The 800-lb Gorilla in the Room

[RainDog]

that no one wants to acknowledge.

Even as I write this, I know to expect attacks. However, I think it is disingenuous to continue with all the "sexist" and "unelectable" crap coming from one part of the democratic party. So here goes.

Koch, Clinton, Ferraro - these people are part of the NY political machine. They have a large voting block that supports the state of Israel no matter what they do. This acknowledgment does not lump all Jewish voters together. Although the media in the U.S. rarely shows this fact, many, many Jewish voters in the U.S. share the political sentiments of many, many Jewish voters in Israel who want to create a peaceful solution regarding the Palestinians.

So please, do not show your ignorance by attacking this post as anti-semitic.

Clinton's big money supporters who have tried to both threaten and bribe the Democratic Party represent the sector of the vote that does not want anyone in the U.S. to put pressure on Israel to, for instance, stop the right wing settlers who are as big of a problem in Israel as the right wing fundies are in the U.S., as far as foreign policy goes.

If you are a "one issue" voter, then, yes, you would rather have a Republican who will continue the stalemate in the middle east than a Democrat who is willing to work on a peaceful solution -- even tho that Democrat has written about his respect for the issue of a Jewish state after all the fall out of the extremist nationalist period in European history that led to the Holocaust. Even tho that Democrat has a record of civil rights work and community-building.

But THIS is where the "meets with Hamas" smears come from. Such fear-mongering is an attempt to alienate a voting bloc. This is where Bush's attack before the Knesset comes from.

I respect the concerns of the one issue voters. I support Israel's right to existence -- but not at the expense of the apartheid that now exists. I do not think it has to be one or the other; however, to get beyond this black and white view of the world, someone has to be able to work with both sides on this issue.