been Governor, Gore would've secured the top spot on the ballot, Bush would've lost those votes, and Gore would be President today. It's a tragedy to allow electoral outcomes hinge on the vagaries of a blockheaded ballot "designer" like Theresa LePore.

"a near 20,000 voided their ballots by punching the 2 holes adjacent to Al Gore's section." Yes, I can see how that mistake could be made. Someone might think they have to punch both holes to vote for Gore AND Lieberman.

I don't discount skullduggery in the Buchanan votes, not for one minute. I was convinced decades ago, after Kissinger derailed the Paris Peace Talks and Bush/Casey engineered the October Surprise, that Republicans will blithely do anything to secure power, even if it causes an untold number of deaths. I just wanted to point out that the ballot, if not the culprit in the Palm Beach disaster, was one of the causes.

Think about people who are older, don't see as well, and think that the top two holes are for the top two candidates.

it's a dumb design for a ballot and it really did confused.

Do you really think that Buchanan would get the vote of an area that had a couple of thousand retired Jews mostly from New York and the East coast?

What else would explain it other than outright fraud, and these at least had a paper trail.

Even Pat admitted he doubted that he really got their votes.

The main problem was overvotes, with voters voting for both Gore AND Buchanan, thus voiding their votes. I could see that, but still, you would think that people would take the time to make SURE they are voting for the right candidate! I dunno. I am just really careful when I vote. I guess some of these people weren't.

and it seemed that they were somewhat confusing

and remember these were retirees who might not have seen as well

at any rate I don't think stupidity had anything to do with it, so it goes down as either bad design of ballot, shenanigans, or some other unknown factor that caused retired Jewish people to vote for a fairly vocal, and somewhat well known bigot, and anti semite.

sound in the least bit sane.

He's definitely got a thing about Israel -- and about Jews in general.

Trust not a word from him on this.

ON edit, b/c it's late and I'm not thinking clearly:

There are *more than* a few

He's a bigot. He's a nutjob. Occasionally he gets something right, but this subject will never be one of those occasions.

He's in the "even a broken clock is right twice a day" categories.

and that is more often than Pat is right!

Agree 100% with you.