...when I hear him talking about Israel. As I lamented in this space
previously, the Democrats are
very disheartening on the issue of Israel and Palestine.
And then along comes Ralph Nader on today's Crossfire, saying all the right things:
Don't confuse Israel with the military government now on top of Israel...The Israeli peace movement is the way to go. They've been connecting with the Palestinian peace movement. They've had two-state solutions. They've had various agreements. And there's more freedom to discuss this issue inside Israel and the freedom of the press and debate and discussion on all issues than there is in the United States...The United States government is interested in peace between those two peoples. President Bush has already said he believes in a viable Palestinian state and, of course, Israel's security. If they really believe it, they would align themselves with the Israeli peace movement, which draws on ex-military...It's not just Peace Now. It's much broader.
Sigh Oh Ralph, you had me at "Shalom". It's really frustrating when the Democrats and Republicans--on this issue--really do look like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. But of course, there are many, many other issues, and I can't let myself forget that.
I do still think (as I said a few weeks ago) that Nader is running a different race this time. In 2000, it was more of a race of sabotage against Gore, as punishment to Democrats for drifting too far right. He lambasted Gore far more than Bush. It really doesn't seem at all the same now--more that he actually wants to help Kerry take Bush out. He said as much on the Crossfire appearance:
John Kerry has got to get loose. He cannot allow political consultants to put handcuffs on his mind and his imagination. He's got to stop talking Senatese and be the old John Kerry I knew 23 years ago...I mean, I'm not running John Kerry's campaign by any means. But I'm going to meet with him and I'm going to meet with Howard Dean. And I'm going to say, look, we have one thing in common. We want to send the Bush corporation back to Crawford, Texas.
...Nobody wants to defeat Bush more than I do. And I think I know ways to defeat Bush that John Kerry and the Democrats are too cautious or unimaginative to deal with, but they can pick it up when they see it working.
The not-so-hidden message: "Quit coming after me and we'll both train our guns on Bush." Dems do themselves no favours by attacking Nader. Instead, they should be more clever and talk in terms of Nader being an ally against Bush, but reminding people that it won't work unless in the end they vote for Kerry on Election Day.
And despite my disgruntlement about Democrats' caving to AIPAC on Israel, I'm still with Kerry myself. But at some point, we have to figure out a way to move the party in the right direction (or should I say, the left direction) on this issue.