This is one hell of an article by Politico, reminiscent of something from late 1930’s Germany
Progressives face an existential threat from AIPAC. And there’s nothing to stop it.
Progressive Democrats just watched pro-Israel super PACs spend jaw-dropping sums to wipe out two top liberals in Congress. And leaders fear they have no way to stop it from happening again in 2026.
Those groups, chiefly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC, spent a combined $25 million on ads to defeat Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) this summer in what became the two most expensive House primaries ever. As a result, two more mainstream Democrats, George Latimer in New York and Wesley Bell in Missouri, are advancing in safe blue districts rather than two stalwart progressive voices.
After both Bowman and Bush crumbled under that avalanche of spending, prompted by their criticism of Israel in the country’s war with Hamas, progressive Democrats have awoken to a bleak new reality that could haunt them for years to come: They have no organized way to counter that kind of money. And they fear AIPAC and allied groups will be more empowered to take on even bigger targets next cycle and beyond because they know their strategy works.
“I think they smell success,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said of AIPAC in an interview with POLITICO. “The point is not just them going after Jamaal and Cori, which is terrible. It is the intimidating presence they have over every member of Congress. … It bothers me that there hasn’t been more outrage.”
How dare those Jews go after elected officials which hate Israel and Jews and support Islamic terrorist groups! All that’s missing from this article is a caricature of a big nosed, shady looking Jew stealing money from the mouths of babies.
What Sanders and others have grimly surmised is that they have no way to match AIPAC’s power, with no big-money fundraising machine and no powerful nationwide door-knocking operation. And while progressives boast large numbers and significant power in Congress, they fear that those pro-Israel super PACs will continue to target high-profile lawmakers one by one, as well as quash new liberal candidates in open seats who the PACs also see as overly critical of Israel. That could make it harder to grow their ranks and potentially silence those already elected, particularly on support for Palestine, a galvanizing issue for younger liberal voters especially.
They’re afraid they won’t be able to discuss Jew/Israel hatred and support of Islamic terrorists with their unhinged base. And, come on, Democrats have plenty of deep pocketed groups and individuals who have spent huge amounts of cash on Democrat support. They’re just upset that someone did it back to them.
“The movement is going to have to do some deep soul searching,” said Nina Turner, a prominent progressive who lost her own House primary three years ago to an AIPAC-backed challenger. “The progressive movement has to show up in a deeper way. It did not.”
Turner, along with other progressive Democrats, say the left has no choice but to start organizing their own counterweight specifically focused on combating the pro-Israel money, adding: “So the movement itself is going to have to adjust very quickly.”
Well, maybe if those elected officials weren’t supporting Hamas and Islamic extremists who want to eradicate Jews and Israel they wouldn’t be targeted.
Another rising progressive, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), strategically avoided a well-funded challenge, in part, by working with Jewish communities in her district. She bowed out of an event with a Muslim group after backlash over antisemitic comments made by other speakers. But Omar, Tlaib and others are only safe because the pro-Israel groups couldn’t land challengers they felt were worth backing.
“They’ll pick, and they’ll choose,” Sanders said, summarizing AIPAC’s strategy. And he warned it would have a chilling effect on Democrats willing to talk about sensitive issues — particularly against Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Yes, a chilling effect on American elected officials taking the side of a US State Department designated terrorist organization. Hitler would approve of this article. When will American Jews realize that most Democrats are no friends of theirs?
Are they implying that Jews, in particular, can buy elected offices through spending? Isn’t there a role for voters who live in that district to, you know, VOTE? Maybe all those years of Democratic party rule have jaded Democrats and they just expect that elections get bought all the time as the way things are done. Like when Gov Blagovitch sold Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat in Illinois. There have been plenty of post-mortem studies after elections to show that high spending does not automatically lead to election wins. Maybe high spending in Democratic party primaries works differently. It would be interesting to see where the money is spent. TV adverts? Payoffs to activist groups? Payoffs to supporting elected officials? “Walking around money”? Payoffs to party machinery workers? Where do Democrats get such a jaded view of “Democracy”? Do they think their normal way of doing things is just fine as long as it isn’t “jews” benefiting from it?
But it’s totes okay when the Hamas-loving jew-haters do it.
Maybe the democrats in the media are worried that the democrats in AIPAC are spending too much of their Democrat money on electing democrats in the primary and will have less money to support democrats in the general election. Not my monkeys. Shine on you crazy democrat diamonds. Spend as much as you like on defeating some democrats and supporting others. That is democracy at work. No doubt more money will magically appear in time for the general election. After all, all that “inflation reduction” and “Green infrastructure” money went somewhere.
