MJ Rosenberg -->Just a Bully With Internet Access

Today I joined a pretty exclusive club; a Yidwithlid story was attacked by MJ Rosenberg of TMPcafe. I never heard of MJ Rosenberg until almost two weeks ago when I started writing/investigating President Obama’s selection of NIC Chairman, Chas Freeman.

Over the past week or so Rosenberg has gone after everyone who objected to the Freeman appointment. Like most bullies, Rosenberg’s strategy has been is to attack people personally, throw around the “N” word (neo-con), twist words around, and accuse us who have objected to the Freeman appointment of being part of some conspiracy hell-bent to run the foreign policy of the United States of America.

Let me explain what I mean, here a selection from his first attack on 2/23:

But here's the problem. The lobby HATES Freeman. It considers Freeman anti-Israel because he has repeatedly indicated that he believes that successive Israeli governments deserve their share of blame for sinking the peace process. He does not toe the line.

His entire article was of a similar vein, name calling, totally void of the facts.

Rosenberg followed up on 2/26 with a personal attack against Steve Rosen of the Middle East Forum (MEF), who has been writing about Freeman. For those of you who are not familiar with Rosen, he is one of the two former members of AIPAC accused of knowingly passing along defense information to Israel that it was not entitled to receive:

I just can't get over the idea that a guy on trial for espionage has the temerity to take on a lifelong public servant for not being loyal to the country that he, Steve Rosen, is accused by the United States of being too loyal to…..

…Obviously, I was clean and cleared. But I did commit a security violation once at the State Department. I left some innocent file on my desk and went home. The next day, when I came back to work, the doorway was laced with yellow tape and the words SECURITY VIOLATION screamed out at me from everywhere. I felt really ashamed. I did not let that happen again.

Why am I telling you this? It is because I cannot fathom how Rosen has the gall to even express an opinion on anything related to Israel publicly. And I am even more amazed that anyone would ever quote anything he had to say.

A wonderful thing about the American justice system is that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty. Rosen has not been convicted, in fact by most accounts the prosecution is in a bit of trouble. So if Rosenberg were to be truthful, based on his account above, it is MJ Rosenberg that is the only one who has been proven to have made any sort of security violation.

In America everyone gets first amendment rights, Steve Rosen has the right to speak out on ANY issue he chooses, not simply because in the eyes of the law he is still innocent, because all Americans have the right to speak out. Even people like Timothy Geitner and Charles Rangel, both of whom are admitted tax cheats.


Rosenberg followed up last night with more vitriol that included lying about what I wrote last night Yidwithlid:

Jonathan Chait, a neocon but only on matters related to Israel (!), writes this in today's Washington Post. Chait is a terrific domestic liberal but when it comes to Israel, he is as credulous as a rightwing Republican about George Bush. This is known as the Jerry Nadler syndrome.

Then there is this call to hold McCarthy type hearings on Freeman. Naturally Eric Cantor a pro-settlement up-and-coming neo from Virginia is leading the charge.

Rosenberg calls Chait names, and twists my words. Yes I did speak about Eric Cantor, but I also mentioned that Chuck Schumer and others. And this is what the article called for:

…Folks, there is no doubt that this appointment is 99.9% set. But may I suggest that at this point it is crucial that we make sure that this appointment receives FULL transparency. If you haven't written your Congressional Representative, PLEASE Do so now. Tell them of your concerns, and that a FULL financial disclosure is made…

Full transparency, that’s what President Obama promised, that’s what I called for, yet Mr. Rosenberg described that as McCarthy type hearing.

Mr. Rosenberg… speaking of McCarthy, “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

MJ Rosenberg should be very familiar with McCarthy; his attacks on Freeman’s detractors are equivalent to the worst bullying tactics of Senator McCarthy.

• He attacked Steve Rosen because he knows that Rosen can’t respond due to his pending legal proceeding.

• He calls Chait, and Tobin names because he did not want to debate the facts. 

• He twisted my words because I am easy pickings, just “little guy” with a blog. He doesn’t attack any of the facts I discovered.
  

The saddest part is that Rosenberg cheats his readers.  If  he discussed the substitutive issue and about Chas. Freeman, rather than resorting to personal attacks, maybe he could prove that our arguments were wrong. Instead he proves that he is simply a bully with internet access.