Advocacy and the real issues

By Ted Belman

What follows below, indented, is an email I received.

I’m sorry Ted,

You caught my attention with some article a while back that I thought was interesting, but your incessant right leaning blog isn’t really any better than the nonsense that comes out of lots of other places.

The birther issue is a stupid place to focus. This is all just a red herring to distract from the real issues. Anyone who at this point doesn’t believe that he was born in Hawaii isn’t really worth the time to read. A number of reputable news outlets have reviewed his actual birth certificate and have deemed it valid. MOVE ON!

No news outlets, reputable or not, have seen his long form birth certificate.

In all my posts I say that the “birther” issue is a lot more than where he was born. Its whether Obama is constitutionaly eligible or has committed a fraud. I guess you haven’t been reading. Furthermore, the bottom line for me is to fight against Obama’s reelection. I believe that harping on his lack of disclosure, I am contributing to that. When a person says MOVE ON, I am reminded of MOVEON.ORG. Is there any association?

If you want to question the administration’s policies towards Israel, I can easily see merit there. The problem is that when you attack from the right… and you do all the time, you weaken your overall argument. The ones you need to influence are the people on the left who support Obama. You will not succeed in changing anyone’s mind on the left when you constantly attack and promote what in a lot of cases are fringe, highly biased authors.

I have no intention of swaying the left. I want to sway people in the center or the Independents. Inherent in any attack is the need to take a side and marshall the facts and arguments. You can’t fight from the center. You are suggesting the Left is unable to select the wheat from the chaf or that they can’t evaluate the facts and arguments because they come from the Right. The Left I am sure includes you.

Obama supporters must be deaf, blind or stupid. Instead of attacking my credibility because I present arguments from the right, why not defend your faith in Obama by making your case. Why refuse to listen to my case with an open mind.

Why is Obama’s constitutional eligibility not a “real issue”? I don’t limit myself to that issue, not by a long shot. I fight against multilateralism, multiculturalism, big government, big spending, big unions and multitudinous czars. I fight against his kissing up to Islam, Muslims and the Brotherhood. I fight against his policy of engagement and his world view. And most important, I fight against his attack on Israel.

I have flexibility on the question of “taxing the rich” but not without a massive cut in spending. I even believe that society should provide a basic level of healthcare to the needy. I believe there has to be some rationing. Society can’t afford to provide the nth degree of healthcare to all. So the question for debate is how much care do we owe the poor. As for the “rich”, they should be able to buy whatever care they can afford. Now who is to decide who is entitled to what? The people, that’s who and not some elites who want to impose their values on the people

I believe that the government is incapable of being efficient. That’s what the private sector does best. People should be able to get insurance for gold plated healthcare or minimum healthcare depending on what they can afford. The government should be responsible for the safety net in health care. It should provide what it can afford.. Since its revenues come from the people, the people, not the government, should ultimately decide what they are willing to pay for. It can either be financed by a tax on income or a tax on insurance premiums. That’s for debate.

Even your lead article below by Rabbi Zucker really makes no sense. No one really foresaw the revolutionary winds blowing in these countries and if our State Department did, do you really think they should have been sounding the alarms to you or the general public?

Why does the rabbi make no sense. He gives his arguments and makes perfect sense to me. It has nothing to do with whether people saw it coming though there is evidence that various American NGO’s have been hard at work getting Arabs organized to revolt. Zucker’s point is that Obama should not have undermined there dictators because they will be replaced by worse so far as American interests are concerned. Where do you stand on this. What about the dictators like Assad that should be brought down, yet Obama declined. Where do you stand.

I’ll make it clear that I don’t like the current lack of a clear policy towards Israel right now, nor do I like the fact that our President hasn’t been to Israel during his term, while he has been to countries like Egypt. It’s not that I don’t think he had a right to give a speech in Cairo, it’s that he hasn’t found the time to get to Israel yet. Maybe Netanyahu doesn’t want him to come…

I don’t want him to come to Israel. It is a non issue. All I care about is his actions. A trip to Israel is cosmetic. Besides he has a very clear policy towards Israel You are simply in denial. He wants to screw us, to force us to capitulate, does he not? What’s unclear about that?

