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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / That Netanyahu visit looks more like an albatross every day

That Netanyahu visit looks more like an albatross every day

by Tim F|  February 6, 20159:41 am| 95 Comments

This post is in: Republican Stupidity

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It appears that gut check time has arrived for the geniuses behind Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprise visit to Congress. The move struck me as a hail mary pass from the beginning – the Israeli Prime Minister took Republican support for granted, as he should, but clearly expected Democrats to panic and participate in humiliating their own President. One can imagine what a coup that would have been for Netanyahu and his Republican allies. It must have come as a surprise when even Democrats as far out on the fence as Joe Manchin instead reacted as one might hope they would when a dependent client state takes a piss on the carpet.

With no bipartisan cover and little support in the press*, Boehner and Bibi might want to think about why teams only throw a hail mary in desperation. Among other reasons it gets intercepted a lot. And so now we have reached the inevitable prisoners’ dilemma stage of a failing gambit. Will the parties stick to their story or start tossing blame to save themselves? Take a guess.

A senior Israeli official suggested on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been misled into thinking an invitation to address the U.S. Congress on Iran next month was fully supported by the Democrats.

[…] “It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides,” Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told 102 FM Tel Aviv Radio on Friday.

If you think about it, Republicans seem to throw the hail mary a lot. Sure bad things could happen if we knock over Saddam Hussein, but they might not. Let’s, like, bet on it dude. Pointlessly risky behavior more or less defined John McCain as a candidate. Even if you set aside Sarah Palin the guy’s policy chops rest almost entirely on bold, aggressive and recklessly stupid answers to every foreign policy question. You could say something similar about Mitt Romney. Take for example his bold and somewhat desperate move to step all over the Benghazi episode before the bodies were cold. Republicans are still trying to drown the shame of that episode in pointless noise and rage. Worse, consider the rest of the 2012 GOP bench.

I suppose that so long as you set aside Israel’s interest as a country and focus exclusively on one guy’s political career the logic of a hail mary kind of works for Netanyahu. When he accepted the offer Bibi was looking at an imminent election that polls said he would probably lose. You really cannot say the same thing about John Boehner. For him inviting Netanyahu was never anything more than a spiteful lark.

Or maybe it seemed less like a lark and more like a brilliant, evil plan. Boehner and Bibi clearly inked the deal well before Obama’s State of the Union. Picture Obama offering a humbled hand across the aisle as many expected, and then Boehner answers with this. Talk about setting a tone for the next two years. It must have galled the House leader more than a little to drop his bombshell when the whole world was still laughing about the President’s harsh one liner. Obama did not show up with his hat in his hand, Democrats did not back down and his co-conspirators have left John Boehner with the political hot potato down his pants. Couldn’t happen to a drunker lazier nicer guy.

(*) No great surprise to anyone following recent trends.

***Update***

Speaking of which.

Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein rushed to meetings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday trying to calm a furor created by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress next month and quell a Democratic revolt that has dozens threatening a boycott.

It didn’t work.

…Seven Jewish Democratic members of Congress who met Wednesday in Rep. Steve Israel’s (D-N.Y.) office…lit into Dermer. The invitation, they said, was making them choose between Netanyahu and Obama, making support for Israel into a partisan issue that they never wanted it to be, and forcing them to consider a boycott of the speech. One member, according to someone in the room, went so far as to tell Dermer it was hard to believe him when he said he didn’t realize the partisan mess he was making by going around Obama to get Boehner to make the invitation.

Well sure, now Bibi knows that hiring a Republican political operative and former Romney staffer as his country’s ambassador might prove counterproductive.

It reminds me of the classic libertarian fallacy. You really should not expect something great, in this case Israel getting every single thing it wants from DC without a hint of pushback or criticism, to go on standing even after you have kicked over every last support which holds that thing up.

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95Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    February 6, 2015 at 9:55 am

    However, this guy will go over much better. Let the GOP squirming commence.

    Pope Francis will visit the U.S. Capitol on September 24 and deliver an address to a joint session of Congress, House Speaker John Boehner announced on Thursday.

    The Pope confirmed last month that he will visit Washington D.C., New York City and Philadelphia during the first trip of his papacy to the United States.

    The address will be the first time a Pope has addressed a joint session of Congress.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/pope-francis-address-congress-september-24-n300891

    After several more months of Republican stupidity and perfidy, I think the Pope’s audience will be ever more primed.

