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One of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch's last interviews before his death on Friday came in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire. The most interesting part of the Q&A came when he was asked who was what living person he "most despise[s]." ... Which living person do you most despise? Former president Jimmy Carter.

-snip- “It’s somewhere between baffling and incomprehensible,” a member of Mr. Obama’s own team of advisers on Iran said on Thursday night when asked about Mr. Hagel’s stumbling performance on the question during the all-day hearing. The worry was evident in the voice of the official, who would not speak on the record while criticizing the performance of the president’s nominee. For those who question whether the no-containment cornerstone of the Obama approach to Tehran is for real, or just diplomatic rhetoric, Mr. Hagel clearly muddled the message, he said.

Distraught by his poor performance in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, liberals viciously turned on Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel on social media.

A Liberal Democrat MP facing disciplinary action after accusing “the Jews” of atrocities against Palestinians has issued a public apology for causing “unintended offense”. David Ward’s comments—posted on his website ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day—were condemned by party chiefs and sparked a furious backlash. … In a new post on Saturday afternoon he said he “never for a moment intended to criticize or offend the Jewish people as a whole, either as a race or as a people of faith, and apologize sincerely for the unintended offense which my words caused.” …

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President Barack Obama’s spokesman is downplaying venomously anti-Semitic statements by Egypt’s new Islamist president, who said that Jews are “apes and pigs” and must be hated by Muslim children. Egypt’s president, Mohammed Morsi, “has demonstrated in word and deed his commitment to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. … He obviously worked with us to resolve … a ceasefire … — in the Gaza conflict last year,” spokesman Jay Carney said during the Jan. 15 White House press conference.

It has been suggested that Chuck Hagel is an anti-Semite. It has also been suggested that it is an outrage and a smear to call Barack Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense an anti-Semite. For my part, I don’t know. But these accusations and defenses have come from serious people. First, the naysayers, because denying the charge is actually easier than leveling it. (“How dare you?” often suffices as a riposte.) Here are the arguments: 1. Chuck Hagel is not an anti-Semite because some Jews — in Israel, in Nebraska, in the Senate — like him. 2. Chuck Hagel...

Ron Paul to Obama and Romney: “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Get over it.” News is now leaking out about a private meeting between evangelical leaders and presidential candidate Ron Paul which took place last Wednesday night. The leaders asked Dr. Paul about an Executive Order moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “The real issue here is not what America wants but what Israel wants. We have no right to chose their capital,” Dr. Paul said, “If they say it is Jerusalem, then it is Jerusalem.” The Barack Obama administration has consistently rejected this idea and...

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), libertarian hero and constitutionalist congressman, will end the last term of his political career as the number two conservative in the House of Representatives behind Jeff Flake (R-AZ), according to a ranking system of all members of congress created by two political science professors. The "DW-Nominate" ranking system, created by University of Georgia political science professor Keith Poole and New York University professor Howard Rosenthal, ranks all 636 legislators in the House and the Senate and is available on Voteview.com. According to the rankings, Paul held the number one spot for multiple years, despite being behind...

Maryam Zohny erases message following advocacy group’s letter of complaint JTA — A photo and text calling an Israeli soldier a “terrorist” and “killer” were removed from the Facebook page of a Columbia University program director. Maryam Zohny, program director of the university’s Center for Palestine Studies, removed the post from her personal Facebook wall after the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger expressing concern about the post. The post that Zohny shared on Dec. 13 read: “Israeli terrorist ‘Nofar Mizrahi’/Killer of the Martyr Muhamad Salayme/Wanted by the Resistance.” The post, which has been circulating...

There are no plans to withdraw aid to the Palestinian Authority following the United Nations vote to recognize Palestine as an independent state, a White House spokesman said Friday. Josh Earnest told reporters traveling on Air Force One that the U.S. opposed the resolution to give the Palestinian Authority nonmember observer state status because the Israel-Palestinian conflict should be resolved “only through face-to-face negotiations, not unilateral actions,” according to the White House pool report. A bipartisan group of senators had threatened to cut off millions in U.S. financial aid to the Palestinians if the vote succeeded. Earnest said there were...

A top Iraqi diplomat urged Arab states to “use the weapon of oil” against the United States because of its alliance with Israel, raising more questions about the Middle Eastern nation's allegiance to the nation that freed it from a ruthless dictatorship.

18 percent of Americans believe that president Obama is Jewish, according to a new poll. A new Associated Press poll finds that 18 percent, or nearly one in five Americans believe that President Barack Obama is Jewish, from zero who believed so in 2010.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday disregarded a U.N. warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric and declared ahead of the annual General Assembly session that Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated." In remarks to reporters in New York, Ahmadinejad also said he did not take seriously the threat that Israel could launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, denied sending arms into Syria, and alluded to Iran's threats against the life of British author Salman Rushdie. The United States quickly dismissed the Iranian president's comments as "disgusting, offensive and outrageous."...

US-Israeli relations have hit an unprecedented low point: Hebrew daily "Yediot Ahronot" reported today that, a few days ago, top Obama administration officials sent a message to the Iranian government via two European governments, stating that the US would not support Israel if it decided to unilaterally and without coordination attack Iranian nuclear installations. "Yediot Ahronot" says that the US sent the confidential message to Iran in order to prevent an Iranian attack on US installations in the Persian Gulf, where the US has stationed aircraft carriers and has several military bases, which could face a real risk in the...

Washington cites ‘scheduling conflicts’ as only reason US president, Israeli PM won’t meet later in September WASHINGTON – The White House denied Tuesday that US President Barack Obama refused a request made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet in Washington later in September, while Netanyahu will be visiting the United States. Earlier, a Jerusalem official said that White House rejected Netanyahu’s request for a meeting, adding that when a request to that effect was made by Netanyahu’s aides, “The White House has got back to us and said that the president’s schedule will not permit that.”

The White House is denying that they refused to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of a U.N. conference later this month. "The President arrives in New York for the U.N. on Monday, September 24th and departs on Tuesday, September 25th," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said. "The Prime Minister doesn't arrive in New York until later in the week. They're simply not in the city at the same time. But the President and PM are in frequent contact and the PM will meet with other senior officials, including Secretary Clinton, during his visit," Vietor...

Barack Obama will be visiting one of his biggest fans soon - late night talker David Letterman. The president will chat with the "Late Show" host during a trip to New York City next week, according to the National Journal. Letterman's nightly monologues mostly spare the president from satirical ribbing, saving his most cutting remarks for the Romneys ... or even former President George W. Bush. The news comes on the same day Obama told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he couldn't meet with him due to a scheduling conflict.

<p>Fox confirming. Netanyahu in US. Asked to meet with Obama re. Iran. Obama said he is "too busy."</p>

Separately, Jackson cited “a ‘New South’ that has been created largely by the civil rights marches and then by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Johnson got passed through Congress in 1965.” One far-reaching effect of the Voting Rights Act, said Jackson, “is that politics have changed in the South. Jefferson Davis Democrats became Goldwater Republicans and the Lincoln Republicans became Johnson Democrats.” Both Jackson and Metcalf agreed that a winning tactic on the part of the new Democratic coalition they envision is full-scale combat with the tea party conservatives and their agenda to cut government. “45 percent...