Palin Will Work With "Jewish Agency," Not Israel (Corrected Version)
This is a hoot. The AP is reporting that Sarah Palin met with Israel's ambassador and told him that the McCain administration would "look forward to working with your Jewish Agency."
What! Palin surely doesn't know this but the Jewish Agency was the name for Israel's pre-state government. After 1948, the governing authority was the State of Israel.
CORRECTION: AP has clarified. She was indeed talking about the Jewish Agency which, as Matt Yglesias points out, is just weird.
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Truly.... words fail!
Failin' with Palin.
October 27, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oy vey! Or for you Palin supporters, DOH!
October 27, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Christ, McCain would have done better choosing Elmer Fudd
October 27, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Elmer Fudd is ah Dimaquat!
October 28, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't get this rant. The Jewish Agency for Israel still exists, and Meridor was its very active chairman until 2006. Doesn't it seem more plausible that's what Palin was referring too?
October 27, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
No ambassador is going to ask the VP nominee to work with the utterly insignificant Jewish Agency. Anyway, the topics they discussed were Iran and foreign policy issues not absorption of new immigrants and Jewish education which is what the Jewish Agency handles.
No, she was just a little mixed up.
October 27, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, based on his greeting at the Embassy of Israel website, Mr. Meridor appears to be quite proud of the work he did with the Jewish Agency - which is hardly an "utterly insignificant" agency, although its role has recently been diminished. I imagine any political leader would be briefed to mention the agency when meeting Meridor.
October 27, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
More than "just a little". If she was a can of sauteed moose livers they'd pull it from the shelves.
October 27, 2008 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Settle down everyone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallai_Meridor
This ain't a thing.
Noel
October 27, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Noel -- Clearly Sarah (not Abraham's wife) is getting her backgrounders from Wikipedia!
October 27, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did she also refer to Israel as "our partner in the end of times"?
October 27, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's another 'gotcha' question!
oh, wait...
October 27, 2008 1:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where was Lieberschmuck to correct her?
October 27, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jeebus, you people are just rancid. The NY Times has issued an additional correction which submarines this episode of the Palin vendetta...
Palin didn't screw up, the liberal media did. Too bad they aren't as thorough reporting Biden's gaffes or Obama's resurrected redistributionist radio interview.
Rosenberg, you're just a lowlevel sexist hatemonger pandering to adolescent attitudes. Grow up.
October 27, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
shooter,
if I were you I too would be pissed off and striking out at everyone around me, after all, you and your movement seem to have been found out by a majority of Americans and you are now being relegated to the dust bin of History.
But, keep a stiff upper lip anyhow, you will always have Sarah.
October 27, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm with Shooter on this. No doubt she misspoke.
She meant to say Jewish Entity
October 27, 2008 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
JohnMc,
shooter is a "SHE"?
October 27, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Too bad for you, young fella. This is the way the game is played these days -- and the rules were made by your team.
Remember the Swift Boaters? Take a ten percent truth, spin it till the sticky side is aimed in the direction of your opponent, then fling.
It's an ugly way to elect people, but you guys -- led by, you know, Atwater, Ailes, Rove -- you guys set up the game. Now you have to deal with your own monster: a Know-Nothing Pat Robertson with Tits and a $150k Wardrobe.
You lose. Big. Maybe forever. It's called "karma."
October 27, 2008 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tankard said:
"....a Know-Nothing Pat Robertson with Tits and a $150k Wardrobe."
HAHAHAHAHHAHA :-)
October 27, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Buried in Shooter's puerile name-calling is a legitimate point about the AP having corrected the quote and its context.
MJ, I would appreciate seeing how you respond to the corrected version. Josh too, since he's got a post highlighting this on the front page.
October 27, 2008 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, that was fast! ;-) Thanks.
October 27, 2008 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
She probably was thinking of the Yiddish Policeman's Union.