  2. 2.

    walt

    February 6, 2015 at 10:03 am

    Does Israel have a Plan B for dealing with a nuclear Iran besides using the American military to bomb it? Apparently not. So, the strategy here is a Hail Mary pass coupled with the most tone-deaf gambit imaginable. It’s almost as if Israel regards America as its client state. Neo-cons, take a bow. Only an America-hating fringe group of zealots would wrap themselves in a flag of a country not their own and expect others to applaud.

  3. 3.

    Faction

    February 6, 2015 at 10:09 am

    Sure bad things could happen if we knock over Saddam Hussein, but they might not. Let’s, like, bet on it dude.

    “The best-case scenario is the only one we should prepare for!”

    Seems to be their attitude pretty often…

  4. 4.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    February 6, 2015 at 10:10 am

    One member, according to someone in the room, went so far as to tell Dermer it was hard to believe him when he said he didn’t realize the partisan mess he was making by going around Obama to get Boehner to make the invitation.

    Dermer’s a former American citizen and still works for the GOP. Said Congresscritter was being WAY too polite.

  5. 5.

    carbon dated

    February 6, 2015 at 10:12 am

    Please to explain what classic libertarian fallacy this reminds you of …?

  6. 6.

    debbie

    February 6, 2015 at 10:13 am

    This is a great way to end the week!

  7. 7.

    Bobby B.

    February 6, 2015 at 10:14 am

    The GOP has been dining on Albatross regularly since 1990 and…celebrating it!

  8. 8.

    Tim F.

    February 6, 2015 at 10:14 am

    @carbon dated: The libertarian fallacy that underlies the entire libertarian enterprise. I have explained it before. I think it is defined pretty clearly in the post.

  9. 9.

    kc

    February 6, 2015 at 10:21 am

    The invitation, they said, was making them choose between Netanyahu and Obama,

    That should be a really easy choice.

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    February 6, 2015 at 10:23 am

    @walt:

    Does Israel have a Plan B for dealing with a nuclear Iran besides using the American military to bomb it?

    I would assume deterrence with their own nukes would be their primary strategy.

  11. 11.

    GregB

    February 6, 2015 at 10:23 am

    I know that the media loves Democrats are in disarray stories and they love beating on Democratic Presidents for being weak and feckless, but really is there a more ineffective, weak and totally half assed incompetent buffoon in the world of politics than Speaker John Boehner?

  12. 12.

    ruemara

    February 6, 2015 at 10:23 am

    This has been an example of brilliant stupidity. They truly thought this was going to be an opportunity to thumb their nose at Obama and humiliate him both at home and abroad. This was going to show that nigger his place, because they were in charge. He is supposed to be cowed, disinterested because it’s his last term, disheartened because his party is out of power. A perfect time to rub his face in some neocon dirt. Instead, it has blown up in their faces and has humbled Boehner, Netanyahu, both right-wing sets of extremists and infuriated anyone with half a brain. Brilliant idiocy.

  13. 13.

    CaseyL

    February 6, 2015 at 10:24 am

    I should write letters to my congresscritters telling them that, as an American and a Jew, I fully support their boycotting Netanyahu’s speech.

    Netanyahu (and Ariel Sharon) were instrumental in causing me to reverse my lifelong support for the state of Israel.

    Seeing him attach himself, and by inference Israel, to the GOP, is the latest in a long line of last straws.

  14. 14.

    Tim F.

    February 6, 2015 at 10:25 am

    @Roger Moore: AIPAC, and therefore some people to whom I am related, would argue that Iran supports suicide bombers and therefore Iran is a suicide bomber.

    Yeah I know. Composition fallacy, millimeter deep understanding of Persian culture, pawns versus kings. Have fun explaining all that.

  15. 15.

    NonyNony

    February 6, 2015 at 10:26 am

    Boehner and Bibi might want to think about why teams only throw a hail mary in desperation.

    What I still don’t get is why after years of being punked by Obama every single time he tries to do something clever, Boehner is still trying to do something clever. At this point all he really has to do is keep passing bills he knows that Obama will veto to give some read meat to his base and keep them angry enough to vote in 2016. He basically just needs to run down the clock.

    And yet he persists in trying to one-up the man who has time after time after time done the political equivalent of getting Boeher to drop his own pants in front of a crowd of onlookers. You’d think eventually the man would figure out that he shouldn’t be trying to beat Obama on a playing field left where Obama has the advantage.

  16. 16.

    WereBear

    February 6, 2015 at 10:28 am

    For current Republicans, it is not important to get results. What is important is to follow the ideology. No matter where it leads.

