Cantor, Hoyer Forget to Take “AIPAC” Off Their Letter’s File Name
One reason I always try to talk up the virtues of Nancy Pelosi is that I know what the likely alternatives look like in terms of House leadership:
Speaking of Iran and that region, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) sent out a “Dear Colleague” e-mail Tuesday asking for signatures “to the attached letter to President Obama regarding the Middle East peace process.”
The letter says the usual stuff, emphasizing that Washington “must be both a trusted mediator and a devoted friend to Israel” and noting: “Israel will be taking the greatest risks in any peace agreement.”
Curiously, when we opened the attachment, we noticed it was named “AIPAC Letter Hoyer Cantor May 2009.pdf.”
Seems as though someone forgot to change the name or something.
Of course at the end of the day it’s not as if Hoyer or Cantor actually have much to fear from being so unsubtle about who makes their Israel policy. It is worth noting, however, that while public talk at the AIPAC conference was about devotion to peace, the substance of this letter is to try to make people think there will be a domestic price to be paid for any serious effort to push for a solution. This is similar to how Israel’s land grabs in-and-around Jerusalem are at odds with the Israeli government’s public presentation of itself as interested in peace and disturbed by the lack of a credible partner.
Here’s Cantor and Hoyer teaming up in The Washington Times during the Gaza War, and here’s MJ Rosenberg on the substance of the latest Cantor/Hoyer letter.
53 Responses to “Cantor, Hoyer Forget to Take “AIPAC” Off Their Letter’s File Name”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
May 15th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Oh, that’s rich.
We are being governed by people who haven’t learned how to “work computers.” This is like when the White House released a redacted document, which could be restored to the un-redacted version by turning off the highlighting.
May 15th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Seriously, anyone who bitches about Pelosi needs to think about who would be in her shoes if not her: Steny Hoyer or John Murtha. Gag me now.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Three cheers for representative Hoyer for telling it like it is to President Osama. I would surely like to trade my congresscritter, the wife beating antisemitic Israel basher James Moran, with Representative Hoyer.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:06 am
yep. i’m glad aipac does not have undue influence on u.s. foreign policy.
that way, the u.s. will remain a trusted mediator and an honest broker.
yep. this is working out great.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Only an anti-semite would look at the fact that the 3rd and 4th ranking members of the House of Representatives dutifully passed on AIPAC’s letter to the President of the United States as their own and conclude that Israel has a powerful lobby in Washington.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I would also not Steny Hoyer’s “artful” failure to back up Nancy Pelosi in her claim that the CIA misled her, as if he has any standing to comment, and Jane Harman’s strange silence as well, since she does have standing to comment. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
May 15th, 2009 at 11:13 am
This makes you an angry anti-semite for even mentioning this story.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Adam, good. That way the party couldn’t hide what it is any more.
At this point, I say give the entire government over to the Republicans. At least that way I can hate them without hearing sniveling Democratic cowards try to convince me that this is how things have to be because they lack the balls to take on bankers, corporations, or the military.
It’s clear Obama intends to keep torturing people and holding them without trial anyway.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Looks like something from a Fawlty Towers skit. “Don’t mention the War! Noooo!!”
May 15th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Obama gets all the advice on Israel he needs from his campaign finance chairman, Penny Pritzger.
The Hyatt hotel in Jerusalem, that the Pritzgers built on confiscated Palestinian land, is a clue as to that advice.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:29 am
AIPAC’s strategy right now is to get rid of Jim Jones. We musn’t let them get away with it.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Chris,
Please explain that a bit more if you don’t mind.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Don’t be naive: They intentionally kept that file name! This was an AIPAC-mandated test of visible servility.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I guess you haven’t been following the news lately, ron.
Penny Pritzker isn’t really on the bus anymore.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:50 am
AIPAC, the Neocons, and their politically rewarded congressional mouthpieces want to strangle Iran just as Iraq was suffocated for a decade before the US Invasion. This was the plan for Iraq: Disband the Iraqi army, de-Baathify down to the lower ranks and foment civil war between the Sunni and Shia, with the ethnic cleansing and defacto Partitioning of Iraq into smaller, weaker states as the ultimate goal.
Watch the following videos on the carving up of Iraq:
youtube.com/watch?v=u4MdyJDnSoI
youtube.com/watch?v=yp_iTR9dI6o
Journalist Philip Weiss on the Neoconservative agenda:
“In terms of their politics, they were almost all Democrats and then as soon as the Democratic party suggested that it wasn’t going to have a strong military, Norman Podhoretz and Irving Kristol, the grandfathers of this movement, they went Republican. Why? Because they said, back in the 70’s, a strong American military is needed to protect Israel.”
