Posted on 07/30/2008 2:09:16 PM PDT by mojito
Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic interviewed Time’s Joe Klein about, among other things, Klein’s recent assertion that Jewish neoconservatives have “divided loyalties.” The interview is quite a journey into the angry and emotional world of Joe Klein. Klein says, for example, that he is “very, very angry” at the Jewish blogosphere. When asked about why he puts the adjective “Jewish” in front of the word “neocons,” Klein pays homage to his own courage. “It’s about time,” he says. “I think everyone else is too afraid to do it.” He accuses those who have a different assessment of the importance of championing liberty in the Middle East as being guilty of “a very, very dangerous form of extremism.” Klein talks about how both the left-wing bloggers and the right-wing bloggers “hate me.” And he accuses people like me and Jennifer Rubin (a contributor to Commentary’s “Contentions”) of wanting to “stifle opinions that are different from theirs.”
“I’m certainly not going to back down,” declares Joe the Intrepid.
Rather than speaking in terms of standing up or backing down, perhaps it would be more useful to examine the quality and accuracy of Klein’s assertions.
1. When asked what he meant by the term “divided loyalties,” Klein claims, “I did not mean to imply that they were disloyal to the United States.” But, in fact, he did. Here is what Klein wrote:
"The notion that we could just waltz in and inject democracy into an extremely complicated, devout and ancient culture smacked—still smacks—of neocolonialist legerdemain. The fact that a great many Jewish neoconservatives—people like Joe Lieberman and the crowd over at Commentary—plumped for this war, and now for an even more foolish assault on Iran, raised the question of divided loyalties: using U.S. military power...to make the world safe for Israel."
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Klien wrote Primary Colors under the pseudonym Annonymous.
If I were him, I’d write my columns under Annonymous as well.
Joe Klein looks slimy.
Antisemitism masquerading as “antizionism” or in this case anti “Jewish neoconism” is fashionable now on the left. Klein will survive nicely. In the case of left wing Jews, so will they, provided they put forth the right amount of cringing self hate and stay in the US.
I’ve seen Joe Klein on TV several times and his comments show that his view of “neocons” is very biased and self-serving. There are, in fact, several views of neoconservatism some of which say it’s a Jewish cabal with roots going back to Trotsky. Others claim they’re liberals who woke up to the Communist danger and became tough foreign policy hawks, etc., etc. Bill Kristol is often called a neocon. But Jewish conservatism is tremendously varied. The conservatism of Jonah Goldberg, Dennis Prager, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, and David Horowitz (to cite just a few) is far from uniform. The most idiotic view of neoconservatism is given by Chris Matthews who sputters out “neocon” constantly but hasn’t the least idea of what he’s talking about. For some, it’s become a code word for anti-Semitites.
FWIW, Jonah Goldberg’s father was Jewish, his mother in Episcopalian. Under traditional Jewish law, Jonah isn’t a Jew, although he carries a name that is often Jewish.
What his personal religious beliefs are, I have no idea.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
The Atlantic doesn't like him either.
Joe Klein on Neoconservatives and Iran [McCain has surrounded himself with Jewish neoconservatives]
Where does Mr. Klein get the idea someone said this? Will liberals automatically assume Bush implied, or said, it? Where's proof that he did? Did anyone assume this notion? Or is Mr. Klein trying to spin?
bump for later
I didn’t know that about Jonah. But let me say I always thought that the notion that Judaism was determined by the mother, which originated in ancient times, was very clever. While one might have doubts about who the father was, one could be DAMN sure about the mother! That’s better than a DNA test!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.