Romney's Israel Trip Made The Liberals Go Meshuggah

Meshuggah: From the Yiddish (Mamaloshen): chronically crazy, or obsessed. 

Even before Mitt Romney got on a plane in London and set a heading for Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel, it seems the liberals and their friends in the media have been going a bit meshuggah about Romney’s trip and the Jewish vote.

Last Thursday there was the incident with Jay Carney refusing to name the administrations stance on the capital of Israel. Friday Obama gave an additional $70 million dollars in military aid to the Jewish state. Sunday former speaker Nancy Pelosi botched an appeal to Jewish voters, talking about how wonderful Obama has been for Israel and the GOP was manipulating those poor Jews to think he’s been awful just so they can get lower taxes for the rich (sorry Nancy, the only one manipulating this Jew is my chiropractor).  On the Sunday morning talk circuit progressive spokesmen were bashing the Romney appearance.  And, after the GOP candidate exhibited some leadership in Jerusalem, the liberal media found a way to twist what Romney said at a Jerusalem fundraiser in an attempt to manufacture an international incident.

These were Romney's comments which the liberal media twisted:

I was thinking this morning as I prepared to come into this room of a discussion had across the country in the United States about my perceptions about differences between countries. And as you come here and you see the GDP per capita for instance in Israel which is about 21,000 dollars and you compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority which is more like 10,000 dollars per capita you notice a dramatic, stark difference in economic vitality. And that is also between other countries that are near or next to each other. Chile and Ecuador, Mexico and the United States. I noted that part of my interest when I used to be in the world of business is I would travel to different countries was to understand why there were such enormous disparities in the economic success of various countries.

I read a number of books on the topic. One, that is widely acclaimed, is by someone named Jared Diamond called ‘Guns, Germs and Steel,’ which basically says the physical characteristics of the land account for the differences in the success of the people that live there. There is iron ore on the land and so forth. And you look at Israel and you say you have a hard time suggesting that all of the natural resources on the land could account for all the accomplishment of the people here. And likewise other nations that are next door to each other have very similar, in some cases, geographic elements. But then there was a book written by a former Harvard professor named ‘The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.’ And in this book Dr. Landes describes differences that have existed—particularly among the great civilizations that grew and why they grew and why they became great and those that declined and why they declined. And after about 500 pages of this lifelong analysis—this had been his study for his entire life—and he’s in his early 70s at this point, he says this, he says, if you could learn anything from the economic history of the world it’s this: culture makes all the difference. Culture makes all the difference.

And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things. One, I recognize the hand of providence in selecting this place. I’m told in a Sunday school class I attended— I think my son Tagg was teaching the class. He’s not here. I look around to see. Of course he’s not here. He was in London. He taught a class in which he was describing the concern on the part of some of the Jews that left Egypt to come to the promised land, that in the promised land was down the River Nile, that would provide the essential water they had enjoyed in Egypt. They came here recognizing that they must be relied upon, themselves and the arm of God to provide rain from the sky. And this therefore represented a sign of faith and a show of faith to come here. That this is a people that has long recognized the purpose in this place and in their lives that is greater than themselves and their own particular interests, but a purpose of accomplishment and caring and building and serving. There’s also something very unusual about the people of this place. And Dan Senor— And Dan, I saw him this morning, I don’t know where he is, he’s probably out twisting someone’s arm—There’s Dan Senor, co-author of ‘Start-up Nation,’ described— If you haven’t read the book, you really should— Described why it is Israel is the leading nation for start-ups in the world. And why businesses one after the other tend to start up in this place. And he goes through some of the cultural elements that have led Israel to become a nation that has begun so many businesses and so many enterprises and that is becomes so successful.

The AP/NPR interpretation of what Romney said is what the liberal media reported. Those reports were; Romney said culturally Jews were better than Palestinians, and their economy was better because of God.  

Based on the AP/NPR reports the Palestinians labeled Romney racist. Assuming anybody really cares what the Palestinians think of the US election, do the words above seem racist?

The reason for the furor is to paint Mitt Romney as clumsy in foreign policy, to scare liberal Jews away from the GOP, and firm up the liberal Jewish vote for Obama.

Obama and his fellow progressives are flailing around trying to find something, anything to prevent a big chunk of the Jewish vote from going GOP or even staying home, and are worried it could be the difference in close swing states such as Florida, Nevada, or even Pennsylvania.  They are also hoping to bring Jewish donors sitting on the sidelines back into the fold..

Even the White House lost it a bit yesterday.  As a reaction to Romney’s declaration that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, all of a sudden they remembered their policy on Israel’s capital.

The White House lied!  They announced their policy and that of recent presidents is that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel, because final status will be negotiated at the end of a peace deal.

Actually the previous president, George Bush believed that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel but its final borders were to be negotiated.

In 1995 Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act endorsing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and requiring the US Embassy to move to Jerusalem. But Congress gave the executive branch an out, every six months the State Department/President can request and receive an automatic waiver.  A waiver that President Bill Clinton issued to congress every six months as required.

President Bush continued the policy every six months, but in Bush’s case, he inserted into the legal jargon a sentence stating, “My Administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem.” The phrase appeared in all 16 Bush waiver notifications. The Obama administration removed that phrase from their waiver requests.

What does this all add up to? 

One possibility is the the numbers released by Gallup last week about Obama’s margin with Jewish voters (68%-25%) must not agree with the Obama campaign’s internals. All of this mishugas (craziness) indicates the margin is a bit closer than Gallup believes. 

Another possibility is the campaigns panicked about losing Florida and are trying to use the Jewish vote to firm up the state.

Either way the progressive response to Mitt Romney’s trip to Israel is nothing short of frantic and reeks of desperation, or as we say in the mamaloshen (mother tongue) they are acting a bit meshuggah.