  17. 17.

    NonyNony

    February 6, 2015 at 10:30 am

    @carbon dated:

    The libertarian belief that you can get something for nothing. It underlies pretty much their entire philosophy. So much so that they weaselspeak about personal liberty and personal freedom to cover up for the fact that they want all the benefits of living in a developed nation without actually having to pay to have a developed nation.

    Also known as IGMFU.

  18. 18.

    mikej

    February 6, 2015 at 10:31 am

    @Roger Moore: There has been talk for years of letting Israel pull the trigger on an attack on Iran. Of course Iraq is in between, and you need US permission to fly over. If there is an Israeli attack, it would still be viewed as an American attack.

  19. 19.

    beltane

    February 6, 2015 at 10:34 am

    @kc: It’s kind of shocking that it could be considered any kind of choice at all. WTF?

  20. 20.

    Jay C

    February 6, 2015 at 10:37 am

    Ordinarily, an address to Congress by a foreign leader wouldn’t be all that remarkable, except that PM Netanyahu has made it pretty clear that his aim (enabled and abetted by the usual belligerent neocon claque) is to utterly monkey-wrench the P5+1 talks with Iran re its nuclear program. Supposedly in favor of – at best – stronger sanctions; but which he (and too many others) have made pretty clear is a second-best choice vs. direct military action: preferably by the US itself, but, as a back-up, with US “support” for an Israeli attack. All, of course, on the usual “existential threat” grounds.

    That’s what makes it remarkable, a foreign PM attempting not only to end-run an American Administration on foreign policy, but doing so to push for an outright shooting war with another country; the consequences of which seem not to have been thought about by any of the relevant parties. Just like the GOP “invite” to Bibi in the first place.

    Personally, I would love to see the Administration announce (preferably through President Obama himself) the signing of a binding nuclear agreement with Iran – the day before Netanyahu’s address . Even though the mess left by exploding heads in Congress would case more work for the janitorial staff…

  21. 21.

    Buddy H

    February 6, 2015 at 10:39 am

    @NonyNony: Could it be some of his decisions make sense to him after several cocktails?

  22. 22.

    ...now I try to be amused

    February 6, 2015 at 10:41 am

    @Bobby B.:

    The GOP has been dining on Albatross regularly since 1990 and…celebrating it!

    If only we could add more crow to their diet.

  23. 23.

    beltane

    February 6, 2015 at 10:41 am

    This may have been a disaster from Boehner’s standpoint, but it has played very well domestically for Netanyahu, who polls indicate will once again be Prime Minister. Seems that Israelis love it when “that one” is put in his place.

  24. 24.

    Neldob

    February 6, 2015 at 10:42 am

    And guess what!

    The Jerusalem Post
    Jan 7, 2015 – JERUSALEM (JTA) —

    More than 90 percent of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection funds have come from the United States.

  25. 25.

    SatanicPanic

    February 6, 2015 at 10:42 am

    @carbon dated: “I’m a libertarian and my ideas have merit” = logically impossible.

  26. 26.

    philpm

    February 6, 2015 at 10:42 am

    “It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides,” Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told 102 FM Tel Aviv Radio on Friday.

    Somebody was seriously ‘shrooming if they thought the Dems were going to go along with Bibi and Boehner kicking Obama in the balls.

  27. 27.

    Paul in KY

    February 6, 2015 at 10:45 am

    @Faction: They wanted Iraq as a failed state & did their best to ensure it. They never, ever thought (nor wanted) ‘the best case scenario’ would ever occur in Iraq.

  28. 28.

    beltane

    February 6, 2015 at 10:46 am

    @philpm: They’re lying, not ‘shrooming. Based on past performances by the Dems, it was not so far-fetched to think they wouldn’t abandon Obama is favor of our greatest friend ever.

  29. 29.

    eemom

    February 6, 2015 at 10:49 am

    @beltane:

    This may have been a disaster from Boehner’s standpoint, but it has played very well domestically for Netanyahu, who polls indicate will once again be Prime Minister. Seems that Israelis love it when “that one” is put in his place.

    do you have a linky for that? Last I heard it was the exact opposite, i.e., that this hamhanded bullshit totally backfired on Netanyahu amongst the Israeli public.

  30. 30.

