The Fallout of Misguided Loyalty To A Drunken Cowboy
Sometimes I lie awake at night staring at the ceiling wondering if the man with the yellow hat will ever come and take George and put him back in his cage where he can’t do anymore mischief.
When it comes to two years worth of gross Palestinian violations of his “road map for peace” the Bush camp has said and done absolutely nothing. Abbas an co. have violated every commitment but thats ok. In fact, it is rewarded by three hundred and fifty million of our dollars.
But when it comes to Israelis building houses, Bush is suddenly up in arms about the road map. NOW he wants to enforce the road map???
Today, he demanded Israel stop expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Our position is very clear, that the road map is important. And the road map calls for no expansion of the settlements,” Bush told reporters in Washington ahead of a meeting next Monday with Sharon at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
But hey, what are friends for? GOP jews wanted Bush, ya got Bush. Stop causing trouble in Gush Katif and come to where you actually have a power to effect your elected officials and stop the monkey’s mischief.
He said he would press Sharon to abide by a U.S.-backed peace plan which calls for “no expansion” of Jewish settlements.
Nah, Bush would never pressure Israel.
I agree. Bush’s bizarre and complete tilt towards the Palestinians is inexplicable. It just defies the imagination how he hates Israel so much. I don’t know why most of the world fails to notice this.*
*anvil: that was sarcasm
Bush has “demanded” things from Sharon before. It’s a show, maybe to give Abu Mazen something to impress his dissolving base. As a matter of fact we recall little token “fairness” demands last time Abu Mazen was playing Feisal. We doubt American willingness to do anything, and we doubt Palestinian willingness to follow their own President. It’s a non-item.
Keep in mind that if a head of state besides Sharon defies even a quip from the American president, they’re toast, eg Milosevic.
right, the problem with Bush is that he’s too forgiving of the Palestinians and too hard on Israel…
wait a minute, I thought this was the President who has basically bent over for Sharon at every opportunity, who hasn’t shown a smidgen of the backbone his father had when it came to settlements, etc.
the US is the only country capable of pushing the moderates on each side towards peace… it can do that only by condemning counterproductive moves by either side. and almost everything Sharon does (as opposed to what he says) is counterproductive.
as for Abbas, let’s not forget the position he’s in. he is essentially a moderate but he’s got a very chaotic, militarized and radicalized population to rule.
so that’s my predictable leftist rant. those of you that think that blind allegiance to the government of Israel, even under Sharon, is going to help anything are very welcome to your delusion. there’s a lot of things to condemn Bush for, but wavering from that blind allegiance isn’t one of them.
Town crier,
Jews only real problem are Jews. What do you expect from a foreign government? When Clinton was presiden he did the same thing. He pressured the whole Oslo and “forced” that handshake! I remember everybody yelling then. All the ones before him too.
Jews are the problem. Jews have no self-respect. Sharon is the same Sharon he was when he was the army commander who expelled the Yemenite Jews from Yamit which was in the Sinai.
When will you the town crier stand up and say that the arabs must leave Israel.
Until that is done there will be no peace and if you don’t demand that you have no right to complain about others – the current situation is untenable what should Sharon do? You have given no alternative for him. Without an alternative you have no right to tell him or America not to do something.
you couldnt be more wrong. the entire white house lawn ceremony was rabin and peres’ doing. Clinton was actually forced into it by them. You forget that Oslo, Norway was a secret proceeding that no one knew about.
YOu are completely fuckin mad! My sister just got beat up for walking 2 kids to school! One 9 year old girl and one 7 year old boy! Israeli settlers and soldiers are completely out of control. And what is most disgusting about it, is that it’s only 1000 settlers in Hebron are ruining it for all of Gaza and 150,000 Palestinians who live there. If Israel would simply deal with these settlers, the US would be heroes! Instead, Bush and the Zionists continue their genocidal racism with Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. If something isn’t done, Jews will bring Armaggedon on the whole world. What kind of society allows their citizens to attack unarmed kids and Christian peace workers with rocks, Uzi’s, and AK’s? All I can say is when its time to frag some heebs, I’ll be the first in fuckin line. That is true cowardice to attack a 23 year old American girl and two 8 year old school kids. I suggest you fuckin wake up and face the truth! Go here and see for yourself!
http://www.cpt.org/hebron/hebr…
WTF? Mondo, you’re on crack. Not that the settlers aren’t crazy or anything…
Anyway, I think it’s important for settlement growth to stop, just as it’s important for terrorism to stop, so there can be a negotiated peace. As part of that negotiated peace, there can be swapping of “tracts of land.”
Of course the problem is that the Israelis want to connect some of those settlements to Jerusalem, but the Palestinians want E. Jerusalem as a capital. That will be interesting.
Talk about “genocidal racism” Mondo. Racism is generalizing the way you do it, it’s also saying things like “All I can say is when its time to frag some heebs, I’ll be the first in fuckin line”.