Glenn Beck may stand up and say that he “Stands with Israel” but his overall pro-hate message is finally gone from the mass airwaves.

Give me an example. Besides, what’s wrong with hating the bad?

Here’s a suggestion. Stay in Israel and promote Israeli issues. Stay out of American Politics. You aren’t convincing and your bias only seems to create more polarization at a time when we should be moving towards each other.

Sorry, can’t oblige. Whether I am convincing or not is irrelevant. What’s wrong with polarization. At election time, one pole will win. The people will have a clear cut choice. Between right and wrong or good and bad, there is no center. Its one or the other.

As there isn’t yet a viable candidate on the right here that can actually win, I would suggest you put your efforts towards raising awareness of Israeli issues with those in power today who can actually make a difference.

I believe that Gov Palin is a viable candidate. She has a proven track record of leadership, character and patriotism. If she doesn’t win, it will because she has been deligitimated and demonized by the Left, by the MSM and even by the GOP establishment. For that matter Israel is also demonized by the Left and and the MSM to say nothing of the Muslims.

I am curious. Do you want Israel to be pushed to capitulate or supported so she can make the choices which are best for her?

April 20, 2011 | 10 Comments »

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10 Comments / 10 Comments

  2. Thank you for taking the time to put this article together. Your entire issue today was so very well done, informative and interesting and thought provoking.

  3. Goes to show how ignorant Mr. “No Name” is about a huge percentage of Americans who love Palin BECAUSE she is intelligent and honest, and isn’t afraid to take on the dishonest, Evil Empire. If she is so “incapable” as No Name deems her to be, why is she being ripped and torn apart by so many. She has a lot of lefties running scared, and the grass roots Americans that I know and associate with admire her back bone. She is like a breath of fresh air.
    Read the following excellent article:

    WHY THE LEFT HATES SARAH PALIN
    By Robin (Tolmach) Lakoff (born 1942); a professor at the most liberal university in the country: The University of California, Berkeley, and a liberal herself, wrote the following article:

    When I was ten years old, I participated in an act of unadulterated group evil. It happened at a sleep-away camp in the Catskill Mountains.
    Starting in third grade, I was shipped off to this summer camp for three months at a time. Although I was in no way ready to be so far from home, my parents wanted the summers free and clear — so I was whisked away, like hundreds of other Camp Tawonga kids.
    I lived in a bunk room with a gaggle of other girls, with two teenagers to oversee us. Since our counselors were more absorbed in the male staff than in us, we girls had the run of the house. One day, my bunkmates decided to punish Barbara, a popular and confident child. The masterminds held Barb down while a few others stripped off her clothes. Barbara struggled and screamed as the rest of us watched, transfixed. The details are blessedly murky, but they involve mocking Barbara and grabbing at her body.
    Although I wasn’t a major player, I also did nothing to stop the madness, which shames me to this day. I even recall feeling a strange, wicked thrill surging through my body. Now that I analyze it, it was the maniacal power of sadism — and evil.
    I’ve always wondered why Barbara was chosen to be tortured and not a nerdy girl instead. But after beholding the horrible treatment of Sarah Palin, I finally understand: Barb was a sweet and happy and innocent child. The leaders of the pack wanted to knock her down from her high horse.
    My mind flashed to this awful memory after hearing that Palin was being scapegoated for the Tucson Massacre. Palin has been a target of the left’s wrath from the moment she was nominated for vice president.
    Many conservatives have tried to explain why. Some say it’s jealousy, which is true; Palin is a lovely woman with a handsome husband. She’s also a self-made woman; Palin has risen to power on her own, without the coattails of husband or father. Some conservatives believe that the hatred is a result of brainwashing; this is true, as well.
    Liberals respond robotically, like Pavlov’s dogs, whenever Palin’s name is uttered.
    But there’s a darker reason for the abject hatred of Palin, and the clues can be found in that Catskill Mountains bunk. Because evil can manifest when people project their own badness and shame onto another.
    People on the left hate Palin for one simple reason: because she is everything they are not. She is their polar opposite because her life journey has diverged from the prescribed liberal path. Palin was raised to be self-sufficient and independent since “idle hands are the devil’s tools.” Little Sarah was up at the crack of dawn, hunting with her dad; in sharp contrast, liberal kids like me were still fast asleep.

