John Edwards and Wylie Coyote
Was it poor advance?
If your guy was doing a floating head via satellite in a hall where Richard Perle and Gordan England and James Woolsey set the standard for American policy makers, and you suspected that Dan Halutz might resign due to the total political and military botch-up of the 33 Day War, and if you knew that the first third of Orna Ben Dor's documentary on the screw-ups and cover-ups in the IDF, Guilty of his own death, was scheduled for national TV the evening after your guy was doing the floating head via satellite, and you wanted your guy to come off a whole lot smarter than the Ameri-Morons present in the hall, would you have advised doing the AIPAC-approved Ameri-Moron Standard?
Was it a bad book cover?
If the "blogger" who front-pages at Ha'aretz (Rosner is a "blogger" like I'm the US correspondent for Ha'aretz ) single handedly charged, tried, and convicted Jimmy Carter of anti-Semitism for writing critically about the "Roadmap for Peace" and the racial disintegration of the Israeli state, is your guy immunized from Carter-syndrome-by-proxy by doing the AIPAC-approved Ameri-Moron Standard?
Was it diving for dollars?
Political campaigns run on dollars and Finance Directors of national campaigns have their own ideas about what the Political Director is allowed to put in front of the candidate, and the Clinton campaign is committed to no public (small donor qualification) money and outspending (no caps) the competition.
US presidential candidate: Iran serious about its threats The text from Ynet is in the extended area, and there is a ton of video at the Ynet site.
It was a Wylie Coyote moment.
It was an opportunity to tell the Friends of Israel what every American who lived through, and many who didn't, the Second Indo-China War knows. Cluster munitions and daisy cutters produce casualties, they don't produce tactical or strategic advantage where the OpFors don't cooperate and mass for targeting, and the casualties are predominantly non-combatants. It was an opportunity to name the guys most responsible for putting Olmert, Peretz, Halutz and Adam at risk of political failure, who just happened to be in the hall ... Richard Perle and Gordan England and James Woolsey.
Wicked safe political territory.
It was a chance to talk about crime and politicians, to run the rhetorical tongue over the broken teeth of responsibility, resignation, no confidence votes and bills of impeachment, to wax lyrical about the role of law in a democracy, knowing that the US audience would fill in the blanks with Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, and the Israeli audience would fill in the blank with Katsav, Olmert and Halutz.
More wicked safe political territory.
It was a chance to talk about stolen elections and the distance between the perpetrators of electoral fraud and the average voter, on core issues like ... bellicosity. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign voted the dead and flirts with war, mostly to avoid the heavy lifting of helping the poor in Iran, Ahmadinejad's signature campaign promise. George Bush stole the Florida and Ohio elections and has done everything to everybody except Osama Bin Laden. He could have talked about Katami and Rafsanjani and Karubi and Mooen -- the political alternatives in Iran, and the history of and potential future for Iranian-Israeli cooperation, and in the next breath, the history and potential future of American-Israeli cooperation, in the post-NeoCon period. Israel has poor too. One in four. It was a chance to talk about poverty and war, as if they are casually related.
Still more wicked safe political territory.
It was a chance to simply ask if there was anyone in the hall willing to stand and accuse James Earl Carter, the 39th President of the United States, or any President of the United States, of Anti-Semitism. Doing that and letting the people in the hall sit and squirm for a full 60 second count would have let everyone know that John Edwards values his friendship with Jimmy Carter, the office of the Presidency, and has no doubts about the military, political, economic and social dependency of Israel upon the United States. Mench oder Maus?
Not so wicked safe but who'd want to go with maus?
No candidate is perfect, no campaign executes perfectly every day, and anyone who can't recite the AIPAC-approved Ameri-Moron Standard in their sleep isn't ready, but it is the wrong message. The standard is just "stay the course", which simply leads to transit tubes for the returned dead.
A quiet day to reflect on why he wants his narrative to make Americans as uneasy as they are with standard narrative. This is one of those things that won't go away. And we can laugh at Wylie because its only celluloid.
VIDEO) Former Senator John Edwards (Dem.) tells Herzliya Conference serious political, economic steps should be taken against Islamic Republic; 'in order to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons, all options must remain on table,' he says, adding that Syria should be held accountable for its support of Hizbullah, Hamas
Ronen Bodoni
Published: 01.23.07, 10:58
VIDEO - "Iran is serious about its threats," former US Senator John Edwards told the Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center on Monday.
Optimistic
Peres grateful to Nasrallah, Ahmadinejad / Yoav Kapshuk
Vice premier says Iranian president is doing a great job. 'Without him, the world would not unite in an anti-Persian policy,' he tells Herzliya Conference
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"The challenges in your own backyard – represent an unprecedented threat to the world and Israel," said the candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, referring mainly to the Iranian threat.
In his speech, Edwards criticized the United States' previous indifference to the Iranian issue, saying they have not done enough to deal with the threat.
Hinting to possible military action, Edwards stressed that "in order to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons, all options must remain on table."
On the recent UN Security Council's resolution against Iran, Edwards said more serious political and economic steps should be taken. "Iran must know that the world won’t back down," he said.
Addressing the second Lebanon war , Edwards accused the Islamic Republic of having a significant role, saying Hizbullah was an instrument of Iran, and Iranian rockets were what made the organization's attack on Israel possible.
Edwards also discussed Syria's recent calls for peace with Israel, saying that "talk is cheap," and that Syria was not doing enough to prove it was serious.
The former senator also said that Syria has been a great source of destabilization in the area, from its support of Hizbullah and Hamas, to its relationship with Iran, and for this it should be held accountable.
After opening his speech with great praise for former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Edward's continued to express great appreciation for the Israeli people and the special bond between the two countries, saying it was "a bond that will never be broken."
On the three Israel Defense Force soldiers who are being held captive by Hizbullah in Lebanon and Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, Edwards said, "It is well past time for their return home."
He continued to say that Israel has made many concessions in order to advance peace, including the Disengagement plan, adding that despite Israel's willingness to return to negotiations, little has been seen on the Palestinian side.
Edwards also spoke against the Palestinian Authority, saying the Hamas government was no partner, and that Israel should make efforts to strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas against Hamas.
He also said the Palestinian government must know that foreign aid should not be take for granted, and that the US and Europe must do everything possible to make sure the money does not go to terrorists.
Until Israel has a real partner, according to Edwards, Israel has the right, and indeed the obligation to defend itself, and should be strengthened militarily, politically, and economically.
In a further display of support for Israel, Edwards went so far as to suggest that Israel should even be made a member of NATO, saying it was only natural that the organization would seen to include Israel next.