I guess we each judge by our own condition dont we Mondo?
here’s what bugs me about your post (and your consistent posts of this nature) crier:
i see your point. the american jewish community voted for bush because they thought that bush would be good for israel, if not better for israel than kerry. bush is “the best friend israel ever had”, i’ve heard repeated soooo many times by jews, orthodox and secular alike, from socialist shoah survivors to kachniks in the shtakhim. and so, while bush still only received a minority of the jewish vote, he did so under the premise that he’d make israel safe and secure.
question: which part of safe and secure means “free pass”? what entitles israel to expand settlements into territory that has been specified as lands to be returned under peace negotiations?
the fact of the matter is, if bush is sincere and not just paying lip service, then i think what he’s doing is great for israel: he insists that a palestinian state must be comprised of contiguous territory; he insists that israel halt its settlement expansion; he insists that israel use restraint in its incursions into the territories; and he insists that israel abandon its nuclear weapons program.
now, if you’re a militant right winger, this spells death, which could thus justify your outrage. if you’re a progressive liberal, then this is precisely the pressure we’ve been asking for from our representatives in america.
however it’s all utterly meaningless unless bush starts linking these demands to u.s. financial support. bush could condemn israel as much as he wants. it doesn’t mean a damn thing until he starts curbing the cash flow. which is why i’m more inclined to believe this is merely lip service. because he has no intention of doing that.
its already been stated in the press repeatedly, particularly by dov weissglass, that the point of the gaza disengagement is to justify keeping the gush and other major settlement blocs around jerusalem. sharon’s claimed that he has bush’s backing on this. so this “stop expanding” thing is either illusion, or its a way of saying, “dude, cool it until we have this squared away. then build til you’re blue in the face.”
i don’t trust as far as i can throw him. but if i did, then the demands he’s putting on israel are are step in the right direction, not an affront to israel’s dignity, which is the chord you’re tugging on.
i don’t trust bush* as far as i can throw him.
also, what’s with your abbas baiting, again? bush is trying to give the man a “fighting chance” to get the situation in the territories under control. he’s not being given a handout with no strings attached. he’s being given finances to help flush the thugs out of the pa’s security forces. if you don’t think that’s under the intention of committing him to the roadmap you’re sorely mistaken.
whoopdy, the pa got $350 mil to get their act together. israel’s been getting three times that every year for the last three decades. who has more of an obligation to submit to u.s. pressure?
Town Crier should be ashamed, suggesting that Bush’s behavior toward Israel is identical to Clinton’s. Bush is Israel’s best friend ever. Did you hear me? EVER.
I know this is true, because all the mindless sheep I know and love repeat it endlessly like some sad, lobotomized choir.
Bush is Israel’s best friend ever. I saw it on Fox. Bush is Israel’s best friend ever. I saw it on Arutz 7. Bush is Israel’s best friend ever. It’s in the Jewish Press.
BushisIsrael’sbestfrien dever.BushisIsrael’sbes tfriendever.
BushisIsrael’sbestfrien dever
Say it often enought, and even you’ll start to beleive it.
BushisIsrael’sbestfrien deverBushisIsrael’sbest friendever
Only he’s not. Not by a longshot.
MO – I wasn’t specifically siding with the housing developments in the West Bank, but poiting out that theres something very fishy about Bush not comdemning ior saying anything at all when the PA has consistently violated the agreement and deadly violations of their own promises, but suddenly this gets him to speak up, and press commitment to the road map.
Oh, and Dov:
Everything he does in the middle east has absolutely nothing to do with Oil or money and has everything to do with his love of mankind, especially Israel, for he is the greatest friend they ever had.
Not much in the way of substance in some of these arguments.
theres something very fishy about Bush not comdemning ior saying anything at all when the PA has consistently violated the agreement and deadly violations of their own promises, but suddenly this gets him to speak up.
can you show me how, under abbas, the palestinian authority — ie., abbas, his official, and his police department — have violated the roadmap? al aqsa martyrs brigade, hamas, islamic jihad, etc.: i know how much you’d like to believe abbas is the grand dragon of the kkk, but frankly, the man has limited, if any control, over their activities.
DovBear,
Granted we have very short memories and are very arrogant to the point of disregarding history before we were born…
so who was Israel’s best friend? If everything is relative, than why isn’t Bush better than the rest? Which US prez had the right stuff?
ky,
maybe to give Abu Mazen something to impress his dissolving base.
You project your experience with North American democracy onto the Palestinians and that is arrogant. The Arabs are very wary about America. They do not trust it, and America’s blatant attempt to westernize the world threatens their traditional culture. The worst thing that we can do is expect an Arab leader to watch out for our interests, it’s called being naive.
jordan,
he is essentially a moderate but he’s got a very chaotic, militarized and radicalized population to rule.