To clarify, AIPAC is a pro-Israel lobbying organization. They lobby Congress to continue the financial and military support of Israel.
They pour exorbitant amounts of money to defeat representatives who question or oppose Israel-United States relationship. Fair enough. That’s how our system now works.
And of course, our far-right brethren label any American who questions any aspect of the US-Israel relationship as anti-Semitic, while actually every far-rightist is anti-Semitic. The “good people” on Trump’s side shouted, “Jews Won’t Replace Us!” at their Unite the Right riot. Rightists loves Israel while shunning American Jews.
During the Bush II administration Israeli spy Lawrence Franklin (he worked for Dept of Defense officials Wolfowitz and Feith) funneled sensitive information to AIPAC employees Steve J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, who relayed the information to our ally, Israel. AIPAC fired Rosen and Weissman. A search of Franklin’s home found over 80 classified documents (fewer than citizen Trump had!!). Franklin was convicted and sentenced to 12 years.
AIPAC is NOT pro-United States, they lobby for Israel’s interests. Fair enough. It’s how our system works.
To quote Ronald Reagan, “There you go again!” Our misguided Missourian wrote:
Emphasis mine. Now, our esteemed host happens to have a logo, “Right Wing Extremists of the U.S.A.” logo in his near sidebar, near the top, so I think it fair to consider the distinguished Mr Teach as having self-identified as a “far-rightist,” one of those about whom the apparently agitated Mr Dowd wrote, “every far-righist is anti-Semitic.” Who here, other than Mr Dowd, finds Mr Teach to be anti-Semitic?
Mr Dowd has made much of the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlotteville, but here he has conflated one rally as defining “every far-rightist.” Yes, some marchers did chant, “Jews will not replace us!” but how many people were really doing so?
Do you know whom the “far-rightists” support? Yeah, that would be Donald Trump, he with a Jewish son-in-law and Jewish-convert daughter, both of whom he trusted with significant influence in his first term. President Trump moved our embassy to Jerusalem, and had his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, lead the negotiations which produced the Abraham Accords between Israel and three Islamic nations.
If Mr Dowd reads my website, he has at least not yet commented there. I, too, have used that “Right-Wing Extremists of the U.S.A.” symbol, though only to illustrate an occasional story, rather than as a permanent fixture on my site. Does Mr Dowd assume that I’m one of those “every far-rightist (who) is anti-Semitic”? Has anyone here seen any evidence that I am one of those evil anti-Semites?
It seems to me that our good sage from St Louis has, in his despair that two anti-Semites lost their primary elections, due in part to the outside money funneled into the opponents’ campaigns, has forgotten just how little he, and the rest of the left, were gleeful about all of the outside money which went to Democratic candidates in the 2018 and 2020 congressional campaigns.
He might be right. None of us even know any “far right” people. The political spectrum must be a circle, not a line, so the “Far right” and the “Far Left” are the same people. Jeff would know them. No one I know is afraid of “jews replacing us”. There aren’t that many Jews to go around. And now that we know all of those groups have a dedicated member in the employ of a federal agency, aren’t they actually all controlled by the “Jews”? Who knows! I know a few Jewish people. They seem fairly competent but don’t seem to be part of a larger conspiracy to control anything, not even the HOA. All this stuff that Jeff is constantly ranting about isn’t part of my reality so it’s easy for me to not care if it is true. If it is a part of your own special reality, you likely care more about it.
Similarly, Jeff wants to disarm the American population because we can’t be trusted with guns. Turns out, the people Jeff knows CAN’T be trusted with guns, or authority, or political power. The people I know aren’t a threat to me no matter how many guns, authority or political power they have bacause people like me don’t misuse those things to oppress others. Jeff hangs out with other democrats and they are some pretty evil and oppressive people. He knows his own kind and that shapes how he sees everyone.
One thing is certain. If you are at your local “Far right” meeting and some guy stands up and suggests taking a governor hostage, he’s an FBI agent.
Porter’s Uncle Hate claims Jeff wants to disarm the American population because we can’t be trusted with guns.
I actually own lots of guns! Rifles, shotguns and even handguns.
Duh. Our conservative brethren and their supportive gun manufacturers claim our homicide rate proves we need more protection! That said, Jeff does not want to disarm the American population. As said previously our immature horniness for “Army guns” facilitates our crazed mass murderers, and the conservative claims of a homicide epidemic has fueled sales of semi-auto handguns which, ironically, are used for most of random homicides!!