    Buddy H

    February 6, 2015 at 10:50 am

    Could it be some of his decisions make sense to him after several cocktails? I’m not being humorous here; from what I’ve read, and what I’ve seen of him, he seems like he’s seriously part of the “two-fisted drinker” culture.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 6, 2015 at 10:51 am

    The best examples of the Hail Mary are all congressional: Gingrich’s Republicans shutting down the government, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the debt-ceiling hostage episodes I and II (with extra bonus shutdown of the government). All examples of attempts to govern through extraordinary chutzpah with a giant bold stroke.

    In 2010, I was trying to predict what Not Done thing the Republicans were going to do after getting their big wins, and my guess was that they were going to wait for Israel to start bombing Iran, then pass a formal declaration of war on Iran without executive request and dare Obama to veto it. Israel didn’t bomb Iran, and they went for the debt-ceiling stuff instead. But this is sort of a less-dramatic version of the Iran/Israel gambit.

  32. 32.

    Scotius

    February 6, 2015 at 10:52 am

    It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides

    That is some Olympic level bus throwing.

  33. 33.

    beltane

    February 6, 2015 at 10:52 am

    @eemom: Here’s the most recent polling:http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Post-poll-Support-for-PM-hits-peak-390209

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    February 6, 2015 at 10:53 am

    @NonyNony:

    What I still don’t get is why after years of being punked by Obama every single time he tries to do something clever, Boehner is still trying to do something clever.

    I think you’re giving Obama way too much credit. There have been plenty of times when Obama’s punking has been preempted by the Tea Party Caucus pantsing him or Nancy Pelosi dancing circles around him. The surest sign of Boehner’s incompetence is the number of times he’s been undercut by his own party. In any case, then explanation for all these things is the classic Dunning-Krueger.

  35. 35.

    carbon dated

    February 6, 2015 at 10:55 am

    @NonyNony: Thanks Nony. I had never heard that expressed by a libertarian before, that you can get something for nothing. In my experience they always claim something like the opposite.

    Tim F. is quite a learned and confident chronicler. One can learn a lot from his missives if one is willing to read between the lines, I guess.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 6, 2015 at 10:56 am

    @NonyNony:

    What I still don’t get is why after years of being punked by Obama every single time he tries to do something clever, Boehner is still trying to do something clever.

    The 2011 debt-ceiling gambit worked.

    The 2013 repeat didn’t work, Obama had learned better, but the lesson didn’t stick because the ACA website mess happened immediately afterward.

  37. 37.

    geg6

    February 6, 2015 at 10:56 am

    @carbon dated:

    All of them, Katie!

  38. 38.

    debbie

    February 6, 2015 at 10:58 am

    @Roger Moore:

    I think it’s more a case of Obama just stepping back and out of the way to allow Boehner to be Boehner.

  39. 39.

    EconWatcher

    February 6, 2015 at 10:59 am

    If Obama’s approval ratings had been lower when this happened, it might have worked. But with Obama at about 50 instead of about 40, Dems in Congress aren’t going to mess with him.

    Kick a guy when’s he’s down. if you try to kick when he’s standing up, he’ll kick back and land you hard. it’s that simple.

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    February 6, 2015 at 10:59 am

    @carbon dated:

    Thanks Nony. I had never heard that expressed by a libertarian before, that you can get something for nothing.

    They don’t say it exactly that way, but they are constantly assuming that society will continue to function pretty much as it does now except more efficiently if we eliminate government. That’s a gigantic assumption of something for nothing.

  41. 41.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 6, 2015 at 11:02 am

    @carbon dated:

    I had never heard that expressed by a libertarian before, that you can get something for nothing. In my experience they always claim something like the opposite.

    Right, they always insist that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch (Heinlein’s libertarian Moon rebels actually took TANSTAAFL! as a motto). But they often regard this very attitude as a magic principle that can make everything right, particularly when it’s imposed on others. Just stop the moochers and looters from taking their money away, and everything will be all right.

  42. 42.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 6, 2015 at 11:03 am

    @EconWatcher: It seems to be working great… for Netanyahu. Not so much for the Republicans.

  43. 43.

    pseudonymous in nc

    February 6, 2015 at 11:07 am

    “It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides,” Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told 102 FM Tel Aviv Radio on Friday.

    Stupid or lying?

    Actually, my guess is that most lower-tier Israeli politicians — especially the ones who don’t have any ties to the US — have the same blinkered/sheltered/third-hand view of American politics that their American peers have of Israel.

  44. 44.

    ...now I try to be amused

    February 6, 2015 at 11:10 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The best examples of the Hail Mary are all congressional: Gingrich’s Republicans shutting down the government, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the debt-ceiling hostage episodes I and II (with extra bonus shutdown of the government). All examples of attempts to govern through extraordinary chutzpah with a giant bold stroke.