    Palin didn’t have life handed to her on a silver platter, like so many in the ruling class. Instead, Sarah balanced school, chores, jobs, and sports. While liberal girls like me were glued to the boob tube, Sarah had no time for sloth. Palin attended church with her family on Sundays. On Sunday morning, young liberals like me were recovering from Saturday night.

    From her devout Christian upbringing, Sarah learned to be a good girl. In contrast, I learned everything I needed to know about how to be a modern girl from the monthly *Playboy Magazine*, which was conspicuously displayed on our living room table.
    Sarah dated and then married her high school sweetheart; I learned that my body was a commodity that I “owned.” And I could use my body — and allow it to be used — to temporarily still the pangs of loneliness. There’s a lyric from a Matt Maher song that always moves me to tears. It’s when he cries out to God: “Where were You when sin stole my innocence?” When I hear these words, an unspeakable pain cuts through me. I feel the ache of something stolen from me — something precious, never quite recovered. And there are countless others out there, similarly robbed, though they have no idea what has gone missing.

    And then, out of the blue, Sarah Palin, like a majestic bird in flight, swooped onto the scene of a depraved and deprived nation. With her children and grandchild, her religion and her patriotism, Sarah is the antithesis of everything the progressives stand for. Palin is not just pro-life, but she emanates life — and good, clean living.
    And what does the left do? They try to drag her through the mud to sully her. The hardcore among them want to *eliminate* her, even if this means putting her life at risk. The progressives “joke” about gang-rape, make pornographic movies about her, and leer at her legs. (Would any of this be tolerated against Michelle Obama?)
    Palin’s church was torched during the primary, a vicious crime that was hushed up by the MSM. And now, with the smears about Tucson , death threats against Palin have soared.
    The progressives, like that brutal gang of abandoned girls, want to drag Palin down into the gutter with them; they want to spoil her. Of course, their efforts will be futile; Palin is fueled by a Spirit that isn’t simply her own.
    The left knows only how to point fingers, and threaten, and menace. Why? They are lost, abandoned children as well; they have shunned the only Force who could wash them clean and bring them home again.

    Go Sarah!

  4. and he replied

    It is visceral to me because in my opinion, I don’t speak for all American Jews, she cost McCain the election. I know there are those who don’t want to admit that and it is true that the country by and large was tired of Republican rule after the 8 years we endured under Bush. Let me tell you what it is for me:

    1. She couldn’t speak intelligently about anything during her campaign.

    2. Because she couldn’t speak intelligently about anything, she reminded me of Bush who also had the same problem of not being able to put 2 words together in a sentence.

    3. She quit her elected role as governor, half way through the her first term. The most she can now say about any success is that she was the mayor of Wassila, Alaska. I think that’s enough said. She really has no real track record in Alaska because she quit before she could really build a record. It seems like she quit just to stay ahead of some of the investigations into her administration.

    4. I really dislike her brand of social conservatism. You may think that American Jews are in love with abortions. I don’t think so. I think that I am pro choice because I don’t believe the government should be involved in this most personal decision. It should be a family matter and should the family choose to do so, to include their clergy. Also, I think her fiscal conservatism is all wrong. I don’t necessarily want to pay more taxes, but I am willing to do so to have the kind of country that takes some basic level of care of its people. I’m not for a welfare state, but where I live in Chicago, there are way too many homeless people and that is simply tragic.

