September 3, 2008
Obama and Pat Buchanan on Israel
Congressman Robert Wexler, Barack Obama's surrogate spokesman to the Jews, has labored mightily over the past year to promote the candidacy of Barack Obama. He even distorts the truth when it suits him -- as he did when he slurred Sarah Palin as being a Pat Buchanan supporter. This is a lie (recall Wexler has an elastic definition of what constitutes his "home" residence, too ). Palin never supported Buchanan, a man who has a reputation of being anti-Israel and whose current book makes light of World War Two.
Now we have a statement from Buchanan himself that is quite revealing about how this long-time political operative views Barack Obama and Obama's foreign policy views John McCormack of the Weekly Standard Blog writes:
In light of the smearing of Governor Palin by Obama surrogate Robert Wexler and Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski, both of whom alleged Palin was a supporter of Patrick Buchanan and therefore a "Nazi sympathizer," this statement from Buchanan today seems noteworthy:Let me say about Israel here. My position on Israel is frankly awful. It is like Mika [Brzezinski]'s father's, it's a lot closer to Barack Obama's than it is John McCain. I think Barack is right, we ought to talk to the Iranians, he's right to oppose the war and, frankly, he's right to say the Palestinian people have got a terrible deal over there and their suffering ought to be recognized. That's Obama's position. It's my position. I don't think it is a Nazi position.Governor Palin never supported Pat Buchanan, having supported Steve Forbes in both 1996 and 2000. Still, it must give great comfort to Wexler and Bubriski that Pat Buchanan does support Obama's position on Israel.
Mika Brzezinski's father is, of course, long-time Bema supporter Zbigniew Brzezinski-a fierce critic of Israel and a man who supports the views of Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer regarding the "putative" Israel Lobby and who malign American supporters of the American-Israel alliance.
Buchanan joins a few other Republicans in praising Barack Obama. These Republicans share something in common with each other and with Buchanan: a seeming animus towards the America-Israel friendship.