Whiner wants to be the Mayor of NYC. He may be surprised at how his Israeli behavior affects that.

The sordid alliance of arms salesmen, millennial christians, oil and gas schemers and honest supporters of that country is going to bring itself and all of us to a bad end.

Everything said publicly by these war promoters about this issue is dishonest.

I must strenuously disagree with the premise. It is possible that Weiner cares less about Israel than about the top progressive agenda item du jour. I have no idea about Weiner's priorities. But it is a long-standing paradox among Jewish intelegentsia (for example, of Brookline) that places them at the relatively distant progressive end on all issues, except Israel. On Israel, they turn into right-wingers--sometimes passionate, sometimes not. I personally know a number of such individuals in Brookline, in Berkeley, in Chicago. Some even openly lament that they feel like they have a split personality that forces them to act reflexively conservative on all matters Israel. Some have abandoned the absolutist rhetoric (of "Israel can do no wrong" variety), but still bristle at any suggestion of state-sponsored excesses. The older ones fully subscribe to Israel exceptionalism (quite a different brand than American exceptionalism). And they tend to support a hypothetical peace process, just not the daily masturbation of the American (mostly non-Jewish) and the European Left. They vote Democratic, are rationalist domestically and realists on foreign policy. They may vote for a Republican once in a while on Israel alone (but not to the point of voting for a Bush or a McCain). But they will turn around and protest the same candidate the next day on a litany of other issues. This is more extreme for Russian and Israeli immigrants. These tend to be more conservative politically and do vote Republican because they 1) fear for Israel (which also often turns them fairly racist) and 2) fear of "socialism" of any stripe. They are still socially liberal on most individual issues, but the delusion of Middle East politics trumps all. These are not the Jews who were side by side with MLK and others in civil rights marches. They have no stake in the social welfare apparatus. Oddly enough, they are fairly vocal on immigration issues, despite their own immigrant status (they perceive themselves as "legal immigrants"). Many have been radicalized in the last few years to the point of becoming Bush/Cheney supporters and frequent FNC watchers. They are not the Savages and Levines, but they can start foaming at the mouth when Middle East comes up in a conversation. Next to them, the past Jewish immigrant generations look moderate and lacking passion on these issues. Perhaps that's what MJR sees as uninspired performance. But I do believe that this assessment is just wrong.