Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

–updated–

UPDATE: A couple of sites for you: Blogging Beirut; and Israellycool” is “liveblogging the war.” Please, if you know of other blogs in the current war region, please let me know in the comments. … Oh, and by the way, this is just nuts…. as is this piece from The New Republic, which also advocates that Israel bomb Syria. WHERE ARE THE GROWN UPS?

God Bless Ezra
Klein, Allah too, for that matter. If he doesn't capture it all.

It's just about the way I felt yesterday and most of this morning. I do a post
on the Sacred Cow of taking on the problem of Bush's personal faith as it relates
to his presidential responsibilities, especially as commander in chief, and
what do I hear? Comments that my picture is inflammatory and might “incite
anti-Semitism.” God forbid we might offend someone through graphics!

Besides, that's the whole point, which was proven through the reactions of some. When the president of the United States is shown making emotional gestures that have the power to tilt American foreign policy and world opinion, especially on something as sensitive as religion and the Middle East, it's a problem, people. I can't believe I have to spell it out.

Some were incensed by my using the picture of President Bush lighting a menorah, and
what it might mean.

Never mind that Bush has outsourced our Middle East foreign policy to Israel.

Never mind that Bush can't send anyone to the Middle East to put pressure on
the parties because he's blown our honest broker status for the first time in
history.

Never mind that the war in Iraq rages, while Prime Minister Olmert ignores
our precarious position in Baghdad and the Iraqi desert.

Never mind we have 125,000 plus/minus troops in Iraq trying to hold the country together.

Then Ezra Klein hits another important issue. It's not just that Bush was caught speaking
with the microphone on, saying ridiculous things, spiced up with an expletive
deleted. But the president of the United States actually believes Syria can
end this crisis.

That's a big deal: Bush believes it within the Syrian government's power to calm the conflict. Theoretically, that should have major implications for American diplomacy and, possibly, policy. So what's CNN's headline? “Open mic catches Bush expletive on Mideast”! The story is not that his substantive views on the issue have been uncovered, but that the president curses. Indeed, the article even speculates on how such a stunner slipped out, arguing that “the escalating crisis in the Middle East prompted him to use an expletive in a conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.” This is your press corps. The President has a potty mouth is a more pressing story than the President believe sufficient pressure on the sovereign nation of Syria could be the key to ending an intensely volatile war in the Middle East. What a proud day for my profession. Ezra Klein

Potty mouth and a picture fracas; but at least we have our priorities in line, right?

To make sure I've offended everyone, all religions (including my own), I offer
the picture of Bush celebrating Ramadan at the White House above.

But do you notice anything different about the two pictures (menorah lighting here)? The Ramadan celebration
looks very formal, a dinner, with Bush standing behind the presidential lectern.
The lighting of the menorah is quite different. It's emotional for Bush, personal.
If it weren't in the White House that would be one thing. Why isn't he having
the same type of formal dinner that was reserved for Ramadan? The answer is
obvious. Again, that's the problem.

Back in 2003, this is what Frank Gaffney had to say about Bush even acknowledging
Ramadan.

The question occurs: Could the President's recent decision to pursue a “road map” for Mideast peace that is, in important respects (notably with respect to the need for a new Palestinian leadership “untainted by terror,” the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist infrastructure and an end to Palestinian incitement as preconditions to U.S. recognition of a state of Palestine) — at odds with the “vision” he enunciated last June also be a product of the undesirable influence of the Wahhabi Lobby? The far-reaching changes were reportedly the subject of major internal fights between top Administration officials. According to the Middle East News Line, unnamed officials and congressional sources said, that “most of the issues were submitted to Bush's chief political strategist Karl Rove. They said Rove, who engineered the Republican victory in Congress in November 2002, has been granted major input in U.S. foreign policy as part of an effort to prepare Bush's reelection campaign in 2004. Rove accompanied the president during the Sharm e-Sheik and Aqaba summits.” If cultivating votes is the motivation for affording Islamists unwarranted access and undesirable influence, it seems likely to backfire on the President. A new national poll conducted by Luntz Research to be unveiled today [Tuesday] by the Center for Security Policy indicates that a strong majority of Americans (72.7% to 18.0%) support the precondition on dismantling terror Mr. Bush laid out last June. Among one of President Bush's core constituencies, Christian conservatives, the result is even more dramatic (78.6% to 13.6%). Unfortunately for Mr. Bush, the effort to curry favor with Islamists may not only be bad for the national security. It may jeopardize his political base without producing offsetting gains among Muslim voters and/or donors. UNDESIRABLE INFLUENCE, By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

Ah, yes, “undesirable influence” indeed. My passion is your problem
and all. This is where all this leads, meanwhile America loses its honest broker
status and ends up tipping our hand before the bombs even go off.

Frankly, all this nuance is likely lost on President Bush, because if he actually
believes Syria can bring about peace, can the Rapture be far behind?

NOTE: Here's another view, opposing the Washington Post article yesterday, on how the Jewish lobby not only helps Israel, but the peace process as well. It's authored by Daniel Levy, an adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office, a member of the official Israeli negotiating team at the Oslo B and Taba talks, and the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative: Is It Good for the Jews? The recent controversy over the Israel lobby has focused on how it distorts U.S. foreign policy. Forgotten is whether it helps Israel (and the peace process).