Download an mp3 of Phil saying the above here (9:45 minutes in)
Antiwar.com/Radio – 07/12/2008
philipweiss.org – blogging all things Neocon, Israel Lobby, Zionism
Watch the BBC documentary “The War Party”, part 1 of 5
May 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Re ExposetheIsraeliLobby
Gee, Philip Weiss, antiwar.com, the BBC. Mr. Exposed is leaving out counterpunch and stormfront.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Eric Cantor (R- Israel)
May 15th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Jack–
Essentially to AIPAC, Jim Jones is seen as too even handed on the mid east conflict. In particular, they see Jones as siding with the Palestinians. They believe that Hillary is for Israel first. Jones, they believe is an obstacle to this path. I don’t know whether this is true or not but apparently, AIPAC is trying to get rid of Jones quietly, as they can’t risk another Chas Freeman incident as this was bad for PR.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
[...] Canton and Hoyer Forget to Take “AIPAC” Off Their Letter’s File Name Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Why and How Competitive Intelligence Will Become [...]
May 15th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Chris, Wouldn’t surprise me. Thanks.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Re Chris
Would Mr. Chris like to provide a reference to this claim about General Jones. Or is this just his opinion?
May 15th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I understood it to be his opinion.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Re Chris
Ah yes, a little spin on Google News shows that the information comes from Philip Weiss, a totally unreliable source of information.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Hah, vs. your Debka bullshit, birth certificate, pablum, SLC.
I know his politics vis a vis the Levant would make you scream but Weiss is a damn fine source.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Re Ed Marshall
Hah, vs. your Debka bullshit, birth certificate, pablum, SLC.
I know his politics vis a vis the Levant would make you scream but Weiss is a damn fine source.
1. I don’t recall ever using Debka as a source. As for President Osamas’ birth certificate, I was just pulling folks legs around here. Actually, I think that the fucktards at Worldnutdaily and onenewsnow along with Philip Berg, Alan Keyes, John Kwok, and Orly Taitz who are pushing this stuff are whackadoodles who have too much time on their hands, although they do provide some amusement.
2. Philip Weiss is about as fine a source on Israel related topics as William Dembski is on evolution and Anthony Watts is on global warming.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
These threads go off on tangents so quickly.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
What’s he got wrong that was fact, and not just improper opinion and attitude according to your lights?
May 15th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Zionism is a disgrace.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Re abb1
Mr. abb1 is a motherfucking piece of filth.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
SLC is the poster boy for contemporary Zionism. It’s surprising he can even work a key board.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
[...] Here’s the letter (posted over at itsourcongress.com); here’s what MJ Rosenberg and Yglesias have to say about it. Rosenberg: “not one word in the letter that calls on Israel to do [...]
May 15th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
[...] Yglesias observes, “It is worth noting, however, that while public talk at the AIPAC conference was about devotion [...]
May 15th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Perhaps this idiot Yglesias (no relation to the talented guitarist and vocalist, thank god) should comment on the
Hispanic-American lobby attempts through the racist rabble
La Raza to force pro-Mexican PC bullshit on the American
people (like “returning” New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico)
and forcing American taxpayers to subsidize illegals. Thank
god Israel has a wall to keep out terrorist scum; now, if only the United States could keep out terrorist-supporting scum like Yglesias, we would all be better off. And as for
land-grab and peace, the Palestinians have balked at every
offer for an independent state given them; Clinton and Barak
offered 95 % of the West Bank (and all of Gaza, which could
have been in Fatah hands in 2000 and not Hamas now…) and
as usual the Arabs balked. Finally, Palestinians are Canaanites; Canaan is in present day Jordan and southern
Syria. Jews are descended from Judea, Samaria and Israel,
the tribal areas that fully encompass modern-day Israel.
Yglesias, you are an idiot…
May 15th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Perhaps this idiot Yglesias (no relation to the talented guitarist and vocalist, thank god) should comment on the
Hispanic-American lobby attempts through the racist rabble
La Raza to force pro-Mexican PC bullshit on the American
people (like “returning” New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico)
and forcing American taxpayers to subsidize illegals. Thank
god Israel has a wall to keep out terrorist scum; now, if only the United States could keep out terrorist-supporting scum like Yglesias, we would all be better off. And as for
land-grab and peace, the Palestinians have balked at every
offer for an independent state given them; Clinton and Barak
offered 95 % of the West Bank (and all of Gaza, which could
have been in Fatah hands in 2000 and not Hamas now…) and
as usual the Arabs balked. Finally, Palestinians are Canaanites; Canaan is in present day Jordan and southern
Syria. Jews are descended from Judea, Samaria and Israel,
the tribal areas that fully encompass modern-day Israel.