You fall for the suit. Arafat’s mistake was that he kept the traditional kafiyeh and suit garb until the end. Abu Mazen and Dahlan wear suits. This makes them moderates. Ha! I didn’t see Abu Mazen resist too much when some ‘militants’ hoisted him up on their shoulders and fired their AK-47s and stolen M16s. Are you forgetting that Abu Mazen was Arafat’s #2 in the PLO, or does that not mean anything to anyone. #2 means being very involved in the killing of several thousand Jews around the world in the past 30 years or so. Moderate? :-p
Mob,
into territory that has been specified as lands to be returned under peace negotiations?
After every ‘peace negotiations’ that end in disagreement, the sides explicitly say that everything said, everything put on the table is ‘batel, u’mevutal’ as if it was never discussed. But the Jews have a bad memory. We like to remember what we put on the table, but we always seem to forget what the Arabs compromise on (do they compromise?)
but frankly, the man has limited, if any control, over their activities.
This was given so much overkill in Arafat’s time, I can’t believe that you still spew this lie. If Abu Mazen wanted to be a strong leader, then he would do exactly what Mubarak, Assad, and the Jordanian Hashemite kings did and root out opposition. On the other hand, you probably ascribe to the effort to integrate Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc… in to the PA ‘police’ force and that is basically insane to legitimize the terrorists by giving them pretty uniforms and rank.
Town crier,
you wrote: “Clinton was actually forced into it by them”
If Clinton was forced by rabin and peres – so was Bush forced by sharon and Co. They are the unilateral pushers of this plan.
There is no such thing as a friend by countries. Countries act for their self-interest. If America (Bush) feels that they want to have a good relationship with the millions of Arabs they might lean to them to appease them. If they want to have Israelto hold back Islamic fundamentalists from getting the whole middle-east they might lean towards Israel. If they want both they will hedge their bets.
That is exactly what they are doing playing both sides for their own self-interest.
Come on everybody, use your heads.
TC You are mistaken in pointing to the the Non-Jews as the cause of this. Just like by Clinton so to now the Jews are the problem.
Jews who have no faith.
Jews who have no pride.
It’s lame and self-indulgant to try to pin a “best friend ever” medal on any one US president.
Bush’s policies aren’t materially different from Clinton’s yet the moronic Jewish masses fail to see it, and like parrots repeat the FoxNews sound bites: Bush will give them a free hand. Bush won’t pressure. Bush won’t help Abbas. Bush is resolute. Bush is moral.
It’s total BS, but repeating the slogans is easier than thinking.
“the moronic Jewish masses fail to see it, ”
Ouch, that’s harsh. You’d think those Jewish “masses” (I’m an elitist and I still hate that word) went and voted for Kerry, say, at a three-to-one ratio. Now THAT would be moronic.
I do agree that the “best friend ever” is not quite appropriate. For one thing, it slights Ronald Reagan, which I’m sure is part of the reason DovBear is offended. Also, it’s premature to slap any such label on a sitting President. Best to at least let him finish his term before we make a final judgment.
But so far? Pretty damn good. And I think Bush’s policies are quite different from Clinton’s, particularly Clinton’s last couple of years (you know, when he decided he wanted to build a legacy consisting of more than Jay Leno’s Monica Lewinsky jokes). A while back, when Town Crier posted his last Bush complaint/insult, I wrote a series of posts about how every President has to do a shuffle between giving the Arabs lip service and supporting Israel (except Malaise Jimmeh, Israel’s worst enemy among Presidents, who went all Arab), and I’m too lazy to do it again. Given that the shuffle has to happen, Bush has been very good at limiting his Arab support to mere words (my favorite so far was two years ago, when in response to an Israeli incursion into the West Bank after a terror attack, he announced that Israel must leave – but never gave them a deadline (and the Israelis only intended to stay a short time anyway)! The only thing missing was the wink.
J, too bad I would have taken you seriously untill you invoked secion A, Rule 2 from the Sean Hannity talking points book and refrenced Monica Lewinsky. WTF does that have to do with anything? You want I should start mentioning Rudy’s homewrecking infidelity in city hall every time someone tells me what a hero he is? Oh, that’s right – it makes no sense. Ok. I understand. Every complaint or question on Bush is met with question on Kerry / Clinton, how bad Carter was… and on.
All I asked is that my fellow dimwits who voted on a single issue admit that there is a harsh reality they were ill advised and that we can do things now to help changed what is happening.
TC, if you want to change what is happening focus on Jews. Teach them pride and no guilt.
The last is our inheritance we have nothing to be ashamed of. If this is where we focus we have chance. If we try to focus on what the world will say we are lost.
the land is our inheritance.
Josh: …um, what? Are you not aware that Bush did do that before, in the example we gave, and that his arrogant ass certainly considers it legitimate? And do you even match up cliches before regurgitating them? Perhaps you are under the impression that we were predicting things and not speculating about Bulshevik motives in a comment about Bush’s actions.
And Joe Schmo has got to be a parody.
Maale Adumim is not a “settlement” it is a neighborhood 5 minutes form jerusalem with thousands of people who have lived there for many many years