Daniel Koffler douses the Ron Paul fund-raising brouhahardy-har-har cooked up by Jamie Kirchick and Daniel Sieradski. (Shockingly, Sieradski is employed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which I used to think was a serious news outlet.)
I have nothing to add to Koffler’s excellent commentary, except that Antiwar.com is in the middle of its quarterly fund-raiser, and if any disreputable types such as Kirchick and Sieradski would like to send us money, we’d be happy to take it – and keep right on promoting the peace and non-interventionism they so despise.
UPDATE 11/14: Wow, they really need to get their sh*t together over at the JTA. Whatever happened, I agree with Andrew Sullivan that Sieradski’s “assertion that Ron Paul ‘doesn’t take phone calls from Jews’ was designed to be, and remains, a slur.”
does anyone remember massive protests for the last mel gibson movie? me neither. if these guys think calling ron Paul an anarchist or a nazi will make him LESS popular they don’t know america very well.
Say what? This comment is utterly nonsensical. The only surefire putdown in America’s ill-informed political discourse is “Nazi,” which is why the neocons throw it around so much. As for anarchists — real anarchists are at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Nazis, btw — I suspect most Americans think of the LA riots when they hear the term. As for Gibson’s last movie, wasn’t it something about Mayans? You’re right, I don’t remember any protests. And?
I agree with Lester. The Nazi slur has been thrown around so much it has lost its effectiveness. It lost its effectiveness a long time ago. Most Americans don’t care. The media care and make it look like America cares…but Americans don’t care. Look at the Halle Barry joke. She got all scared and apologized profusely but nobody cared. Outside the media. Obviously he is talking about the Passion of Christ. I really wish after his drunken spout off he told the press…hell I was drunk. So what if I said some stupid things. I think Americana have grown tired of this PC crap. I don’t think the majority of Americans believe in it.
I know he was talking about Passion. I was making a point about keeping blog comments on topic and factually accurate, but I guess that’s like trying to turn back the tide.
If lester’s point is what you say it is, it should have been made more clearly. It sounded as if he was saying most Americans would sympathize with someone called a Nazi, which isn’t true. The Nazi slur is so common because most Americans know history solely through Tom Brokaw and Steven Spielberg. They don’t know of any other villains.
Gibson’s comments were stupid and ugly, and he should have been chastised for them. Drunkenness only goes so far as an excuse for bad behavior.
matt- my point is look, you could have said the same thing about reagan or any other socially conservative republican. I don’t think the public at large cares abuot a bunch of new york intellectuals calling some populist names
The neocon and leftist assault on Ron Paul was utterly predictable, as his campaign’s record-breaking fundraising served notice that the “fringe” candidate was suddenly very viable. Because Paul is not a bought politician marching to the imperial agenda, he will become ever more the target of smear campaigns, and if those don’t work, he will suddenly find himself under scrutiny from the IRS and other federal agencies, and that doesn’t work, he can expect physical violence to be directed against his followers and him.
It is my most fervent hope that Ron Paul will overcome all the trials and tribulations that lie ahead to gain the presidency and finally rally the nation to return from horrible abyss into which it has fallen.
Anybody remember what happened to Ross Perot in 1992? First they stirred up the fear that he might be an authoritarian. When his popularity continued after the conventions, his family was threatened. He was sufficiently shaken that he withdrew from the campaign. After a week or two, perhaps spent lining up private security, he re-entered but they successfully painted him as a flake, unreliable or what have you.
the paul campaign and his supporters should absolutely boycott the newsmedia and go to the people. the best thing he did was the jay leno show. the snarky wonkettes and hardball people are just annoying. Why do we need to have news 24 hours a day? If we didn’t have such massive spending they wouldn’t have any stories or gossip to dish. we are essentially bankrolling their industry with our tax dollars.
Henry:
I agree with you one hundred percent. I too fear that Ron will become the target of an escalating campaign to knock him out of the presidential race, starting with quasi-legal intimidation (e.g., IRS audits, malicious lawsuits), and when those fail, through violence. Let us hope that Ron is taking extra care to ensure his own safety. The track record of the State in exercising raw violence against freedom-loving citizens in order to ensure its own maintenance of power is too clear to ignore or dismiss.
I think an IRS audit would be playing right into Dr. Paul’s hands and benefit his campaign immensely. He speaks of wanting to end the IRS, and they immediately start to openly harrass him? It could draw in a huge number of new supporters since nobody is going to take the IRS’ side on anything.
Dan Sierdaski is best known for writng a defense of Rachel Corrie against the LGF bots.
http://orthodoxanarchist.com/2005/03/28/remembering-rachel-corrie/
And he tends to be pretty consistently pro-Palestinian. He’s not really a neocon.
But the idea that Ron Paul is anti-semitic because he wouldn’t take his calls is pretty bogus.
Maybe some enterprising young Jewish freelancer can demand that Hillary Clinton release her Clinton library records and if she refuses accuse her of “not giving information to Jews”.
Blah. I’m so sick of this ethnic profiling.
Ron Paul is only a man yet his courageous recitation of the principles of individual liberty and restrictions on Government that are the foundation of this great Nation will last forever as long as we have those like anti-war.com that refuse to bow down to any King, Ceasar or Tyrant. I love Ron Paul, “The Only American Left in the Government!”
I am a conservative democrat and I certainly disagree with Ron Paul when it comes to protecting our national security (its not 1789 and isolationism won’t work) but he seems like a decent and reasonable man. I have a question for everyone on this blog:
Why can’t people disagree with each other without hating each other? I mean would it not be a nicer world if liberals could strongly disagree with President Bush but not villify him and hate him? Would it not be a nicer world if conservatives could disagree with Bill or Hillary Clinton without hating them and villifying them?
You know Bill Clinton is fond of saying that there are more things that unite us than divide us. I think thats a wonderful sentiment. Let’s do an experiment, let’s say you can’t stand George Bush. But if someone offered you let’s say, $10,000 to come up with a list of 10 good things you could say about him and you would have to speak only positively about him for 10 minutes, I bet you could do it! The point is, maybe someone can explain to me where we lost the idea of civility. Can’t we disagree with each other without demonizing each other? I have been called so many names on this list it’s almost comical. But I just wish we could be more civil to one another.
I hate all war criminals equally. I hate Bush for the genocide he has commanded in Iraq, I hate Bill Clinton for his role in setting up the conditions to invade and commit this current round of killing.
Your war on terror is a hoax Timmy, and I hate your paymasters for inciting you to sully these threads with your warmongering and promotion of ethnic, religious and national hatred. I hate you for doing it.
When we start being civil to mass murderers, we have indeed lost any notion of “civility”.
Your right, Justaguy, the war on terror is a hoax! Terrorism is just a tactic. The war is against radical Islamic ideology.
But if someone offered you let’s say, $10,000 to come up with a list of 10 good things you could say about him and you would have to speak only positively about him for 10 minutes, I bet you could do it!
Satan would have to offer me more than 10,000 bucks to save my soul.
Maybe a date with Giovanna Mezzogiorno would do it.
http://salon.com/ent/movies/review/2007/11/16/cholera/
Um. That’s to buy my soul. Freudian slip I guess…
I agree with Lester. The Nazi slur has been thrown around so much it has lost its effectiveness. It lost its effectiveness a long time ago. Most Americans don’t care.