Yglesias, you are an idiot…might I also mention that
BEFORE AIPAC (formed in the 1980s) surveys done in the 1960s and 1970s showed support for Israel was 85 % of the US electorate, while it is about 78 % percent now. Anti-Semites cannot stand the obvious reality that most Americans simply support Israel (and fewer Americans like Saudi Arabia, Libya,
Pakistan, Palestinians and Iran..and other Muslim nations).
May 15th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Re Maz
In fairness, Mr. Yglesias is of Cuban descent, not Mexican.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I’m no expert but I have a hard time believing Maz’s contention that “Clinton and Barak [sic] offered 95% of the West Bank (and all of Gaza, which could have been in Fatah hands in 2000 and not Hamas now…) and as usual the Arabs balked.” These people are not stupid. Why would they turn down such a deal unless the “deal” wasn’t quite what Maz says it was–which is pretty much what I’ve been hearing for years. “The Palestinians blew it” is the mantra, and then you hear the details and it turns out the be the same old bullshit. (Oops, does that make me an anti-Semite?)
May 15th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
“Jews are descended from Judea, Samaria and Israel,
the tribal areas that fully encompass modern-day Israel.” Yes, except for all the Ashkenazis, who came from Eastern Europe, Russia, etc. What percentage of the Israeli population do these people comprise? Let’s don’t go there, pal. Anti-Semitism works both ways, given that the Arabs are Semitic people as well and they are damn well hated by many, many European Israelis. There is going to have to be an equitable political solution, period, and all the parties are going to have to get on board, including the U.S.
May 15th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Re bill
The Palestinian leadership rejected the Çlinton/Ross proposal which, indeed consisted of 100% of the Gaza Strip and 95% of the West Bank (if proposed land swaps were included), because it would have required them to give up their demand that Palestinians living in refugee camps be resettled in Israel. This demand on the part of the Palestinians is equivalent to a demand that the Government of Israel go out of business. Since the Government of Israel will never, under any circumstances, accept such a demand, there will be no settlement until the Palestinians drop it. Period, end of discussion.
May 15th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Jews descend from Judea, and this is why they are called Jews.
But Israel? Weren’t 10 lost tribes, well, lost?
And as far as Samaritans are concerns, wasn’t there some very, very small number left
May 15th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Hm-m-m, “right of return.” If I’d been forcibly ejected from land my family held for generations–to say nothing of my people generally–I might want to have some of that, and I might be pissed if my leaders gave that up without a fight. Especially if I was living in a refugee camp.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
maz – it’s yidiots like you that cause all the mideast problems. Native Americans were here first and we commited genocide against them. Should we now hand this land back to them.? europeans migrated out of Africa many milllions of years ago. Should we hand all of Africa to the Europeans?Modern Isreal is NOT Ancient, biblical Israel. The latter was ordained by G-d as a covenant that if Moses’ people could live by G-d’s word (the Torah), then G-d would keep Isreal intact. Modern Isreal is the final extension of imperialism and colonialism where the Ashkenazi, after suffering anti-semitism at the hands of their gentile brethren, ran to a land inhabited by people they thought as beneath them. Contempt is the way all Zionists have dealt with the Palestinians in specific and Arabs in general. Instead of mixing with the local population, they decided to exterminate them and then proceeded to tell their children that the Arabs voluntarily gave the land up (you know who you people are – I know the conversations you all have during your bridge games in Del Ray). 60+ years ago a crime was committed and it still hasn’t been rectified. Until Tel Aviv accepts a two state solution, Isreal will never achieve peace.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
From their behavior, i allways thought that the Palestinian were decendents of the acient Philistines. The idea of being forcable ejected from their land, the Palestanian left at the urging of their own leaders, and the same promised death to any arab who sold any land whatsoever to a Jew. The only solution that Fatha, or Hamas will ever accept as finial, is the total end of the state of Isreal, and the death of every Jew. How else can their twelth iman reapear and defeat Christ in the last battle.
