Alan Grayson leads a double life by MAX BLUMENTHAL

[grassfed]

Since defeating an incumbent in Florida’s Republican-heavy 8th congressional district last year, Rep. Alan Grayson has emerged as one of the progressive movement’s most vocal champions. His attacks on Republican obstruction of healthcare reform and staunch opposition to escalation in Afghanistan have earned Grayson effusive praise from many liberal bloggers and activists.

Even before his election, Grayson gained recognition from the Wall Street Journal for being a "fierce critic of the war in Iraq" who sported a "Bush Lied, People Died" bumper sticker on his car. Recently, Grayson to CNN, "People want to see a congressman with guts. And America likes to hear the truth."

Grayson has battled for the public option and opposed the wars Obama has inherited from Bush. Of course, these positions are upheld by a broad swath of congressional Democrats and, at least in the case of the public option, are supported by a majority of Americans. But when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Grayson is fully programmed by AIPAC and the pro-war, pro-settlements wing of the Israel Lobby.

In an interview in March with the Philadelphia Jewish Voice, Grayson revealed two meetings he held the previous week with AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr. In the interview, Grayson explained how Kohr helped to "educate" him about Israel-related issues, then misquoted the Abba Eban line, "The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

more http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/gutsy-progressive-congressman-alan-grayson-leads-a-double-life.html

[icee2]

1. What's the other life he leads? nt

[tblue]

2. I am ambivalent about Israel. It's not so cut and dried, to me personally.

I have very mixed feelings. I'm sure this will hurt the good congressman's standing among some liberals. But it's not a deal-breaker for me at this time.

[imdjh]

3. So he's right about healthcare and right about Israel. And he's from Florida!

[shaayecanaan]

4. Nothing really surprises me about this...

my initial impression of this fellow was that he was deliberately tacking to the left to drum up visibility for himself as well as the support of left-liberal voters, in much the same way that John Edwards attempted to do during his presidential campaign.

Most of his positions are closer to the DLC than to the left wing of the Democratic Party. He simply disguises this by occasionally serving up red-meat rhetoric against the Republicans. Notably, he is not amongst the 90-odd cosponsors of the John Conyers' HR 676 bill to provide comprehensive health coverage, which almost be definition places him to the right of just about anyone in Congress that could be considered progressive.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@P

[shaayecanaan]

5. good quote from the comments section

I got an email two days ago from Congressman Alan Grayson. It said that Dick Cheney is still on the loose. Dick Cheney’s not behind bars yet. Dick Cheney must be held accountable. Send me money! People sent him over 1/2 million dollars. Ordinary people. Small donations. Because they’re thrilled that he’s getting on cable television and he’s saying colorful things. Saying direct, aggressive things about his political opponents. Refusing to apologize and back down and cower. As far as it goes, that’s a good thing. But I was actually excited about this email. And I asked what it was they were going to do to hold Dick Cheney accountable and put him behind bars. And I found out what it was that Congressman Grayson was going to do. Does anybody know? He’s going to go on TV and call Dick Cheney a vampire. You know, I hate to say it like this, but this is an idea that has no teeth (laughter). It doesn’t do a God-damned thing! There is no future Vice-President that’s going to worry about committing crimes because in the future some guy might call him a vampire. It just doesn’t have an impact. You know, when you’re dealing with members of Congress, it’s such a low bar. Nobody does anything right, including just rhetoric. You’ve got to encourage them and tell them to play offense. Just don’t play defense. I’m not necessarily opposed to supporting Alan Grayson, but for God’s sake try to get some actions behind the words.

http://commonsense2.com/2009/12/national-politics/david-swanson-on-the-imperial-presidency-and-your-activism

[oberliner]

6. There are much stronger supporters of AIPAC who have co-sponsored HR 676

Glad to hear that you view Howard Berman and Robert Wexler as being part of the progressive wing of the Democratic party.

Quite an interesting litmus test!

[azurnoir]

8. As was Anthony Weiner however

In May 2006, Weiner stirred controversy in his attempt to bar entry by the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations.<15> Weiner claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas does not represent the PLO, and implied that this was because the group is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Weiner's statement was erroneous,since the PLO has not been on the terrorist organization list since 1988. Weiner further stated that the delegation "should start packing their little Palestinian terrorist bags." Weiner went on to claim that Human Rights Watch, the New York Times, and, in particular, Amnesty International are biased against Israel.<15>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Weiner

The unfortunate fact here is that Israel has come to seen as an oppressive occupier if colonialist state and it's current governments nose thumbing of Obama are not winning it many friends in the liberal blog sphere, this has not one whit to do with antisemitism as some here wish to imply or out right accuse

[oberliner]

9. If you think he is not winning friends in the liberal blog sphere based on his position on Israel,

you should see how his stances on Israel are going over in the non-liberal blog sphere.

[azurnoir]

10. give an example please n/t

[oberliner]

11. Google will provide a plethora of examples

If you try a few searches of Obama, some negative verb (i.e. destroy), and Israel you will see how furious non-left bloggers are at him for what they perceive to be his anti-Israel position.

