How the Israel/Lebanon violence serves the Republicans

[Nikki Stone 1]

1. Proves the world is "dangerous"--hence the need for Repug control.

2. Shows the Middle East as a violent crazy place that needs a makeover, hence "the war on terror".

3. Takes Iraq off the front pages for a bit, especially that "annoying" rape case of the 14-year old "woman"--uh, girl.

4. Spotlights Iran as a state supporter of terrorism, whether or not they had anything to do with Hezbollah in Lebanon, hence the invasion to
"democratize" Iran, coming soon.

5. Splits the Left, which is at each others' throats this week over Israel's response (or even its right to exist) and Lebanon's degree of responsibility for Hezbollah.


Do you wonder why Condi isn't tromping over there yet in her Ferragamos?

(The election is 2 1/2 months away.)

[CuteNFuzzy]

1. All very good points

Except I don't think many on the Left really question if Israel has a right to exist. The question is whether or not Israeli aggression and targeting civilian populations are justified

[Nikki Stone 1]

4. I've actually heard some arguments about Israel existing at all

But I'll take your point and see if I can modify that point.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. By tossing that in there you simply continued the division here.

I agree that this is yet another 'immigration issue' tossed into our camp for us to fight over. The equivalent statements about palestinians have also been expressed. Avoiding taking sides in this mess is vastly difficult.

[Nikki Stone 1]

8. What wording would you suggest?

?

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Well that is easy:

5. Splits the Left, which is at each others' throats this week over Israel's response and Lebanon's degree of responsibility for Hezbollah.

[Nikki Stone 1]

14. OK. But I think David Horowitz saw the same commentator I saw:

From David Horowitz's recent diatribe:



* Item one: As Israel came under attack last week, the producer of a talk show on a major Washington D.C. radio station declared that because the existence of Israel was bringing us to the brink of nuclear war, he could no longer support Israel's right to exist.

This producer is a left-wing Jew.

* Item two: Around the same time, the website Daily Kos, which is a power in the Democratic Party and is spearheading the campaign to unseat Joe Lieberman, posted an item headed, "Imagine a world without Israel." The subhead read, "Or is that not allowed?" This kind of hate-Israel sentiment is common on the left, and the left's influence is growing, especially in the Democratic Party.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. I give up, you are quoting Horowitz as an authority

on what we think. Perhaps you should reflect on your sources.

[Nikki Stone 1]

16. If something happened, it happened, regardless of who saw it

I have heard and seen talk challenging Israel's right to exist this week. It comes up everytime Israel seems to be the aggressor.

I have also seen many people challenge Israel's response to the taking of two soldiers. This is certainly more relevant to the events, but it doesn't mean other things haven't been said as well.

For the record, hon, I am not challenging Israel's right to exist. Nor do I know enough about the background of this particular battle to know if the response was over the top or not. But I will stick by what I have heard this week.

And it all serves Junior and his criminal accomplices in the White House.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. Sometimes ad hominems are valid.

Horowitz is a notorious liar and distorter. He is a right wing propagandist and agitator. Your citing him as an authority here on this board about what we think and say is bizarre. At best he has taken statements out of context in order to back up whatever crap he is promoting.

The general tone of the opposition to the Israel Can Do No Wrong camp here on DU is that both sides have valid grievances, both sides have acted badly, and that Israel's current war against Lebanon and response to the Gaza and Lebanese border incidents are gross overreactions entirely disproportionate to the actions of Hamas and Hezbollah. We are not calling for the destruction of Israel. We are demanding that Israel stop its belligerence.

[cali]

19. Yeah, and Pat Buchanan is a racist homophobic bigot

and yesterday there were four or five threads extolling him. No right wing nut cases like Buchanan or Horowitz should be quoted as legitimate on DU

[Warren Stupidity]

21. And I found those threads equally offensive.

That Mr. Buchanan shares our anti-imperialist views is uncomfortable to say the least, but he remains a repugnant rightwing populist.

[cali]

18. Don't modify it.

There have been many threads and comments to that effect.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. kick

[Lost-in-FL]

3. This conflict is dividing DUers

So I think is going very well for them (Republicans).

[lvx35]

5. It screws em too.

Whatever hope there was for a positive resolution in Iraq is getting flushed down the toilet...And every single point you made is valid, but only in a very short term way. The long term picture is very ugly for them, whether they are fully aware of it or not.

[Nikki Stone 1]

7. The short term will get them to the election & that's all they care about

They honestly don't care about solving problems for the world. This small group is only concerned about getting what they believe should be theirs. They are IMFing this country: privatization, taking away worker protections and OT, borrowing to the tune of an obscenely ballooning deficit....

[lvx35]

11. All true, but I hold out hope that this one..

...is going to bite them in the ass a little sooner than they think!

[Nikki Stone 1]

12. Hope the gods hear you on this one.

:(

[RagAss]

9. Iraq is the Bowels of Hell....no way it helps Repugs...

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. The Israel/Lenbanon thing actually hides Iraq for awhile

If this were really bad for Bush, there'd be someone over there already. Look how quickly they got Congress to Terry Schiavo's bedside.

It's all about the election.

[KharmaTrain]

20. All War All The Time

Nothing makes the cable networks get all moist than things that blow up and pictures of fire and explosions. They can't get enough of 'em. They need the crying refugee or the belegured American relative crying on the phone, the pictures of panic and mass exodus and lots of guys in military uniforms and "anal-ists" to fill up the airtime. It draws viewers who can't wait to see that next big blast to go off. If it bleeds, it leads.

Forget the context of why these actions are taking place. Forget the differentiation between Hamas and Hezbollah...lets see that crater hole once again or the Google Earth map of the runway that's just been destroyed.

Damn straight this regime loves this story being front and center and how its taking the air away from all sorts of other nasty issues. Not a mention about the NSA hearings the other day or the price of oil spiking to record highs...and just a glance mention of the latest devestation in Baghdad...cause those aren't easy pictures to get and the story isn't as fun to cover. Playing pro-Israel also works for the cable networks as that government learned to manipulate them and give them easy stories to cover and neat pictures to show with a minimum of real work or danger...a lot different than trying to cover what's going on in Iraq.

Rove made it clear months ago that the GOOP game plan is fear. This fear is being played out on TV screens as the market people know how riviting this type of story becomes and how it can be used to create a response. It highlights Syria and Iran as the real bad guys in this passion play that works into this regime's Neo-Con game plan and the corporate media can play it into their longtime theme of American superiority and xenophobia.

Spot on analysis!