    Their problem is that the House of Representatives was not designed for bold and dramatic initiatives like that. It’s like they collectively wish they were President.

  45. 45.

    ruemara

    February 6, 2015 at 11:10 am

    @carbon dated: I don’t believe in taxes / I want a functioning civilization. I don’t want regulations / the free market will take care of people who create things wrongs-and kill people. It’s tyranny to make me pay a minimum wage. / A good employee will be able to earn fair wages due to market forces.

    Something for nothing couched in terms of good things happen to good people is the libertarian raison d’etre.

  46. 46.

    Tim F.

    February 6, 2015 at 11:16 am

    @carbon dated:

    Tim F. is quite a learned and confident chronicler. One can learn a lot from his missives if one is willing to read between the lines, I guess.

    Always glad to help. However I think you misunderstand what it is nony nony is saying libertarians expect to get for free.

  47. 47.

    Tim F.

    February 6, 2015 at 11:19 am

    @pseudonymous in nc: Unquestionably lying. Some Knesset back benchers might be surprised to find out that Boehner’s deal screws with protocol but Dermer and Netanyahu’s senior staff know perfectly well when they’re chucking a vase out the window.

  48. 48.

    craigie

    February 6, 2015 at 11:26 am

    @WereBear:
    This. A thousand times, this.

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack

    February 6, 2015 at 11:28 am

    @beltane:

    From the linked article:

    For the first time since Netanyahu initiated the election on December 2, the proportion of respondents saying they want him to remain prime minister was higher than those saying they want him replaced, 46-45 percent. Last week, 8% more wanted him to leave than to remain, 52% to 44%. The 46% who want him to stay is the highest since the race began.

    Hardly seems like a landslide of support.

  50. 50.

    catclub

    February 6, 2015 at 11:42 am

    @Faction:

    “The best-case scenario is the only one we should prepare for!”

    IN notable contrast to Cheney saying that he needs to treat every terrorist plot with only a 1% probability of occurring as already having happened.

  51. 51.

    catclub

    February 6, 2015 at 11:48 am

    @beltane:

    it was not so far-fetched to think they wouldn’t abandon Obama is favor of our greatest friend ever.

    The one that attacked the the US Navy ship Liberty. I also like to note that we have a mutual defense treaty with one country in that region, – Turkey. We have none with Israel.

  52. 52.

    TR

    February 6, 2015 at 11:50 am

    During the 2008 race, there was a great piece that noted McCain’s favorite Vegas game was craps — high risk, high reward, but little thinking behind it — while Obama’s was poker — slow build with a lot of strategy. Struck me as very apt.

  53. 53.

    MattF

    February 6, 2015 at 11:56 am

    It would surprise me if Netanyahu backed down– that’s not his behavioral repertoire, he thinks he understands American politics and he doesn’t bother to hide his contempt for Obama. I don’t know enough about Israeli politics to guess what is next, but I’d sure like to see him and his clique go down in flames.

  54. 54.

    Calouste

    February 6, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    @carbon dated:

    Please to explain what classic libertarian fallacy this reminds you of …?

    All of them, Katie.

  55. 55.

    Frankensteinbeck

    February 6, 2015 at 12:06 pm

    @Steeplejack:
    An 8% leap is insane. Either something giant happened, or this poll is a worthless outlier. No way to tell from here.

  56. 56.

    Calouste

    February 6, 2015 at 12:07 pm

    @GregB:

    I know that the media loves Democrats are in disarray stories and they love beating on Democratic Presidents for being weak and feckless, but really is there a more ineffective, weak and totally half assed incompetent buffoon in the world of politics than Speaker John Boehner?

    In the world? Try Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is getting challenged for the leadership of his party after less than 17 months in the job. It wouldn’t surprise you that he is a climate change denying right wing hack, although the MP who actually started the challenge is even further removed from reality.

  57. 57.

    elmo

    February 6, 2015 at 12:08 pm

    @debbie: “Please proceed, Mr. Speaker.”

  58. 58.

    Elie

    February 6, 2015 at 12:08 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    To me it is just so foolish to think that this was “just” kicking Obama — and not every Democratic voter that had supported Obama and Israel. I felt personally insulted and furious for previous support and benefit of the doubt I had given Israel. Now — that worm has turned. I would not say that I don’t care what happens to Israel, but I insist on their fixing this by 1) cancelling Ns speech and 2) voting him out of office. Even then, real damage has been done and I will never trust these folks again.. they have a lot of make up to do in my opinion — unless they want to stay supported just by the republicans.

