(1) Another Ad, Another Lie (Oct 7, 2008):

Today, the Republican Jewish Coalitions (RJC) unleashed their latest in a series of deceptive attack ads aimed at Senator Barack Obama. The RJC appears to be genetically incapable of telling the truth. In this week’s ad they propagate the false claim that Obama wanted to personally meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In this ad RJC also continues to spread the impression that Obama is against labeling Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Obama is on record as a co-sponsor of the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act in March of 2007 that designates the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as terrorist organization. The RJC is willing to say anything or impugn anyone’s character for partisan gain. Do these guys have any shame?

Actually Obama did say he'd personally meet with Ahmadinejad. And the RJC ad did not say that Obama opposed labeling the IRG a terrorist organization - which is why this NJDC press release uses the weasel phrase "spread the impression".

(2) The Shamelessness of the Republican Jewish Coalition (Oct 2, 2008):

The 2008 presidential campaign will be remembered as a year in which the McCain campaign and its GOP supporters reached new depths of cynicism when attacking the candidacies of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Yet in this year of sleazy campaign tactics... the RJC ads in Jewish newspapers stand out for their hypocrisy and the blatant disregard for truth. The latest in their series of mud-slinging attack ads highlights five so-called "advisors" to Obama and points out their dubious associations. The first problem with this ad is that it mischaracterizes the attitudes of some of these individuals. Many of us may disagree with Robert Malley or David Bonior on certain policy matters, but to call them "anti-Israel Arab supporters" is over the top, hurtful and shameful. The second problem with this ad is that the majority of these people are not policy advisors to Obama and none of these five individuals have anything to do with advising Obama on Israel-related matters. RJC will not print who actually advises Obama on the U.S.-Israel relationship because they all have impeccable pro-Israel credentials.

First of all, let me give away the ending: they don't actually defend any of the five advisors. They just end up talking about how McCain knows people who have done bad things. Seriously - I've blocked the whole thing, and that's literally all they did. Now even if "Obama's foreign policy advisors" was the same thing as "people McCain knows", that would still be an argument that would get you flunked in an introductory undergraduate argument course.

As far as their outraged outrage goes: David Bonior represents an overwhelmingly Arab district, has opposed anti-terror legislation for over a decade because he thinks it hurts Arabs, has supported terrorist-linked Muslim Public Affairs Council members for high position, and opposes invading Arab countries. So I think that qualifies him as objectively an "Arab supporter." As for "anti-Israel" - yeah. Now Malley was born to a Syrian father, was a close friend of Arafat, supported the PLO even before they pretended to stop being terrorists. Again - probably qualifies as an "Arab supporter." As for "anti-Israel": the only person on the planet who seems to seriously believe that Israel was responsible for the Camp David II fiasco? Count it.

That’s the essence of the RJC campaign against Obama-- guilt by association. For at least forty years, the pro-Israel community has had objective standards to judge whether candidates for President are supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Those standards were to, first and most importantly, examine the candidate’s voting record on issues like foreign aid, arm sales to hostile Arab states and attitudes towards issues like Hamas’ support for terrorism. By this first standard Obama’s four year record in the U.S. Senate and as well as his record in the Illinois Senate have been outstanding. The second means by which we judge candidates is to examine the candidates’ public statements over the years. Here again, going back to Obama’s first years in politics in the mid 1990s one can only find statements that are supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Note by all of those standards Malley and Bonior obviously count as "anti-Israel Arab supporters." But their denials about those two are in a totally different paragraph - so apparently that doesn't count.

But more importantly: yes, it would be nice if we could judge Obama by his voting record in the Senate. Unfortunately he spent less than two years there before he started running for President so that's not something that can be done productively in "this reality." As such. But we can judge the way he describes the Middle East: he talks about Israel like every other anti-Israel diplomat and anti-Israel academic. So when he's speaking bluntly, he'll do things like blame Israel for the entire breadth and depth of West and Central Asian instability.His attitudes toward Hamas and Hezbollah are also not exactly the stuff that confidence is made of. Plus he wants to obliterate US hard power, which I think is a bad strategy if you want to intimidate Iran with US hard power.

Guilt by association is a seriously flawed method of determining a candidate’s policy views toward Israel. There are literally thousands of friends or supporters of each candidate. It is not difficult for opposition research to comb through these associations and come up with someone who is less than "kosher" on almost any issue-- it is like shooting ducks in a barrel. That is why the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) does not use guilt by association against Senator John McCain in our ads or other educational tools.

This argument was asinine the first time they made it. It's not about supporters it's about advisors. Obama's Muslim outreach coordinator is a huge fan of terrorist-linked CAIR. You understand I'm talking about the current coordinator that was brought in to replace the last one because the last one was a huge fan of terrorist-linked CAIR. As for his foreign policy advisors: Really? But seriously? As in they're actually trying to defend them?

However, if the RJC insists on this standard to judge Obama then they should apply the same standard to the GOP standard bearers. For example, the RJC claims Zbigniew Brzezinski is an advisor to Obama. How do they explain McCain’s comments the last time he ran for President that on foreign policy one of "the best minds I know" and someone he would consult with is Zbigniew Brzezinski?

