Sarah Palin And Other Netanyahu Groupies May Soon Find Themselves Leaderless

The much anticipated speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before a joint session of Congress has come and gone leaving a notable aroma of anti-climax. After being hailed by many in politics and the press as an historic occasion, there was nothing of substance revealed in the address. It turned out to be a tale of a dystopian future that mimicked the doomsday rantings of Glenn Beck, complete with caliphates and the collapsing of civilization.

John Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu violated decades of protocol and was a blatantly political slap at President Obama. Republicans heralded the speech as a vital moment to embrace an important ally. In fact, they implied that any opposition to the controversial appearance was tantamount to being anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic (as Andrea Tantaros of Fox News opined twice). The American right is shamelessly infatuated with Netanyahu and regard him as a superior model of leadership to our own president who was popularly elected twice.

Netanyahu enjoys the admiration of conservatives who favor posturing for war over diplomacy. They have elevated him to hero status and fantasize about having him replace Obama in the White House. Sarah Palin has gone even further by seeking to profit from her crush by selling t-shirts emblazoned with his picture and the oath “I Stand With Bibi.”

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However, these conservative Bibi disciples may come to regret their insistence that loyalty to the current Israeli Prime Minister (a war-mongering conservative) is equivalent to loyalty to Israel. That’s because in a couple of weeks there may very well be a new Prime Minister with a very different worldview. The Guardian reports that…

“Binyamin Netanyahu’s campaign for re-election for a fourth term as Israel’s prime minister appears to be stumbling, with recent polls suggesting he is marginally behind his biggest challenger, Isaac Herzog.”

Herzog is the leader of Israel’s Labor Party and has a more liberal, inclusive political philosophy. He represents a coalition that seeks peace through cooperation. He is a lawyer, a member of the Knesset (Israel’s legislature), a former IDF intelligence officer, and is every bit as determined to insure Israel’s security as Netanyahu. But he believes that a two-state solution negotiated and enforced with neighbors in the region is the way to end the decades-long hostilities.

If Herzog prevails in the March 17 election, it will be interesting to see if the right-wingers in the U.S. continue to regard the Prime Minister as the official proxy for all things Israel. Will they invite him to speak before a joint session of Congress? Will they hang on his every word. Will they repudiate as disloyal anyone who dares to disagree with him? Will they hawk t-shirts with his smiling face and promises to stand with him?

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It doesn’t take much courage to slide out on a limb and predict that the wingnut contingent would not give Herzog the same measure of respect that they give to Netanyahu. And you might wait a long time to be able to buy a Herzog t-shirt from Sarah Palin’s PAC. So while Israel would benefit enormously from the election of a Labor Party majority, There’s another reason why Americans should root for that outcome. Because it would just be so much fun watching Republican pols and pundits squirming to validate their disdain for an Israeli PM after demanding allegiance to their hero Netanyahu.

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11 thoughts on “Sarah Palin And Other Netanyahu Groupies May Soon Find Themselves Leaderless

  1. And, of course, Step 2: Blame Obama for inviting Netanyahu to speak before the Congress. Naturally, no one will remember that it was John Bonehead who actually invited him outside of protocol.

    Then, of course, Step 3: the FoxPods find something Netanyahu said that will lead them to demand Obama’s impeachment because Obama said it in front of the Congress.

    Have I missed a step?

  2. Those t-shirts sound like something you’d see in a SNL skit.

    Link posted to MMFA’s Ralph Peters thread with your title as the tease at 1:20am CST Wednesday.

    • But the GOP IS an SNL skit… bad one at that.

  3. This is another one of the “You Lie” acts. They want to just disrespect Obama, but what they are truly doing is disrespecting the Presidential office and position itself. All their acts from not say President in front of Obama, to You Lie, etc etc.

    Major double standard with them, because you know if one of those “Liberals” did 1/10th of the things they do the GOP and Fox would be having a linching party setup in a heartbeat. Case in point the whole O’Reilly thing as one of the most recent thing. Destroy the “other guy” but make yourself look like a saint doing far worse.

  4. Benjamin Netanyahu spoke the truth about the constant threats that Israel faces. The vast majority of the men and women in Congress voiced their agreement. 58 Democrats and the entire presidential cabinet decided to throw a hissy fit and walk out. They embarrassed themselves.

    • Where did they voice their agreement? And how are all the things Bibi said true? He never proved any of it.

      Plus, his alternative is no alternative at all. Simply going back to sanctions the way it was for over 30 years and expect Iran to capitulate because of that? If they haven’t done so in over 3 decades why would continuing the same produce different results?

      • As you point out, Delu, no such agreement has been voiced, except in Scott’s head, and we can’t hear the voices there as only Scott can.

        The only threat Israel faces is that of the International Criminal Court for past excess, and it’s become increasingly clear that Bibi is just dying to bomb Iran’s nuclear power plants, claiming they are nuclear bomb construction sites, with full nuclear weapon capability less than a year away (you may have noticed that Iran has been, according to Israel, less than a year away from full nuclear weapon capability for some thirty years now, go figure).

        But, the right in this country, is, like Scott, a sucker for a well-rattled saber, mistaking it for bravery; it is that paranoia, so well expressed in Scott’s breathless perception of “constant threats to Israel,” despite the absence of evidence of such, which drives the irrationally fearful lizard-brained core of republican thinking both in this country and Netanyahu’s supporters in Israel.

        I like to think that the Israeli people are better than this; guess we’ll see on March 17..

  5. All wealthy conservatives know that the best and least risky investments are in the Military-Industrial Complex. So keeping passions inflamed in the Middle East is like money in the bank! For the Right, never-ending war is just good economic policy. Bang! Bang! Ka-ching!

    All the flag-waving and tough talk in the media keep their flock feeling both patriotic and terrified, which short-circuits the (weak, undeveloped) reasoning part of their brain. The easiest propaganda to sell is the stuff people want to believe. The conservative mind is hard-wired to stay focused on conflict and ignore people who promote diplomatic strategies.

  6. The shocking thing isn’t so much that the Speaker would try to end run the president because he thinks he knows more about foreign policy. The shocking thing is that the speaker wants to align himself with a politician that has been completely and demonstrably wrong about everything to do with middle east policy.

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