It’s not just that his analysis is so frequently off the mark, it’s that he says foolish things sometimes, even if he doesn’t intend them to come out they way they do.
In an attempt to simultaneously vilify Gingrich, Netanyahu and anybody who doesn’t subscribe to his many mistaken ideas about Israel, Friedman just came out with an editorial where he suggests that America functions as Israel’s ATM if it does not act according to its own interests with Israel. That’s not so terrible since you can at least qualify what he’s saying. But then he pulls out this nugget:
I sure hope that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.
I’m so tired of this guy’s ideas and I just can’t believe that the person who wrote a book where he essentially describes Arafat in positive, almost heroic terms and Sharon as essentially a criminal, is where he is today in his career. And that this person, writing for the NY Times, a paper that just had another writer opine that the Muslim Brotherhood is moderate, is using the term “Israel lobby” and then adding that Congress is owned by this so-called lobby.
What a stupid fool.
Tom Friedman is right. The Israel Lobby has corrupted and endangered all Americans. Do you really want another 9/11? Because that’s what U.S. support for Israel’s murderous racism will bring about. We need regime change in Israel. THe people running the place now are sick, dangerous, and neurotic, They hate women, they hate Gentiles and they want to mass murder all the Muslims. Enough already with these sickies.
Yup, as noted, Friedman has joined the crazies.
If nothing else, Friedman’s a reliable litmus of conventional wisdom on the mainstream left. It’s certainly a sign of how far things have come when he characterizes US policy toward Israel as a cabal run by a few Jews to extract money from the rest of (presumably, non-Jewish) America. Remember the reception Pat Buchanan got for this kind of rhetoric, back in the day?
Friedman is stealing good jobs from perfectly qualified American anti-semites.
You want to write for us? That was such a Jewlicious thing to say.
The guys is annoying. “Middlebrow.” http://mustacheofunderstanding.blogspot.com/
You know, you’re right. It is just an ad hominem attack, just like Friedman’s attack on the so-called Israel Lobby.
However, if you’d like some substance, why don’t you read the two links to two critiques of mine of other Friedman articles and why don’t you put New York Times into the search box and see some of my substantive critiques of some of their recent editorials. If you want to read my opinion of the mythological “Israel lobby” you are welcome to put “Mearsheimer” into the search box and you’ll see some detailed responses to these claims.
It’s all there, Jonah, you just need to put some words into the search box and click.
This is purely an ad hominem attack. Sure some of Friedman’s ideas and positions have been wrong over the years, but at least have the decency to write something of substance.