Democrats’ Inconsistency IS Anti-Semitism, Part II

Last April, I wrote “That’s anti-semitism”:

When, criticism of Israel is one-sided, slanted, or knowingly factually wrong, and far worse behavior by Palestinians is ignored, excused, or lies parroted, that IS anti-Semitism….

Appearing with or sharing a podium with such people, outside of civil debate, is to legitimize them. That IS anti-Semitism….

Earlier generations’ anti-Semitic tracts and common speech have largely disappeared from America. However, they have been replaced by thinly veiled stereotypes that essentially connect anyone associated with vigilant defense of America, Western civilization, or Israel as a colonialist oppressor, and commonly emphasize the role of Jews in such activity as demonstrating a conspiracy. This permeates the attacks on “neocons,” or AIPAC, for example. The deep roots of Arab oil money funding Democrats’ organizations and political activities, or paying for radicals’ chairs in academia, is not mentioned, and can only be motivated by animus or corrupt profiteering. That IS anti-Semitism.

I concluded:

Democrats learned during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s that the survival of their liberal agenda, not to mention of America, depended upon taking matters into their own hands and vigorously excluding communists and fellow-travelers from their ranks or tolerance.

If Democrats don’t similarly act responsibly today, that IS anti-Semitism.

All of the Democratic Party’s candidates for its presidential nomination just displayed their priority. They abandoned attendance at the Democratic Leadership Council’s annual convention, and trooped to the DailyKos convention instead.

As longtime Copley Press political correspondent George Condon noted:

The front-running candidates all are staying away from Nashville, Tenn., which this weekend is hosting the annual gathering of the Democratic Leadership Council, the business-friendly group of centrist Democrats that played a key role in guiding the party from Walter Mondale's defeat in the 1984 presidential election to Bill Clinton's victories in 1992 and 1996.

But all the candidates will be in Chicago next weekend for the second annual convention of Democratic-leaning Internet bloggers, a relatively new part of campaign infrastructure that wasn't even imagined when Mondale and Clinton were campaigning for votes. The occasion is “YearlyKos,” the brainchild of Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the 35-year-old founder of Daily Kos, one of the most influential progressive blogs and one that has gained a bigger role in the fight for the Democratic nomination….

The Washington Post headlines:” 'Net Roots' Event Becomes Democrats' Other National Convention”

Dan Balz’ Washington Post blog reflects, “The Democratic Party has moved to the left since Bill Clinton left office and many independents have moved toward the Democrats because of the Iraq war,“ and quibbles:

There's no question that presidential candidates see more energy and activism on the left right now. There's also no question that candidates want to be seen embracing what is new, and anything related to the intersection of the internet and politics holds a fascination now for candidates seeking the Democratic nomination.

So, who are too many of those with whom the Democrats’ leading contenders form a “popular front?”

A Daily Kos poster answers:

Ask Eyal Rosenberg who resigned as a diarist for the DailyKos on May 9 after in his words "all the Israel Hate spewing out of one too many diaries around here." As he wrote in his last post: "with this last post: Reading these past months on dkos has led me to believe that people here, under the 'progressive' banner, support views that end up in one place: Me dead." …

Mr. Rosenberg notes, contradicting Clinton spinmeister Wolfson, that the anti-Semitic attacks are not "isolated." In his brief time as a diarist (several months), he counted 5,000 Israel or Jewish references in the DailyKos. That's about 23 posts on Jews or Israel a day, most negative.

This past spring, during Passover, one of the site's diarists, a Belgian graphic artist, posted an image that morphs the face of Israel's minister of strategic affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, with that of Adolf Hitler's shown holding a skull painted with a Star of David, under the caption "Zionism was and remains a racist ideology." …

The columnist concludes:

Martin Luther King Jr. said "there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular — but one must take it simply because it is right." Translation: If you can't tell the YearlyKos there's no place for anti-Semitism you lack moral courage.

Condon quotes a veteran Democratic activist, that next year the candidate will “dance back to the middle.”

The behavior we’re witnessing: That IS anti-Semitism. Political and moral courage and integrity are not a “dance.”