Americans have always been a violent people, especially for a people blessed with resources and a healthy democracy. The homicide rate has actually dropped in past 30 years from the modern high.
No one outside the military and police need AR style auto and semi-auto rifles. A complete ban will never happen or work so it’s no longer worthy of discussion.
Same with semi-auto pistols. There are too many out there.
chicken Little Karen Man
Americans have always been a violent people, especially for a people blessed with resources and a healthy democracy. The homicide rate has actually dropped in past 30 years from the modern high.
I wonder if you have considered that the survival of gun shots is probably because of the increase in medical procedures, quicker transport to a trauma center, etc., ec.
Chicken Little Lewy Lewy,
Good point.
Mr Dana and Mr Hate each wrote a volume defending the accusation of right-wing anti-Semitism! Ouch. Must have touched a nerve. “Old Don‘s son-in-law is Jewish!!”
Yet, right-wingers accuse Vice President Harris of being anti-Semitic although she married a Jewish man.
Ask any Jewish-American how they feel about the drumbeat of Christian Nationalism coming from the MAGAts.
Porter’s Uncles Hate and Dana know, as I do, that Jews won’t replace us. They’ll claim the deep seated distrust of “liberal Hollywood” and “liberal media” has nothing to do with the dominance of Jews. As Porter does, they will claim Jewish-Americans are stupid or naive for overwhelmingly supporting Democratic candidates. As Porter does, they will claim that Muslims are a greater threat to Jewish-Americans than are right-wing nuts like Robert Bowers and John Earnest. The Palestinian-supporting asswipes who threatened Jewish-Americans and students should be dealt with according to the school policies and/or laws.
Because of the authoritarianism, christian exceptionalism and extremism long associated with the conservative movements in the United States, Jewish-Americans have resisted Republican overtures. Jewish-Americans have a lot to lose from Christian nationalism.
Finally, I supported the admirable Mr Wesley Bell against Representative Cori Bush. Yes, AIPAC financed ads against Bush, which is perfectly legal. I believe Bell will be a more significant representative for Missouri and the St Louis area.
Would the Republicans tolerate an anti-Republican billion dollar lobbying/election organization aligned strictly dedicated to advancing the desires of a single foreign country?
Well at least Rimjob can brag that they beat El Paso.
Work less harder!
LOL! Our sage from St Louie has engaged in that liberal meme known as kafkatrapping:
A Kafka trap is a fallacy where if someone denies being x it is taken as evidence that the person is x since someone who is x would deny being x. The name is derived from the novel The Trial by the Czech writer Franz Kafka.
Pointing out the huge flaw in your argument is hardly ‘touch(ing) a nerve,’ but pointing out the flaw in your argument. You did say, “every far-righist is anti-Semitic”, did you not? Your statement would be demonstrably false if there were only one “far rightist” who was not anti-Semitic, and I pointed out more than one.
I also pointed out that, not only was his statement demonstrably false, but that he was taking what was a fairly small rally, and conflating it to every sensible person, as “far-rightist(s)” in general are the most sensible Americans out there. That’s how debates are conducted.
Just deny you’re a far-rightist.
Far-rightists in general are the most sensible Americans out there. LOL.
The Wesley Bell supporter from Missouri asked:
I cannot recall Republicans trying to ban CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which pretty much fits you bill. What about the organizations out there lobbying for more and more and more money for Ukraine, certainly a single foreign country. We’ve had members of the Irish Republican Army, which wants to take over Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, address Congress, but if I don’t support their aims, I don’t want to see them banned.
The Cori Bush opponent from North Tennessee equates CAIR’s budget with the AIPAC war chest of at least $100 million to defeat liberal Dems.
Does CAIR run ads against MAGAts? Not that I know of.
Since there is no such political group as a MAGAT we could not know if they run ads against them. CAIR does run ads against Americans and since we consider ourselves American then yes they do.
Discussion would be easier if you didn’t lay word traps for us in every sentence. BTW, the AIPAC war chest is to defeat anti Semites. It’s bi partisan so of course you would hate it since you’re a commie partisan.
chicken Little Karen Man
Americans have always been a violent people, especially for a people blessed with resources and a healthy democracy. The homicide rate has actually dropped in past 30 years from the modern high.
I wonder if you have considered that the survival of gun shots is probably because of the increase in medical procedures, quicker transport to a trauma center, etc., ec.