The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Machiavellian, in a Good Way

Posted on | July 8, 2010 | 9 Comments

“[I]f you yield to a threat, you do so in order to avoid war, and more often than not, you do not avoid war. For those before whom you have thus openly demeaned yourself by yielding, will not stop there, but will seek to extort further concessions, and the less they esteem you the more incensed will they become against you.”
— Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses Book II, Chapter 14

That was quoted by a commenter on the Hot Air thread about Thaddeus Russell’s column opposing the U.S.-Israel alliance. Russell also got smacked by Ron Radosh at PJM, and there is a related thread on Memeorandum. 

Meanwhile, it appears that President Obama has figured out that Israel-bashing is bad politics:

Four months ago, the Obama administration made a politically perilous decision to condemn Israel over a controversial new settlement. The Israel lobby reared up, Netanyahu denounced the administration’s actions, Republican leaders sided with Netanyahu, and Democrats ran for cover.
So on Tuesday, Obama, routed and humiliated by his Israeli counterpart, invited Netanyahu back to the White House for what might be called the Oil of Olay Summit: It was all about saving face.
The president, beaming in the Oval Office with a dour Netanyahu at his side, gushed about the “extraordinary friendship between our two countries.” He performed the Full Monty of pro-Israel pandering: “The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable” . . .

Dana Milbank’s derisive references to the “Israel lobby” and “pro-Israel pandering” seem intended mainly to heighten the perception of Obama’s humiliation. What’s interesting to me here is reflexive nature of liberal logic: Because Republicans are viewed as too pro-Israel, therefore Democrats must be anti-Israel.

Thus, any Democrat who is not relentlessly critical of Israel is accused of cowardly “pandering” by the Sirhan Sirhan wing of the Democratic Party.

Category: Israel

Comments

9 Responses to “Machiavellian, in a Good Way”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    July 8th, 2010 @ 12:18 pm

    1) the Sirhan Sirhan wing of the Democratic Party – another one for The Robert Stacy McCain Book Of Memorable Quotes.

    2) I’m not one of those people that throws around the word ‘Anti-Semitic’ lightly, but, reading his columns over the past several years, one cannot help but thinking that Milbank fits the definition [as do the bulk of radical Leftist Dems].

    3) I don’t think Barry’s feeling humiliated. Methinks, he thinks he’s being cunning, as I have so brilliantly explained here.

  2. Bob Belvedere
    July 8th, 2010 @ 8:18 am

    1) the Sirhan Sirhan wing of the Democratic Party – another one for The Robert Stacy McCain Book Of Memorable Quotes.

    2) I’m not one of those people that throws around the word ‘Anti-Semitic’ lightly, but, reading his columns over the past several years, one cannot help but thinking that Milbank fits the definition [as do the bulk of radical Leftist Dems].

    3) I don’t think Barry’s feeling humiliated. Methinks, he thinks he’s being cunning, as I have so brilliantly explained here.

  3. Lee Thomas
    July 8th, 2010 @ 1:20 pm

    Obama was playing to his Progressive base. Yet behind closed doors and in secret he actually had sent out Rahm Emanuel and several other lesser known operatives to patch things up with the Israeli lobby and to inform them that he was just playing to his base and that he was actually “funnin” them.

    The problem of course is that the Israeli lobby and the Jewish vote which is heavily democratic was not amused and didn’t take kindly to the “funnin”.

    I agree he has egg on his face but he has more problems then he cares to admit. The democratic party is fractured right now with the Liberals vs. Progressives vs. moderates vs. tea party participants.

    Their only real comfort is that the GOP is no less fractured then are the Dems.

  4. Lee Thomas
    July 8th, 2010 @ 9:20 am

    Obama was playing to his Progressive base. Yet behind closed doors and in secret he actually had sent out Rahm Emanuel and several other lesser known operatives to patch things up with the Israeli lobby and to inform them that he was just playing to his base and that he was actually “funnin” them.

    The problem of course is that the Israeli lobby and the Jewish vote which is heavily democratic was not amused and didn’t take kindly to the “funnin”.

    I agree he has egg on his face but he has more problems then he cares to admit. The democratic party is fractured right now with the Liberals vs. Progressives vs. moderates vs. tea party participants.

    Their only real comfort is that the GOP is no less fractured then are the Dems.

  5. dad29
    July 8th, 2010 @ 2:54 pm

    I suppose that the Oil of Olay summit had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with DNC fundraising problems, either.

  6. dad29
    July 8th, 2010 @ 10:54 am

    I suppose that the Oil of Olay summit had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with DNC fundraising problems, either.

  7. Guitanguran
    July 8th, 2010 @ 5:01 pm

    “The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable.”

    Fred Thompson on Facebook:

    “Obama should know. He’s been trying to break it for months.”

  8. Guitanguran
    July 8th, 2010 @ 1:01 pm

    “The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable.”

    Fred Thompson on Facebook:

    “Obama should know. He’s been trying to break it for months.”

  9. THE OTHER MCCAIN: Machiavelli, Israel and Bad Politics | The Right Sphere - Conservative Blogs, Columnists, News and Opinion
    July 8th, 2010 @ 2:22 pm

    […] by way of Machiavelli. Then he shows us that the White House is likely in no way going to follow McCotter’s advice: It appears that President Obama has figured out that Israel-bashing is bad […]