May 16th, 2009 at 1:44 am
aipac runs pretty much all foreign actions, unfortunite but true. Israel gave a sour deal in the so called “great deal for the palestinians”. Thier greed over the last 61 years is unhindered and ongoing. The pales. are murdered every day, which no one hears about, Thier homes demo daily-still ongoing. Basic needs are kept FROM them. NO voting rights. Thier children watch as israeli children play in thier just watered lawns, as they play in ruble and wish they could drink the water that they use to water grass with. Water is scare to palestinians but plentyful for the isralis! SOME LIFE!
May 16th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Never in history has such a tiny and economically insignificant county like Israel wielded such influence over the policy-making of a major world powers. But when you can ‘buy’ your country from the U.N. members, that’s not surprising.
May 16th, 2009 at 5:51 am
any idea how to deal with a nasty group like AIPAC who assisted in the drumbeat to war in iraq and would like to strike up the band for a war with iran?
i consider the israel first crowd a grave threat to american security, do you?
May 16th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Re bill
As soon as Mr. bill is willing to advocate the return of the land in the Western Hemisphere that was stolen from the native inhabitants to them, then I will take seriously his demand that the Palestinians be resettled in Israel.
May 16th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Did I mention that Zionism is a disgrace? Right, but it appears that Zionism is also a brain disease. Dementia of a sort.
May 16th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I understand why Israel seeks to manipulate the United States. That’s what all states do and I don’t hold it against them.
What bothers me is why Americans aren’t more concerned by the degree of Israeli influence over our political process.
May 16th, 2009 at 11:27 am
By now anyone who follows politics and foreign policy knows who the AIPAC Israeli reps are in congress so no surprise here.
Something is happening in the US public though that the Israeli supporters are totally clueless about. I don’t know wha the stats are on where the majority of Americans get their news but one thing I know is probably 99% of them read their local hometown newspapers.
A lot of the American public who was mostly indifferent to Israel one way or another and don’t follow international news sources
regularly woke up during Israel’s Gaza rampage.
Tell you about an event that illustrates this….
I was at a local deli for lunch one day when a lady came in holding the local newspaper which had front paged pictures of dead Gaza chldren and blistered Israel and congress in their editoral. My hometown is your typical Southern conserative community sandwiched between two Marine bases and our local paper reflects mostly the military, conserative and religious values of the area.
Anyway the lady was very irate and was holding the paper up over her head and shouting about “how dare they (meaning the paper) show this, why don’t they talk about what the Palestines do to Israel”…and so on. Later someone said they thought she was the wife of a local Rabbi.
But it was the reaction of the people in the deli that was telling. As she was ranting there was dead silence, everyone was just looking at her. Finally an older gentleman stood up from his table
and said…”lady, you and Israel and congress can all go to hell”.
Everyone in the deli started clapping and applauding him.
I-P and Israel and the US congress has hit Main street USA…this is not going to be good for Israel….the Israelis better wake up because the public is getting ready to rumble on this. One more Israel outrage that is so bad it makes the front pages of small town newspapers across the nation
and Americans are going to from disgust and shock to outright opposition of ‘any’ US support of Israel.
May 16th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
If Israel hits Iran, MANY Americans will die in Iraq and Aghanistan. This will Severely damage Israel with the US public.
May 16th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Re abb1
Mr. abb1 lacks a brain to be diseased.
May 17th, 2009 at 5:59 am
I always enjoy what you have to say, keep up the good work. Do you have a webcam?
May 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
The Hoyer / Cantor letter about Israel being circulated on the Hill is reprehensible. The file’s original name–“AIPAC Letter Hoyer Cantor May 2009.pdf” as Al Kamen pointed out on May 15–is the least of its offenses. M.J. Rosenberg is disgusted by this letter, going so far as to call it, ‘bipartisanship at its most loathsome”.
Thankfully, there is an alternative… but only if we encourage our representatives to sign the letter being circulated by Members Boustany, Cohen and Carnahan. This letter supports President Obama’s charted course for American policy in the Middle East, specifically his intention to provide strong American leadership to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian and broader Arab-Israeli conflicts.
The best way to counteract the Hoyer/Canton letter is to contat your representatives on the Hill and urge them to sign the letter being circulated by U.S. House of Representatives Members Boustany, Cohen, and Carnahan. As of Tuesday, 18 May, 35 signatures have been collected for the Boustany/Cohen/Carnahan letter. That’s just not enough.
To read the invitation by members Boustany, Cohen and Carnahan to join sign on, click here. To read the letter to President Obama, click here.