  59. 59.

    Cacti

    February 6, 2015 at 12:09 pm

    I was reading last night that Bibi gave his first dire warning about Iran being 2-3 years away from having the bomb…

    Back in 1995.

  60. 60.

    Patrick

    February 6, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    Can you imagine the outcry from Republicans if the Dems had invited the French leader in 2002 to talk about the stupidity of attacking Iraq? It is just disgusting what Boehner pulled here. Good luck…

  61. 61.

    Elie

    February 6, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    Let me add, that if the Israelis vote this guy back in… there will be some lasting damage done to this relationship from at least my perspective. Maybe this was a cynical move to split the democratic support for Israel and cut down on the number of Jews supporting the Democratic candidate? Not sure.

    Its a big world out there… Israel is just one player in a complex world. If they want to wing it with just Republican support, so be it. Lots of pain ahead for them. They have too many American conservative Jews living there now and making their politics. Big mistake.

  62. 62.

    TR

    February 6, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I think the gain is happening in spite of this flap and not because of it. More due to local tensions in the region and a desire for a Strong Daddy leader.

  63. 63.

    TR

    February 6, 2015 at 12:14 pm

    @Patrick: bingo.

  64. 64.

    Chris

    February 6, 2015 at 12:18 pm

    Bibi really is a fucking idiot.

    Israel has gotten 90% of what it wants from America for years precisely because it was a bipartisan issue. I don’t think it should’ve been, but it was. Having spent the entire Obama presidency pissing all over the Democratic carpet, weighing in again and again behind Romney and now treating Boehner as if he were the President is doing everything he can to turn Israel into a partisan issue, and that’s far more dangerous to Israel in the long run than not bombing Iran.

    I doubt we’ll see a shift in how Dems treat Israel in this era, but God damn, it won’t be for Bibi’s lack of trying.

  65. 65.

    Elie

    February 6, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    Don’t know about you, but if the Israeli’s re-elect this guy after this stunt, I am seriously offended and taking note. Yes, yes, there will be the usual Democrats wringing their hands about offending AIPAC, but this will not be good and will be remembered in a way that Israel is not going to like. Iran and others in the ME must have at least slight smiles starting on the impact of this incredibly stupid self injury of Israel’s position.

  66. 66.

    Elie

    February 6, 2015 at 12:26 pm

    @Chris:

    Maybe — maybe not. The relationship has been damaged. Depending on what he says during the speech, and all that happens around that, I would not underestimate the damage — not necessarily in the sitting members of Congress but the constituency that they represent.. Folks used to kind of look the other way rather than pushing back on Israeli supporting policies. That may start to crack. I frankly (being just one person, of course), would like to start seeing some real changes here. I am sure the calculus Bibi/Boehner used was to also start to carve the liberal, Israel supporting Jews from the Democrats..

  67. 67.

    Chris

    February 6, 2015 at 12:28 pm

    @Elie:

    I think it’s possible. “Why do those stupid Jews keep voting Democrat? Don’t they know we’re more pro Israel?” has been the GOP idea of minority outreach for years. It’s possible they thought this would play out that way. But by the sound of it, it seems to have created at least as many Jews pissed off at the Israeli government as Jews pissed off at the Democrats.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    February 6, 2015 at 12:29 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    And it still gets him barely even.

  69. 69.

    JustRuss

    February 6, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides,

    Wait a minute, both sides didn’t do it? Is that even possible?

  70. 70.

    catclub

    February 6, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    @Cacti: Both the Saudis and the Israelis seem to have the same favorite hymn. OnWard Christian Soldiers

  71. 71.

    Elie

    February 6, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    @Chris:

    That is because it lacked so much finesse… it was OBVIOUSLY intended to insult and belittle the President and the Democrats. Its hard to win people to your side with offensive moves like that.. it weakens your case because it assumes that if you humiliate someone, they will support your cause… totally unrealistic.

  72. 72.

    Chris

    February 6, 2015 at 12:39 pm

    @Elie:

    I hope so. Honestly, I’d be thrilled just to see the following couple things made clear:

    1) America is not Israel. American interests are not Israeli interests. Occasionall, those interests will diverge. That’s okay. They’re SUPPOSED to diverge. And when they do, it shouldn’t be scandalous for an American president to put American interests before Israel’s.

