The Week in Quotes: MR. SADJADPOUR:….And my point is that Iran is to the Middle East in a way what Rush Limbaugh is to the United States in the sense that they know they can be the champions of the alienated and the dispossessed, but they know they can’t be the champions of the upwardly mobile. And I think the problem with our strategy and Israel’s strategy in the Middle East the last several years, if you look at the last three wars which have been prosecuted in the Middle East — the Iraq war, the 2006 Lebanon war and the recent war in Gaza — is that we’ve created — we’ve increased the ranks of the alienated and the dispossessed and we’ve created more fertile ground for Iran’s ideology throughout the region.
SEN. CASEY: Thank you.
SEN. KERRY: Thank you, very much.
We’re going to resist the temptation to talk about foreign policy and Rush Limbaugh. (Laughter.)
When I started writing for The Seminal in February 2007 I had no idea what I was getting into. I had blogged a bit in Cincinnati in 2005 and 2006, but hadn’t had much of an opportunity or platform to address national politics. The Seminal quickly became that platform — and for this I’ll be eternally grateful. Many of the writers at The Seminal have influenced my thinking profoundly, and they will continue to do so. This blog hosts what I consider some of the sharpest minds in politics. I’m really honored to have had the opportunity to take part.
Thank you, readers, for helping me find my voice. Thank you for challenging me, correcting me, and most of all, for making me challenge my assumptions. Our community here is not typical of liberal blog readership and this has forced us to articulate arguments more carefully than we might have otherwise. Visitors from Reddit and Stumbleupon have been especially instrumental in this. Thank you.
For a host of reasons I won’t get into here, my involvement in this project has run its course. I hold everyone involved in The Seminal in high regard, and will be working with many of them on various other projects.
For the time being, my writing can be found at Huffington Post. When I find a more appropriate home for my blogging, you’ll be able to find out about it by reading me there. I can be reached at josh.nelson.dc@gmail.com.
Sadly my scanner is broken, so this post is an inspired from an insider tip. Xinhua ‘reports’:
Israeli girl Gali Avni Magen plays with Sylvester, an 8-week-old Sumatran tiger cub, in her home in Zur Hadassa near Jerusalem February 20, 2009. Sylvester, who was abandoned by its mother, is being raised by Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo’s veterinarians, one of whom is Gali’s mother. According the zoo’s spokesperson the Sumatran tiger is an endangered species with only about 400 living in the wild.
Special prize for anyone who can find tiger appearances in the Hebrew bible. And I know you can do better than grabbing a quote from the story of Noah and his ark.
I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.
Health Care for America Now’s National Campaign Director, Richard Kirsch:
“President Obama made it clear that 2009 is the year we pass health care reform. We call on Congress to join with President Obama to pass a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all this year.
Over the past seven months, 188 Members of Congress have signed on with Health Care for America Now in a commitment to achieving a national solution to the health care crisis in 2009. They have signed on in support of a guarantee of quality, affordable health care we all can count on with benefits that meet our needs and the choice of keeping our private insurance or joining a new public health insurance plan.
Now we challenge the rest of Congress to join with the President, to stand up to the powerful special interests that profit handsomely off our broken system, to reject phony arguments and bogus excuses, and to support reform that puts our families’ health and the health of our nation’s economy before insurance and drug company profits.
We appreciate the Senate Finance Committee getting to work right away and scheduling a hearing for tomorrow morning as we continue to mobilize across the country to win quality, affordable health care for all in 2009.”
I met Dave at Netroots Nation last July in Austin, Texas. Here is the first I saw of him:
Immediately after this episode, I ran outside to try to follow up on Mr. Ford’s absurd remarks. Dave Weintraub aka Dave From Queens beat me there. He was already peppering Mr. Ford with questions, and clearly making him uncomfortable. He even challenged Mr. Ford to debate him — an offer that was quickly refused. With camera in hand, Dave and I chased Harold Ford to the side of the convention center outside, where he waved and ducked into an SUV. Dave and I chatted for a bit, and exchanged contact information, promising to stay in touch.
About three months later I heard from Dave again. He had tickets to a Sarah Palin speech in Virginia Beach. He wanted me to go with him to record Palin supporters saying outrageous and offensive things. The plan was to pretend we were from a bible college and ask people provocative questions, catching everything with my flip cam. We would then distribute the video footage online, in an effort to discredit Palin supporters and convince moderates that they didn’t fit into the modern GOP mold. Since it was a last minute trip Dave was planning, I decided not to go. I wish I had. I didn’t end up having the chance to speak or work with Dave again.
Dave from Queens unexpectedly passed away on Saturday. The cause of death is still unclear. His funeral was yesterday, and information is available on this Daily Kos diary. I couldn’t attend, but my thoughts were there.
We need more people with the kind of raw unadulterated courage Dave displayed. In my minimal interactions with the man it was obvious to me that he possessed a special energy - some sort of laser-like determination to get to the bottom of things. His persistence was uncanny, and inspirational. In a world far too often characterized by apathy, timidity and inaction, Dave’s courage will be sorely missed.