[azurnoir]

12. And just how do the Congressmen mentioned

perceive Obama's position on Israel?

[oberliner]

13. I am talking about bloggers, not Congressmen

Just saying Obama is not very popular on non-leftwing blogs because of what is perceived to be not a particularly pro-Israel position by those people.

[shaayecanaan]

14. I didnt...

and I'm getting quite sick of your attempts to mischaracterise my posts.

My point was that the 90 or so co-sponsors of that bill essentially comprise anyone who might be considered even vaguely progressive. In other words I would regard it as a necessary, but not sufficient criterion for whether someone should be considered progressive or not.

I considered Grayson to be a complete phony before and I consider him to be an even bigger phony now.

[grassfed]

7. Liberal bloggers criticize liberal hero for embracing AIPAC, Israeli officials

Liberal bloggers criticize liberal hero for embracing AIPAC, Israeli officials
By Eric Fingerhut · December 2, 2009
Rep. Alan Grayson become something of a folk hero in the liberal blogosphere (and a boogeyman to conservatives) after his vocal criticisms of Republicans, particularly when he called the current health-care system in the United States a "holocaust." But now some liberal pundits are criticizing Grayson because they say he's too supportive of Israeli policies.

Writing on the Mondoweiss blog, Max Blumenthal -- in a post entitled "Gutsy progressive congressman Alan Grayson leads a double life" -- argues:

Grayson has battled for the public option and opposed the wars Obama has inherited from Bush. Of course, these positions are upheld by a broad swath of congressional Democrats and, at least in the case of the public option, are supported by a majority of Americans. But when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Grayson is fully programmed by AIPAC and the pro-war, pro-settlements wing of the Israel Lobby.

Blumenthal then goes on to mischaracterize an interview Grayson gave to the Philadelphia Jewish Voice early this year, writing that the congressman says AIPAC excecutive director Howard Kohr helped to "educate" him about "Israel-related issues."

Grayson did say he had recently met twice with Kohr, but added that he was already quite familar with the Middle East and gets his information from the Israeli media:

I think what AIPAC often tries to do is to educate Members of Congress who frankly follow this a lot less closely than I do. In my case, I read Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post online four or five times a week, so I am pretty familiar with the circumstances and why the war took place.

Over on TPM, MJ Rosenberg links to Blumenthal's piece and makes a similar attack on the Florida congressman:

He seems fearless.

But not when it comes to Israel where he is pure AIPAC. 100% path of least resistance. And proud of it.

It just goes to my point that most Members of Congress only stick their necks out on issues when they are sure it won't cost them....anything. That is why some of your favorite legislators who are great on the environment, labor, marriage equality, health care, Afghanistan, Iraq, whatever, are hawks on Israel. They are afraid of AIPAC.

Grayson is typical. Brave, with a big asterisk.

There is, of course, the other possibility left unexplored by Blumenthal and Rosenberg: Grayson votes the way he does on Israel issues not because he is "afraid of AIPAC" but because that is actually what he really believes.

http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/12/02/1009495/liberal-bloggers-criticize-liberal-hero-for-being-pro-israel

[Violet_Crumble]

15. Interesting how Grayson points out he's Jewish when he supported what was done to Gaza...

From the article: 'Why did Grayson feel compelled to advertise his religion in a statement in favor of a war that would ultimately kill 1400 people, including at least 400 women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza?'

That got me to remembering a thread not all that far back where one 'supporter' of Israel took offense to it being pointed out in an article that Goldstone was Jewish and insisted his being Jewish wasn't relevant.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=290538&mesg_id=290584

And it goes on and on and on and on. Yet in this thread, they've not got one word to say about Grayson announcing in his statement he's Jewish. I wonder what the difference is this time? Any takers for the obvious conclusion that this time it's someone who doesn't criticise Israel who's saying it?

[Mosby]

16. Maybe Grayson mentioned his religion in the context

of closely following the events in the ME. Most Jews I know follow news in the ME much more closely than your average American for example.

I read the interview Grayson did with the Phil Jewish Voice, he said he thought Iran presented a serious threat to stability in the ME and thought that OCL was a necessary endeavor. Apparently to super lefties and Progressives that makes you a pawn of AIPAC and an "Israel uber-hawk" if you express those opinions. Clearly Progressives like Rosenberg want readers to equate any support for Israel's existence with RW "hawkish" behavior. Personally I think taking a strawman approach to AIPACs policies and using that to smear Liberals is very dishonest.

[Violet_Crumble]

17. That was covered in the other thread about Goldstone...

Did you read it? Why would that argument apply to Goldstone and not Grayson?

Sorry, but I've read what Grayson said, and yet again you attempt to understate someone's stance when it's a 'supporter' of Israel (remember that discussion in another thread where you attempted to portray a supporter of Greater Israel as not being bigoted, but merely ignorant of history?).

Personally I think people who attempt to portray AIPAC as some lefty bunch of peace-lovers are the folk who are being very dishonest. I'm not sure why self-proclaimed lefties would support AIPAC when an actual liberal alternative exists in J-Street, a group which has been attacked by some of the virulently hardline 'supporters' of Israel in this forum...