(A fabulous book by Michael Chabon)
October 27, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed -- fantastic book!
Somehow, I cannot imagine her reading it beyond the first page or two, at which point she'd throw up her hands in frustration at all the funny words she can't find in the dictionary.
Though I imagine that, compared to Wasilla, she probably does think of Sitka as a major metropolis.
October 27, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look everyone, MJ's post is not just wrong-headed. It is out-and-out moronic, and is precisely the sort of blundering idiocy we need to avoid over the next week. Somehow he goes from a Palin reference to Meridor's association with the Jewish Agency, whether one thinks it was an apt reference or an insignificant reference, to the claim that Palin "has never heard of Israel" or "thinks it is some kind of Jewish organization" - or that she has somehow confused Israel with a no longer existent, pre-1948 organization! This is just stupid talk, and an expression of the kind of blind, ugly, hateful aggression that might only serve to arouse the kind of sympathy for Palin at the last moment that is probably the Republicans' last desperate chance.
Some of you may have already noticed a bit of a pro-Palin backlash growing in the media, especially among women reporters, who perceive an element of piling on. Remember when Hillary cried in New Hampshire? How'd that work out for us Obama supporters? It might have extended the nomination battle for months!
Here we are trying to ride out the last eight days and avoid gaffes, and avoid providing ammunition for our opponents. But we still have to deal with ignorant dickheads like MJ, who is a veritable walking and breathing stereotype of the worst and most predictable, kneejerk reactions of phony-progressive political hacks. This post makes MJ look both sexist and ethnically bigoted. I think he should probably publicly apologize to Palin, and then put himself in mothballs for the duration of the race before he causes even more trouble.
If you don't have your facts right about Palin, then shut up before you put your foot in your mouths and cause trouble for the Obama effort in so doing.
October 27, 2008 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dan, you are a sweetheart. But, as you may have noticed, it was the AP and the Times that got it wrong, not me.
I love deranged posters who believe that anything I write (let alone anything they write in response to me) is going to affect an American Presidential election.
Guess what, Dan. Your take doesn't matter. Neither does mine.
Free expression does.
In that wonderfully trie, but apt expression: get over yourself.
October 27, 2008 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry, MJ. But your take does matter. This is still one of the more widely read progressive blogs. (It used to be one of the better ones too, before Josh sold it out and let it go to hell.) But if you really demand so little of yourself, and are unwilling to take responsibility for your speech and actions, why don't you step aside and ask Josh to find someone who will fill up the space with more responsible, intelligent and substantive posts.
You are a wromg to blame the AP for your own impetuous rant. The AP didn't claim that Palin "has never heard of Israel", or "thinks it is some sort of organization". That was all you. Of course, as you have done so often in the past, you have edited your post after posting it to remove the embarrassing parts. Why don't you try a different approach: like thinking things out more thoroughly before hitting the "submit" button?
You and Krauthammer attend the same synagogue, right? What a nutty funhouse that must be.
October 28, 2008 7:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, thanks. I love doing this. And the crazies who just can't stand my stuff, I am glad to give them the opportunity to speak out too.
Someday you may, if you are very lucky, have the pleasure of posting commentary under your own name rather than just posting invective, in response to me, under the cover of anonymity.
October 28, 2008 9:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Postscript: There is a rather dramatic contrast between me, sticking my neck out on the most controversial issue in America and the one people lose their jobs over for deviating from the "line," and you who post snark anonymously.
October 28, 2008 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, my name is "Dan Kervick" fool. I post under that name all over the blogosphere, and would do so here too except for the fact that this was the abbreviation I used when I first signed up at TPM Cafe before you ever landed here, and I assume people have come to know me under that abbreviation. I also always clearly stated my name was "Dan Kervick" in my publicly available TPM Cafe profile, although I don't know if that profile still exists given the various site upgrades that I don't keep up with.
Google my name, and you will find several years worth of neck exposing blog commentary all over the blogosphere, 99.9% of which has nothing to do with M.J. Rosenberg.