    2) Israel is not Likud. Israel is not [whatever the most gung ho, neocon faction is at the moment]. Not only is it not always in America’s interests to bomb whoever Bibi wants us to or stand behind whatever war he’s waging, it may not even be in Israel’s. Do not blindly support whatever the fuck Bibi wants in the mistaken belief that that’s automatically “pro Israel.”

    It’s mind boggling that either of these things need to be said, but if enough Democrats come out of this mess reminded of them and remember them in the future, that’ll be a good thing.

  73. 73.

    Chris

    February 6, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    @Elie:

    Well, that, plus as I said – this isn’t the first time, it’s the latest in a long pattern. If it was, one might just dismiss it as a blunder, but Bibi has been in the tank for the GOP for years. See also 2012.

  74. 74.

    shelley

    February 6, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    So, I guess next month Bibi will suddenly come down with the flu. Or maybe measles.

  75. 75.

    Cervantes

    February 6, 2015 at 12:57 pm

    @ruemara:

    Humbling Netanyahu is not possible.

  76. 76.

    phoebes-in-santa fe

    February 6, 2015 at 1:06 pm

    I can’t stand Bibi or Likud or the Republicans, but this campaign commercial from Netanyahu is very clever.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmac71R5Br8

  77. 77.

    Cervantes

    February 6, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    @NonyNony:

    What I still don’t get is why after years of being punked by Obama every single time he tries to do something clever, Boehner is still trying to do something clever.

    Because he’s angry and frustrated by (what he perceives to be) the way Obama has lied to him and used him. Some — maybe even most — people don’t think too clearly when they’re angry and frustrated.

  78. 78.

    WereBear

    February 6, 2015 at 1:19 pm

    @TR: Yes, me too!

    What does it mean that my favorite card game is Uno?

  79. 79.

    ...now I try to be amused

    February 6, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    @phoebes-in-santa fe:
    I admit it, I laughed.

  80. 80.

    Elie

    February 6, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    @…now I try to be amused:

    I thought it was stupid — not really funny. Its hard to laugh about anything Bibi is related to. He is way too creepy and dangerous.

  81. 81.

    gratuitous

    February 6, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    Only time will tell if this desperation move is successful. I’ve seen Republicans appear to screw up time and again the last 35 years, only to come out smelling like a rose when all is said and done. Whether it’s plundering the lower classes for the sole benefit of their bankrolling overlords, denying the benefits of our society to all citizens, short-circuiting the right to vote, outright theft of public lands, nothing ever seems to inure to the Republicans’ detriment. Inviting a bellicose war-monger to address Congress and try to slant American foreign policy even further seems like a non-starter for a nation weary of war, but why the hell not? Desperation moves have worked so well for years, what’s one more?

    Backed by their own 24-7 propaganda outlet wired into every citizen’s home and the willingness of a disturbing percentage of the citizenry to be dazzled by decisiveness (even wrong-headed, disastrously expensive decisiveness), the Republicans have to think that they’re going to prevail once again, because why wouldn’t they?

  82. 82.

    ...now I try to be amused

    February 6, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    @Elie:
    I laughed at Bibi’s snarky remarks about his opponents. If Bibi was a US Republican or if I was an Israeli then I might not have found them funny.

  83. 83.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    February 6, 2015 at 1:59 pm

    @carbon dated:

    They don’t express it that way, but how else do you explain why libertarians seem to think they can get public services without paying taxes? Sure, they pay lip service to paying it out of pocket, but they have no clue at all that doing it that way would cost at least 10 times more than pooling tax dollars would.

    As I’ve said before, I will respect libertarian ideas once a group of them moves out to the desert and successfully builds a community from scratch, starting with the sewer system, without levying any of those nasty collective payments we call “taxes.” Moving to New Hampshire so they can leech off of 200+ years of established infrastructure only demonstrates their parasitic nature.

  84. 84.

    ...now I try to be amused

    February 6, 2015 at 2:13 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    They don’t express it that way, but how else do you explain why libertarians seem to think they can get public services without paying taxes? Sure, they pay lip service to paying it out of pocket, but they have no clue at all that doing it that way would cost at least 10 times more than pooling tax dollars would.

    I think they have the mistaken idea that even if privatized services cost more, they’d come out ahead after subtracting the taxes they pay for services they don’t use — or think they don’t use. Of course they don’t know the full extent of what government does for them.