“Whether Livni or Netanyahu forms a government, it will be a weak and divided one. New elections, within a year or two, seem a likely bet.
Writing for LA Times, M.J. Rosenberg unravels the Israeli right. Yesterday at Talking Points Memo, M.J. imagined Livni Beating Netanyahu.
Rosner was live-blogging on Jerus Post – nothing remarkable.
In The Nation, Neve Gordan points to the dearth of peacemakers in Israel: it’s all up to Washington now.
Emile Hokayem sees more of the same in the upcoming regime change: “Regardless of who heads it, the new Israeli government will invest much time and energy in countering the inflated Iranian threat.”
Jeffrey Goldberg was reporting the latest exit polls and not saying much else exciting.
Daled Amos writes about Avigdor Lieberman’s influence, mostly quoting Marc Lynch (like most bloggers out there pretending to have a grasp of Arab public opinion).
“I would say that this is an exciting election because of its closeness and uncertainty, but no one in Israel seems very excited. They are faced with familiar choices who have failed in the past–Netanyahu, Bara[ooops-c]k–or uncertain ones (Livni) or populist resentment (Lieberman).”
Real Clear World live blog offers hour by hour analysis of yesterday’s competition. The latest interesting comment:
“One other factor in play: Apparently ballots from Israel’s frontline soldiers have not been part of the exit-poll data. How they voted may at the end tip the final count somewhat.”
With 99% of the vote in, maybe that’s irrelevant at this point.
Steve Clemons’ article on HuffPo (”Give us Netanyahu. Please) is still getting a lot of play. Listen to Steve on Neil Conan’s Talk of the Nation (NPR).
Stephen Walt (Foriegn Policy) asks,
“What do we do if the “two-state” solution collapses?”: “Lots of smart people have been focusing on the Israeli elections and trying to make sense of their immediate implications for the peace process…. I want to focus on a different issue, which is likely to be more important in the long run.
It’s this: what do we do if a “two-state solution” becomes impossible?
The likeliest scenarios in descending order seem to be: 1) A Likud-led government led by Netanyahu and dependent on votes from Lieberman and the religious parties. The snag is that the religious parties loath the pork-eating Liebermanites - and may call down a thuderstorm on them. 2) A Livni-Lieberman-Labour coalition - but this is an uneasy ideological coalition. 3) A grand coalition bringing together Kadima, Likud and Labour. All of these options seem pretty unstable, so Israel may well have elections again quite soon. This, after all, is their fifth election inside ten years.
Glenn Greenwald at Salon writes about his interview with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti.
I’m predicting another long day at the think tank - will keep you posted.
For the lead contenders in tomorrow’s Israeli elections, Barack Obama is on everybody’s minds. Who can work best with BHO? Who will challenge him? Who is Jerusalem’s junior senator from Illinois?
- Yossi Alpher discusses the present absence of Palestine in the Knesset elections. - Steve Clemons exclaims, with a grain of salt, “Give us Bibi, Please.”
- Jonathan Cook points to Israel’s rightward shift, as many Palestinians plan to spend the day at home. - Arik Ben-Zvi at TNR notes that Israel’s radical right is back with a vengence.
- Negotiator extraordinaire Aaron David Miller isn’t sure Israeli elections matter.
In a new analysis, ThinkProgress has found that Republican lawmakers outnumbered Democratic lawmakers 75 to 41 on cable news interviews by members of Congress (from 6am on Monday 2/2 through 11pm on Thursday 2/5).
Sadly, that trend looks likely to continue through the weekend. Hotline on Call has the scheduled guests for this weekend (I have the excluded shows which don’t have Members as guests this weekend):
SUNDAY SHOWS
Meet the Press hosts Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Washington Post’s Tom Ricks.
Face the Nation hosts Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and WH Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina Romer.
Fox News Sunday hosts Summers and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
State of the Union hosts Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), SC Gov. Mark Sanford (R) and Jack Welch (see below for guests on SOTU’s Reliable Sources segment).
OTHER WEEKEND SHOWS:
Situation Room features Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT), RNC Chair Michael Steele, ex-U.S. Amb. to Israel Martin Indyk, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Vanity Fair’s Maureen Orth (CNN, SAT, 6pm).
Newsmakers hosts Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). He will be questioned by Cook Political Report’s Jennifer Duffy and Politico’s Josh Kraushaar (C-SPAN, SUN, 10am/6pm).
So for the major weekend cable news shows, we’ll have six Republican appearances (Cornyn twice!), four Democrats and one Independent. And while two of the four Democrats are working against their party’s leadership, all of the Republicans are on the obstructionist bandwagon. For perspective, in the 111th Congress there are currently 311 Democrats and 219 Republicans.
Immediately after this episode, I ran outside to try to follow up on Mr. Ford’s absurd remarks. Dave Weintraub aka Dave From Queens beat me there. He was already peppering Mr. Ford with questions, and clearly making him uncomfortable. He even challenged Mr. Ford to debate him — an offer that was quickly refused. With camera in hand, Dave and I chased Harold Ford to the side of the convention center outside, where he waved and ducked into an SUV. Dave and I chatted for a bit, and exchanged contact information, promising to stay in touch.