You have to love that "the RJC claims..." touch. Just for the record: Brzezinski is an advisor and even the campaign admits that now. But in answer to the specific question: I imagine that the RJC would explain McCain's comments by saying "Brzezinski is not a foreign policy advisor for John McCain."

Moreover, how do they explain McCain’s statement to Israeli press that he would send "he smartest guy I know" to the Middle East, "Brent Scowcroft, or Jim Baker, though I know that you in Israel don’t like Baker"?

I imagine that the RJC would explain that comment by saying "McCain didn't really say that and that Amir Oren doesn't know how to interpret sarcasm." I mean: the NJDC is really going to argue that McCain is weak on Israel? Come on. Even their supporters aren't that stupid.

Or how do they defend the selection as national finance co-chairman, Fred Malek? The same Fred Malek who was tasked by then President Richard Nixon to dig up all the Jews in the Bureau of Labor Statistics so they could then be fired. Or what do they say when it is pointed out that McCain’s Chief Economic Advisor, Carly Fiorina, was the CEO of Hewlett-Packard when the company was surreptitiously working to circumvent the prohibition of selling certain technology to Iran?

I imagine that the RJC would explain that by saying "Fred Malek and Carly Fiorina are not foreign policy advisors for John McCain."

We could, of course, go on and on with our questions for the Republican Jewish mouthpieces both about McCain’s advisors as well as Governor Sarah Palin’s associations. That is how guilt by association works. It is a flawed method of analysis because you can always find people "associated" with the candidate or campaign that you disagree with. So with this type of standard any candidate can be shown to be anti-Israel. In 1954 Senator Joe McCarthy was finally brought down in the public’s eye when Counsel to the Army, Joseph Welch asked the following questions to McCarthy in a nationally televised congressional hearing: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" As the RJC plumbs the depths of the political sewer with their anti-Obama smear campaign perhaps we can ask of them the same questions.

This is like trying to potty train a liberal. It's not about personal associations it's about foreign policy advisors. But I like the juxtaposition of the obligatory Palin smear - as if there was ever any doubt about her pro-Israel bona fides - with outrage about indecency. Because piling on Palin smears: the height of decency.

(3) Republican Attacks Against Biden: Baseless and Shameful (Sept 2, 2008):

* Biden has taken numerous trips to Israel, including his very first trip as a Senator in 1973 – when he met with Prime Minister Golda Meir and then Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin – and most recently in January 2006. He has met with the past nine Israeli Prime Ministers, from Meir to Ehud Olmert and innumerable Israeli politicians and opinion leaders.

This is a non-argument

* Biden is a strong supporter of continuing U.S. military and economic assistance for Israel. Over his career he has an over 90% pro-Israel voting record.

Demonstrably false: Biden tried to zero out aid to Israel in 1982.

* Even Biden’s critics agree that he has an unsurpassed knowledge of the region.

Oh come on. The guy who doesn't know what happened in Gaza and the West Bank in 2006, doesn't know that Hezbollah was never kicked out of Lebanon, doesn't know the first thing about Syria, and proposed a solution for Iraq that was so stupid that warring Shiite and Sunni factions came together to oppose it - "unsurpassed knowledge"? Really?

* Biden has been a leading opponent of proposed sales of advanced weapons systems to Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in the 1970s and 1980s, such as F-15 fighters and AWACS radar aircraft.

First: he opposed those sales as much because he wanted to undermine the Commander in Chief as because he opposed them in principle. More importantly, it wasn't the "Arab states" part of the arms sales that bothered him: he's also opposed arms sales to NATO countries and to South East Asian alies. And even if none of that was true - it's only fair that he would do that, having also threatened to zero out aid to Israel.

* Biden proudly calls himself a Zionist. He said, "You don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist, and I’m a Zionist."

I call myself a good student. My dissertation advisor begs to differ.

* Biden knows that an Iran armed with nuclear weapons would pose a grave threat. In July, Biden said, “"ran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon would dramatically destabilize an already unstable region and probably fuel a nuclear arms race in the region. It is profoundly in our interest to prevent that from happening."

Was this before or after he suggested responding to 9/11 by sending a $200 million check to Iran? No, I'm seriously asking.

* Biden cosponsored, with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 which banned direct U.S. assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. The Act was enacted into law in December 2006 as P.L. 109-446.

Wow. That's impressive. It really is. Biden cosponsored a bill that was also cosponsored by 89 other Senators and passed the Senate by unanimous consent. Seriously? This is what they're brining?

* Biden is a strong supporter of the separation of church and state and has opposed Republican attempts to return prayer to public schools. He is also a supporter of reproductive rights.

I'm assuming that the NJDC put this in their memo because someone told them to come up with "eight reasons Biden isn't an anti-Israel hack" and they just flat ran out. You'd think that this whole list would have been too embaressing to even publish. I mean: the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act? He calls himself a Zionist? "Unsurpassed knowledge"?

Wrap your mind around this: these are the best arguments that they could invent for why the Democratic VP candidate isn't committed to a radical anti-Israel agenda.

Tools.