    5. She nominally leads the Tea Party and I still don’t know how these people look themselves in the mirror. They protest for smaller government, but if you try to take away their Social Security or Medicare, you’ll have a revolt. They want smaller government, but really they just want to pay less in taxes. The funny thing is that most industrialized countries actually pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes, but I know we are better than everyone else so the laws of economics don’t have to hold true here.

    6. I think you like polarization, but history shows us that in order for our government to really tackle some of the fundamental long term problems we face, it will take a bi-partisan coalition. She is a divisive figure and has been since she hit the airwaves.

    Anyway, I am glad to see that her negative numbers are at an all time high now. It gives me faith that my fellow American’s will wake up and see through her. She might be a personable character, but I don’t want her leading our country. Is it too much to ask for someone to lead us that has some real world experience and maybe graduated or at least went to some institution of higher learning that is well respected?

    I hope this gives you some insight, at least into my thinking.

  5. the emailer responds

    Glad I provided you with text to comment on. Let me respond to 3 points and then I’m leaving this alone.

    1. The move on reference was simply my way of saying that we have enough issues to deal with than his birth certificate. Way back when MoveOn.org got started I received their email blasts. I removed myself from their list a long time ago and NEVER donated any money to them. IMO, they are just as bad as the organizations on the right. Both spreading lies and blowing every little statement or comment or innuendo into a major federal case. No thanks.

    2. Sarah Palin isn’t fit to be dog catcher. I know you like her and that’s certainly your right. If you want to vote for her, move here and register to vote in one of our great states. To sit in Israel and promote her is doing the same thing that Israeli politicians dislike about Americans meddling in your elections. Palin is the reason most of us who voted for Obama did so, not because we love him, but because there was no way we could stomach Palin a hearbeat away from the presidency with McCain who could quite literally drop dead at any moment. She’s not electable and the polls show it. Neither is the Donald. Find us a social moderate who is electable and I think you’ll see a lot of American Jews getting on board.

    3. Moderates and Independents aren’t going to be swayed by the partisan arguments you or your readers make. Independents aren’t interested in Israel and certainly don’t like the constant attacks by one side against the other. That’s why their independents.

    4. Thank you for not using my name in your article. I am not in the habit of publicly posting my views and while I stand behind them, I still intend them to be read only by the people I might choose to share them with.

    Chag sameach.

    and I replied

    “Sarah Palin isn’t fit to be dog catcher.”

    What do you base your opinion on. It is so insulting. Why does she deserve insults. This is obviously visceral for you.

    Strong stuff. I would really like to know what leads you to such a strong reaction to her. What do you know about her track record in Alaska? What is there about her positions that bring you to such an opinion?

    I would really like to know why you and most American Jews Jews hate her so.

    Please name organizations on the right who are like Moveon.org.

  6. I even believe that society should provide a basic level of healthcare to the needy.

    There is already medicaid and medicare for the elderly. So just about all Americans are covered either by private insurance, their employers or the above programs. Obamacare was never about “reform” of health care but an excuse for a huge government takeover of the health care system.

  7. Like I say its more than the birth certificate. He has not allowed the release of his long form birth certificate and all his papers and documents at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard. Even his public school in Indonesia. It is a very long list.

  9. Yes – this rather glib person lacks the understanding of the word “principles”. The principle here is that if the details of Obama’s source are not that important, then why not have full disclosure of all aspects of his life to date; and not only by “reputable news outlets”. After all the New York Times is deemed reputable… with all its lying, hypocrisy and double-talk… And I’m being kind here.

    As Ted says, none of us here are interested in “converting the left”. Once ideology is the only measurement of how to live a fully human life, all kinds of fantasies are dreamed up to sustain that measurement. It’s pathetic. So I would suggest to this writer that he or she move on; get out of our path.

  10. Ted, I believe the “MOVEON.ORG” suspicions are fitting. The dude is a die-hard Leftie, displaying all the symptoms.