October 28, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
No shit, Dan Kervick. You write about other people too. I'm crushed.
Are you still crying?
October 28, 2008 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nope, that was a short term effect of a powerful speech. Today I'm buoyant.
Are you still wetting your pants over the impending doom?
October 28, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are buoyant? Is Hillary back?
October 28, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
???
OK, you win the insult exchange, because I can't follow this last one.
October 29, 2008 7:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps Caribou Barbie is suggesting Israel return to the '48 borders.
October 27, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently, the ambassador is chairman of The Jewish Agency for Israel, or some such group, which is reported in the AP article. Dan K is right, Rosenberg. You're an ass.
October 27, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
DanK is freaking out about bupkes and has been on a little bash MJ jihadette of late. Ironic from someone who has complained about the declining quality of this site.
As per usual on political issues involving Israel, the take from the Israeli POV is quite different and reveals the truth that stupid Missy Sarah's camp leaked her latest idiocy as a campaign ploy:
" Palin greeted Ambassador Sallai Meridor and apologized for not being able to meet with him sooner. Somewhat enigmatically, she told the ambassador: "We look forward to ... working with your Jewish agency."
snip]
"Ambassador Meridor attempted to keep the meeting with Palin under wraps in order to refrain from appearing to intervene in the US election process, but the Republican vice candidate's campaign appeared interested in publicizing the encounter after a poll asserted Obama had won over the vast majority of American Jewish voters.
The Gallup poll found that 74% of Jewish voters support Obama, while just 22% support McCain. The poll also found that for many, the Republican nominee's choice of running mate was what pushed them towards his opponent.
After Palin's campaign advertised the meeting, Meridor's office issued a statement saying the two had discussed the mutual relationship between the US and Israel and the challenges faced by both countries,..."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3613909,00.html
So. I now expect the MJ bashers to turn their fire on the Ynet correspondent who was also perplexed by the latest clueless crap from little Missy Sarah.
I won't hold my breath.
October 27, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not going to fight anymore. I just read Obama's speech today and it made me cry. So I'm not in the mood.
October 27, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dan. Credit due to you for at least aiming your fire at MJ on his own threads unlike other TPMCafe regulars like Bruce/bslev who imagines his boycott of MJ justifies his sniping at the guy from threads that have absolutely nothing to do with MJ or the topic at hand.
(Like I just did right here.....;>} )
This damn endless election, including the primary, has made everyone crazy, including me. BTW I agree with you that the Cafe has declined. IMO, the political games and the "upgrade" are contributing factors. There was little of the clique "piling on" crap in evidence in the good ol' days and I preferred it that way.
You're an able protagonist, Dan, when you train your withering fire on deserving targets. This particlular one isn't of a magnitude that warrants it.
Peace out.
October 27, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palin lynched in effigy. Does that make you hateful people happy?
Rosenberg, the character assassination you put out, has now been personified. It is the crap you dispense on a regular basis that makes some people feel comfortable indulging in hate speech. Is that why you became a writer?
October 27, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
shooter,
did she have a backwards "B" carved in her cheek?
October 27, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give poor Pooter a break, John--he went looking for Saddam's WMDs in 2002 and never really came back.
October 27, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't worry....um..."shooter"... the valiant defenders of all vaginas everywhere are on his case. Not only have some "activist types" from a website that shall remain anon published his address and phone number, they've contacted a retail store that hired him in the past to do their window displays and in an extra-special neonazi twist, have also published contact info for his neighbors.
PS. I was going to feature some choice quotes from these fascists sans identifying details but thought better of it lest someone with a taste for joining this mob action utilize google to don the modern American virtual version of brown shirtage.
October 27, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are missing the big point.
This is about her wanting all the Jews in the US to go to Israel so that we can have the Rapture.
October 27, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
This little spat between MJ and Dan Kervick is devolving into an amusingly stupid trifle.