References:
* Palin Speech Now Online, Liberal Jewish Groups Reach New Heights Of Pro-Obama Denials, Fabrications, And Smears [MR]
* Top Obama advisor Carries Obama Foreign Policy To Logical Conclusion - Meets With Hamas And Then Resigns So It Won't Be A "Distraction" [MR]
* Obama's Foreign Policy advisors Not Exactly Fans Of The Jewish State (Plus: Brzezinski Snubs Israel After Tete-A-Tete With Assad) [MR]
* Mel Levine's Defense Of Obama: He'll Make Obsessed Anti-Israel Lunatics Love The US. Presumably By Magic. [MR]
* Lebanon - Another Country Where Obama Can Make Things Much Worse [MR]
* Obama: We Need To Start Sucking Up To Iran Right Now So We Can Get Out Of Iraq (Plus: Liberal American Jews Torn Between Old Anti-Israel Democrat And New Anti-Israel Democrat) [MR]
* Top Obama advisor Explains Iraq War: Turns Out, It's The Jews' Fault. Again. (Plus: Ha'aretz Political Correspondent’s Pro-Obama Apologism Getting Increasingly Desperate) [MR]
* Top Obama Foreign Policy advisor: No Seriously, We Are Totally Going To Screw Israel When We Get Into Power [MR]
* Dennis Ross: "I'm Endorsing Obama Because He'll Make Iran And Iran's Financial Backers Like Us" [MR]
* Did Obama Say He Would Meet with Ahmedinejad? Absolutely [Verum Serum]
* David Bonior Targeted by GOP’s Jewish Supporters [Washington Report]
* Arab-Americans charge bias on Capitol Hill [Cafe Arabia]
* Pro-Israel Lobby Cools to Edwards' Likely 2008 Bid [NY Sun]
* Simon Malley - Journalist with rare insight into Africa's anti-colonial struggles [Guardian]
* The Long Shadow [Daniel Pipes]
* Obama Really Getting The Hang Of Anti-Israel Diplomatic Code Words [MR]
* Obama Now Actively Channeling Rabid Anti-Israel Academics, Adopting Their Dumbest Anti-Israel Euphemisms [MR]
* New Palin Smear: She Supports Hamas (Plus: Obama's Anti-Israel FP Sensibility, Support From Hamas) [MR]
* Obama Shill Tells Jews To Get Over Their "Obama Paranoia" [MR]
* Obama Pledges To Basically Dismantle US Military In Minute-Long Campaign Video [Video] [MR]
* Video: Obama Outreach Coordinator Meets With CAIR Reps, Terrorist-Endorsing Preachers (Plus: FBI Testimony Links CAIR To Terrorists) [MR]
* Top Obama advisor Explains Iraq War: Turns Out, It's The Jews' Fault. Again. (Plus: Ha'aretz Political Correspondent’s Pro-Obama Apologism Getting Increasingly Desperate) [MR]
* Obama's Foreign Policy advisors Not Exactly Fans Of The Jewish State (Plus: Brzezinski Snubs Israel After Tete-A-Tete With Assad) [MR]
* Obama Draws Line In The Sand: Invading Israel OK But Calling Hillary A Mean Name Is A Firing Offense [MR]
* Top Obama advisor Carries Obama Foreign Policy To Logical Conclusion - Meets With Hamas And Then Resigns So It Won't Be A "Distraction" [MR]
* Obama Defenders: What Brzezinski Guy? (Plus: That's Not Even Their Worst Argument) [MR]
* Obama Campaign Demands Ban On Republican Jewish Group, Escalates Thuggish Intimidation [MR]
* McCain Touts Stance on Israel [Forward]
* Turns Out, The Devout Republican Evangelical Governor Of Alaska Has A Soft Spot For Israel [MR]
* Moronic Hollywood Nutjob: Palin Too Stupid To Understand The "Complicated Dialogue" In "W" [MR]
* Farrakhan: Obama Is "A Herald Of The Messiah... A Savior" (Plus: Obama's Followers Attacking Conservatives, Fantasizing About Shooting Palin) [MR]
* Obama Surrogates Now Openly And Demonstrably Lying About Biden's Anti-Israel Policies [MR]
* Of Course: Obama Supported The 2006 Hamas Election, Biden Lied [MR]
* Biden: "We Kicked Hezbollah Out Of Lebanon" [MR]
* He Misspoke: Biden's Obnoxiously Smug Assertion About Hezbollah Was Actually An Aggressively Stupid Policy About Syria (Plus: They Just Don't Know Stuff) [MR]
* Iraqi Leaders Opposed Biden's Partition Plan [WSJ]
* Senator Biden's Bad Arms Idea [NYT]
* IRAN'S MOST USEFUL IDIOT? [NY Post]

Previously:
* Democratic Recommendations For Israeli and American Jews
* New Leftist Meme: Palin "Solved Jewish Problem" That Obama Never Really Had (Plus: Anti-Palin "Buchanan Endorsement" Meme Also A Lie)
* Ohio Jewish Democrats: "Hey, How About We Make The Most Anti-Israel Candidate Evuh The Next US President?"