Back in the 90s when American war hero Bob Dole was positioning himself for a presidential bid, he took a shot at the smut in the media in connection with the Murphy Brown single-mom storyline.
To my rage and incredulity, Frank Rich popped up in the New York Times connecting Dole's remark to Rich's view that anti-Semitism animated this kind of complaint about Hollywood.
If Rich did not directly call Bob Dole anti-Semitic, he was so close that any argument about it would be quibbling.
Since that day, I have had the custom of automatically granting a person so accused an extra measure of respectful consideration for what he says. I utterly reject the disqualifying of someone from the public conversation with this rhetorical nuke. It makes me think that maybe they do have something significant to say if someone is so determined to shut them up rather than answering their statements with reason.
"You shutup because you are an anti-Semite" carries the same weight with me as Ted Kennedy hissing "racism" at someone or the chorus of "homophobe, homophobe" that greets people who offend that constituency.
Are there real anti-Semites now in the U.S. Sure, although many fewer than are suspected, IMHO. And there are other varieties of nasty bigots. I will identify them quickly enough for myself without someone acting as censor on my behalf.
Him observing that something "would be preferable" doesn't make it his, let alone Israel's, "strategy". (For paying the bills and such, I guess I think it would be preferable to win the lottery - but that's not my strategy.)
Never was able to figure out why saying a nation was smart enough to convince other people to neutralize threats for them was an insult to the nation.
Good point. You're just marvelling at how good at scheming and string-pulling those people are. I understand.