Hey guys, why not focus on another emerging piece of crap from Haaretz that indicates the Israeli government is getting involved in our election by supposedly quoting Sarkozy saying all sorts of incendiary/insulting things about Obama and Iran? The McCain camp has already issued an ad based on the Haaretz article.
MJ. You have sources within Haaretz and it would be interesting to see if you can find out why in the bloody hell they published this incendiary shit.
Tapper has this from the Obama campaign:
"UPDATE: The Obama campaign passes along this comment from a spokesman for the French government: "The remarks attributed by the newspaper Haaretz to the President of the French Republic concerning Senator Obama's positions on Iran are groundless. To the contrary, the in-depth discussions between the President of the Republic and Senator Obama on Iran during their meeting in Paris in July demonstrated a broad convergence of views on this issue. President Sarkozy and Senator Obama agree to oppose Iran's development of a military nuclear capability."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/sources-say-sar.html
A commenter on Ambinder's blog has this to say:
"are you effing kidding me? a completely unsourced report from the israeli government. Hmm. Could it be a report from someone who WANTS to hit Iran? This is pure propaganda and anyone who reads the hebrew version (which I did btw) and know what is going on politically in the country can tell you that this is about the fall of Livni, and Bibi Netanyahu trying to put a wrench on plans to move away from a hawkish position on Iran and wanting his ally McCain to win."
Sarkozy's activist MO in the ME is all about reconciliation and talks between disputing parties so the statements attributed to him are absolutely contrary to his agenda.
PS. MJ, please inform the assholes at Haaretz that their habit of publishing lies of late is damaging their "reliable" brand among those who know what the hell is going on in the ME. The declline in the quality of the Haaretz "product" is noted by moi and others who have followed it for years.
I have found Ynet to be the superior source of news.
October 28, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh shit. I made Dan Kelvik a star!
October 28, 2008 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lally, it doesn't matter what the Israeli press writes on our elections. Most American Jews never heard of Ha'aretz or Ynet.
October 28, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
PS. Your point is well-taken on Dan Kelvirk. He's dead to me, joining the late great Bradthe Dad, Zionista, Daniel Greenbaum, the various weird Russians, and the rest of that coterie of obsessives whose blog existence depends on mine.
Anyway, after Tuesday I will be posting alot less. Assuming my guy wins, I can take some months off and see what happens. As for posting on the Middle East, I'll do that now and then. The Likudniks and neocons need my constant monitoring. But the election of Barack Obama has been the main thing I've cared about since even before he declared his candidacy and, if he wins, I'll be so damn happy that I won't have much need to shoot my mouth off.
October 28, 2008 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ.
I do not give a crap about your tiff with Dan Kervick; who has indeed made some valid points about your MO, BTW. Putting DanK in the same category as Greenbaum and davai is bullshit. Ditto to including Brad and Zionista in the same camp with those two notorious wackjobs
Excuse me, but it does indeed "matter" what Haaretz posted re their lies about Sarkozy as this is becoming a campaign issue that is being used against Obama BY OUR MSM.
Your choosing to ignore this issue raises some questions. Are you afraid to address blatant attempts by someone within the Israeli govt to not only damage Obama but to fuck with Sarkozy's successful ME efforts? Are you afraid to take the "reliable" Haaretz to task for their part in spreading this caca?
Why the timidity?
Nevermind.
Perhaps Daniel Levy will weigh in with some real ,honest analysis as you have proved incapable of criticising the Israeli powers-that-be.
October 28, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
You, Lally, are a fanatic. I am pro-Israel. I just hate the occupation.
So, you can wait til hell freezes over for me to join you in disliking Israel. Won't happen. In fact, I hate the occupation for two reasons (1) for one it has done to the Palestinians and (2) for damaging Israel.
Sorry, kid. Read up.
October 28, 2008 7:38 PM | Reply | Permalink