{"id":89314,"date":"2016-03-06T18:51:01","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T02:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=89314"},"modified":"2016-03-06T18:52:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T02:52:43","slug":"how-bill-kristol-purged-the-arabists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=89314","title":{"rendered":"How Bill Kristol Purged the Arabists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Buchanan writes May 29, 2012<\/a>:<\/p>\n

After taping John Stossel’s show on May 15 in New York, the Mrs. and I took the 10 a.m. Acela back to Washington. Once we had boarded the train, who should come waddling up the aisle but Bill Kristol. <\/p>\n

\nThe Weekly Standard<\/i> editor seemed cheerful, and we chatted about the surge in Mitt Romney’s popularity and prospects. <\/p>\n

\nI did not ask what he had been doing in New York, but thanks to the website Mondoweiss<\/a>, I found out. Kristol was there for a May 15 “debate” with Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street<\/a>, the pro-Israel organization, at B’nai Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side. <\/p>\n

After listening to Kristol, writes Phil Weiss<\/a>, “I am still reeling.” <\/p>\n

\u201cKristol was treated like royalty and came off as \u2026 a Republican Party warlord,\u201d bragging \u201cabout how all the hostile elements to Israel inside the Republican Party were purged over the last 30 years \u2014 [and] no one [now] dared to question the power of the Israeli lobby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big story in the Republican Party over the last 30 years, and I\u2019m very happy about this,\u201d said Kristol, is the \u201ceclipsing\u201d of the George H.W. Bush-James Baker-Brent Scowcroft realists, \u201can Arabist old-fashioned Republican Party \u2026 very concerned about relations with Arab states that were not friendly with Israel\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Bush crowd is yesterday, said Kristol. And not only had the \u201cArabists\u201d like President Bush been shoved aside by the neocons, the \u201cPat Buchanan\/Ron Paul type\u201d of Republican has been purged.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt B\u2019nai Jeshurun,\u201d writes Weiss, \u201cKristol admitted to playing a role in expelling members of the Republican Party he does not agree with.\u201d These are Republicans you had to \u201crepudiate,\u201d said Kristol, people \u201cof whom I disapprove so much that I won\u2019t appear with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve encouraged that they be expelled or not welcomed into the Republican Party. I\u2019d be happy if Ron Paul left. I was very happy when Pat Buchanan was allowed \u2014 really encouraged \u2026 by George Bush \u2026 to go off and run as a third-party candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristol\u2019s point: Refuse to toe the neocon line on Israel, and you have no future in the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

Ben-Ami seemed equally exultant: \u201cWe\u2019ve won the war; we won the war,\u201d he told the audience. Ninety-nine percent of Congress now votes almost 100% pro-Israel.<\/p>\n

But Ben-Ami appeared nervous about how this unanimity in the Congress behind Israel had been achieved:<\/p>\n

I very seriously and absolutely do believe that a significant percentage of American members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are intimidated on this issue (of Israel). \u2026 They worry about the ramifications of speaking out. \u2026 They are worried about the attacks that they will receive.<\/p>\n

Ben-Ami said the 50 members who have criticized Israel are courageous, but \u201canother 200 are scared to do it.\u201d Haaretz.com reports Ben Ami as saying congressmen \u201clive in fear\u201d of the Israeli lobby.<\/p>\n

Kristol laughed at this and dared Ben-Ami to name them.<\/p>\n

When Ben-Ami brought up the destruction of Palestinian rights on the West Bank and said Hillary Clinton repeatedly raises this issue with Israel, writes Weiss, \u201cKristol sniggered.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a \u201cmyth,\u201d said Kristol, that Arabs care about Palestinians. The Israeli occupation on the West Bank can last for 45 or 60 years more. Bill Kristol on Palestinian rights sounds like Bull Connor talking about Negro rights in Birmingham in 1965.<\/p>\n

Another source says Kristol predicted that Sen. Joe Lieberman, whose voting record is closer to Socialist Bernie Sanders\u2019 than to conservative Jim DeMint\u2019s, will be secretary of state in the Romney administration.<\/p>\n

A former head of the Israel lobby AIPAC describes Lieberman as \u201cthe No. 1 pro-Israel advocate and leader in the Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe led the cheers for our last three Middle East wars \u2014 and has pushed for two more, against Syria and Iran.<\/p>\n

About Kristol\u2019s comments, a point of personal privilege.<\/p>\n

George W. Bush never \u201cencouraged\u201d me to go third party. At the Iowa straw poll in 1999, he asked me to stay in the party, and party chair Jim Nicholson came to my home to make the same request.<\/p>\n

At the synagogue, Kristol was never asked about his role in the Iraq War that he and his collaborators pressured Bush to wage as \u201cIsrael\u2019s fight against terrorism is our fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some 4,500 Americans died in that war, 35,000 were wounded, and 100,000 Iraqis perished, leaving half a million widows and orphans.<\/p>\n

Result: U.S. influence in the Middle East is at a nadir. Al-Qaeda has spread into Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and North Africa.<\/p>\n

Now the neocons are worming their way into the Romney camp, dropping us hints on whether John Bolton or Joe Lieberman will be the next secretary of state.<\/p>\n

Has Gov. Romney imbibed the Kristol Kool-Aid that caused the war and cost the party Congress in 2006 and the presidency in 2008?<\/p>\n

Hard to believe, but we should find out before November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patrick Buchanan writes May 29, 2012: After taping John Stossel’s show on May 15 in New York, the Mrs. and I took the 10 a.m. Acela back to Washington. Once we had boarded the train, who should come waddling up … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,29712],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel","category-pat-buchanan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89317,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89314\/revisions\/89317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}