Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Both The Republican Party And Israel Face Similar Problems

It occurred to me after reading various analyses about the Republican Party in the aftermath of the presidential election, that there seem to be some obvious similarities between the way the Republican Party and Israel are viewed.

See what you think.
  • Both Israel (vs Palestinian terrorists) and Republicans (vs Democrats) are painted as villains by their opponents and enemies.

  • Attacks on the Republicans are way over the top -- like Israel, they too are called Nazis.

  • Both Republicans and Israel face an antagonistic media that focuses on -- or creates -- negative stories about them, while glossing over negative stories about the Democrats and Palestinian Arabs.
  • Neither the Republicans nor Israel seem able to muster a consistent, coherent message about who they are and what they stand for.

  • Aside from having a coherent message, both Republicans and Israel have the key problem of getting their message out there for people to hear -- and believe.

  • Republicans have their RINOs and Israel has its ZINOs (for lack of a better acronym) -- there are people who claim to be pro-Israel and believe they are speaking/acting in the interests of Israel, but advocate for things such as a 2-state solution regardless of the fact that there no Palestinians willing to sit down and negotiate without a list of preconditions.

    Buckley dealt with this decades ago by distancing the conservative movement from the extreme right.
    Today, the issue appears to be the left-wing Republicans who are accused of not adhering to conservative philosophy.

    Meanwhile, Israel has people like Beinart, who wants to encourage American Jews to boycott Israel.

  • Both the Republicans and Israel have had their message co-opted by the other side:

    Post-1967 Israel has lost the underdog status, despite the countries aligned against them and their willingness to not only talk about destroying Israel, but also acting upon it.

    On the Republican side -- the first Black congressmen and senators were consistently Republicans for decades.

    According to Black Americans in Congress:
    1870-1879: 16 African Americans in Congress -- all Republicans
    1880-1889 5 -- all Republicans
    1890-1899 5 -- all Republicans
    1900-1909 1 -- Republican
    1910-1919 0
    1920-1929 1 -- Republican
    1930-1939 2 -- one Republican, one Democrat
    1940-1949 3 -- all Democrats

    You can guess the rest.

    Apparently, Roosevelt's terms in office had much the same effect on African Americans as it did on Jews.

    Today, African American organizational leaders attack Republicans in a way that -- considering the relevant history -- is nothing short of astounding.

    In Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg writes about the response of New York representative Major Owens to an invitation by Newt Gingrich to a social function. He was outraged:
    These are people who are practicing genocide with a smile; they're worse than Hitler. Gingrich smiles... [and] says they're going to be our friend. We're going to have cocktail-party genocide.
    NAACP chairman Julian Bond for good measure tosses in:
    Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side.
    Like I mentioned before, somehow, both Israel and Republicans are found worthy of being called Nazis.
I assume that the Republican will bounce back, as it has in the past.
Likewise, I believe Israel will meet the challenges that are thrown against it.

But that does not preclude there being difficult years ahead for both the US and Israel

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