    As I’ve said before, I will respect libertarian ideas once a group of them moves out to the desert and successfully builds a community from scratch, starting with the sewer system, without levying any of those nasty collective payments we call “taxes.”

    I expect such libertarian settlers would quickly become communitarians or they would die.

  85. 85.

    boatboy_srq

    February 6, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    @ruemara: Add in there: A citizen’s only true recourse for corporate malfeasance is the courts / Tort reform is needed to reduce court costs to business (flipside: a business that harms people/environment/whatever deserves to be put out of business and impoverishment by judicial decision is acceptable for that / we can’t have businesses closed by greedy vexatious litigants).

  86. 86.

    SteveinSC

    February 6, 2015 at 2:38 pm

    Oy vey. Get stuffed, Dermer?

  87. 87.

    BobS

    February 6, 2015 at 2:53 pm

    @beltane: This. It’s hard to think of a single instance where virtually every Democrat (and Republican) in Knesset West didn’t line up behind Israel.

  88. 88.

    catclub

    February 6, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    @Chris: 1)This and 2)This.
    Why are these so hard?

  89. 89.

    catclub

    February 6, 2015 at 3:04 pm

    @phoebes-in-santa fe: Also illegal in Israel for using children on political commercials.

  90. 90.

    slag

    February 6, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    @ruemara:

    Something for nothing couched in terms of good things happen to good people is the libertarian raison d’etre.

    It’s called the just-world fallacy, and agreed. It’s the very definition of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. In their diseased minds, it provides order to the universe and that order is completely natural and, therefore, just.

    Of course, to get there, you have to ignore almost all of human history and present reality, but whatevs. Cake!

  91. 91.

    Tree With Water

    February 6, 2015 at 3:17 pm

    @Roger Moore: The use of which will bring the Israelis full circle back to the camps, only this time in the role of the beasts.

  92. 92.

    phoebes-in-santa fe

    February 6, 2015 at 3:24 pm

    @catclub: Children aren’t being used, they’re being referred to. As I said, I can’t stand Bibi or the US Republican Party, BUT, that ad is one of the cleverest I’ve seen, (and I’ve seen a lot of campaign ads in my time.) And that’s why I posted it.

    Look, I’m an American Jew and a lifelong (and active) liberal Democrat. Israel is maybe 10th on my list of important campaign issues that I vote on. I’m of the generation that has moved past, “Israel, right or wrong”; I can certainly see great flaws in Likud’s government policies and I don’t agree with almost any of them. BUT, there is a somewhat anti-Semitic “tinge” to comments made by many liberal commenters here in the US. And it bothers me.

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    February 6, 2015 at 3:24 pm

    I love that this has turned into a clusterphuck

  94. 94.

    Chris

    February 6, 2015 at 5:03 pm

    @beltane:

    They’re lying, not ‘shrooming. Based on past performances by the Dems, it was not so far-fetched to think they wouldn’t abandon Obama is favor of our greatest friend ever.

    Like I said. In recent history, there’s been a bipartisan consensus here. And like I said, I don’t even really expect this to change that. But also like I said – it won’t be for Bibi’s lack of trying, because right now he’s doing everything he can to push the Democrats away with both hands, whether or not he realizes it, while still expecting their full support.

    It is really, truly, deeply stupid to take any constituency for granted and assume that you can continue pissing all over them forever without consequences. I’m not saying it’ll happen this time, I’m not even saying it’ll happen in time to make any difference to the Palestinians (whatever’s left of them), but sooner or later, there’s always a last straw.

  95. 95.

    Jack Hughes

    February 6, 2015 at 8:16 pm

    Those aren’t “hail Marys” because they aren’t rooted in actual policy. They’re just for show. Political tactics. Propaganda.

    Netanyahu was invited by Boehner just to embarass Obama, to undercut his foreign policy, to weaken him politically. Who cares if the delicate negotiations with the Iranians were blown up as a result?

    Since the Gingrich Revolution, Republicans have abandoned actual policy and real governance in favor of propaganda and pandering just to achieve political power — which they then use only to reduce regulation on corporations and cut taxes on the wealthy. That’s it, their one true agenda.

    Oh, they’ll give the goobers their guns and God — it doesn’t cost anything — but screwing the poor and middle class is the economic price that must be paid to achieve the Republican political priority.

    All Republican public utterances, every stated “policy position,” it’s all just propaganda to fool the rubes and a shockingly credulous press corps. As former Republican Senator Jon Kyl was forced to concede after being caught lying on the Senate floor, their “…Comments (are) not meant to be taken as factual statements.

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