John Bolton Calls Israeli Support For Obama ‘Propaganda’

John Bolton

John Bolton — a self-appointed supposed strong supporter of Israel — accused the Israeli government on Tuesday of lying in expressing its support for President Obama.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. produced a video welcoming Obama on his visit this week to the Jewish state. The unusual video depicts cartoon-like versions of the president and Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu shaking hands to the tune of the “Golden Girls” theme song “Thank You For Being A Friend.”

Fox News host Greta Van Susteren wondered why then, if things were so bad between Obama and Israel, that the Israelis would make such a video. Bolton could think of only one answer: It’s propaganda:

VAN SUSTEREN: The Obama administration saying the president’s trip is mostly a fence mending mission, but it looks like [referring tot he video] the Israelis are welcoming him with open arms. Ambassador, what do you think about this?

BOLTON: I’m glad the Israeli government has enough budget surplus that they can produce propaganda like that. The president has Israel back, the bonds are strong. What could possibly go wrong?

Watch the clip:

Israeli President Shimon Peres will give Obama the Presidential Medal of Distinction during his trip to Israel this week. As Bolton would have it, that’s probably a bogus gesture as well.

But the former Bush administration U.N. ambassador is a regular in the Obama-hates-Israel circuit, the presumption being of course that Bolton is more friendly to the Jewish state than Obama is. But apparently that friendship doesn’t go too far as there’s nothing like having a good buddy who calls you a liar on national television.

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Gingrich dismisses call for assault-weapons ban as ‘propaganda’

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Sunday dismissed the term “assault weapon” as “propaganda” and said banning more weapons would not stem gun violence.

“The term ‘assault weapon’ is propaganda,” said Gingrich on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Any true military weapon is illegal, has been illegal since 1934. Somebody’s using an AK-47, they are using an illegal weapon because it is an automatic weapon. We do not allow people to buy automatic weapons unless they have a very strict collector’s license.”

In the wake of last month’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Conn., President Obama is pressing lawmakers to ban the sale of military-style semi-automatic weapons and high capacity clips, as well as institute universal background checks.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) last week introduced a sweeping bill which would ban over 150 different semi-automatic weapons, but the bill faces tough opposition.

Gingrich on Sunday said that proposals to ban such firearms would do little to prevent future shootings.

“The person who killed the most persons – at Virginia Tech – used two pistols. And the fact is that every political attack since John F. Kennedy as president has involved a weapon which would be legal under Sen. Feinstein’s law,” said Gingrich.

“We need to look at facts, not create propaganda,” he added.

Appearing on the same program, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said that the focus on a weapons ban distracted lawmakers from addressing the root causes of gun violence. 

“I understand the senator’s passion on this, but I have to tell you an assault ban is not the answer,” she said of the Feinstein proposal.

“When I hear some of this conversation, I think we are looking at symptoms, we are not looking at root causes,” said Blackburn, who encouraged more attention to mental health issues and security at schools.

“The Speaker is right, you look at what’s actually causing the problem,” she added.  “Don’t just go say ‘we’re going to do an assault weapon ban and that is going to solve the problem.’”

Asked if he would support universal background checks, Gingrich instead pointed to the White House and said they had failed to prosecute those with criminal records caught trying to purchase firearms. 

“Well we have background checks now and there are a substantial number of felons who have actually applied to purchase a gun and the Obama administration to the best of my knowledge has prosecuted virtually none of them,” said Gingrich.

“There’s a parental desire to have the innocent have a more complicated life because of a handful of the guilty, instead of focusing on the guilty,” he said.

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Schumer Rips GOP Senator’s Pro-Gun Propaganda: ‘That Just Is Dumb’

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) debunked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’s pro gun advocacy during a debate on Meet the Press this Sunday, dismissing his arguments as “just dumb.”

Discussing his opposition to President Obama’s gun safety plan, Cruz suggested that increasing gun access among poor women in urban neighborhoods could reduce violent crime, argued that an assault weapon ban would be unconstitutional and accused the administration of exploiting the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut to advance a “partisan agenda.” Schumer, a long-time gun safety advocate fired back. He pointed out that the Supreme Court decision in DC v. Heller established an individual right to bear arms, but gave the government wide latitude to regulate guns:

SCHUMER: Heller also said that there should be reasonable limitations, that they’re allowed reasonable limitations. I don’t think that lady needs an assault weapon. I don’t think she needs a 100-round clip. I don’t think, for instance, that those things would help her in any way. So so to say she has a right to bear arms: yes. To say, just like on the first amendment — we say you can’t scream “fire” in a crowd falsely, we have anti-pornography laws, anti-libel laws. There are reasonable limitations. And the NRA [National Rifle Association], in many instances, doesn’t believe in any limitation at all. That’s not unconstitutional. That just is dumb.

Watch it:

Indeed, to quote Justice Scalia’s decision in Heller, “nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” The ruling also allows limitations on ownership of “dangerous and unusual” weapons — like, for example, the ones restricted in assault weapons bans.

Moreover, the idea that poor urban neighborhoods would be helped by easier access to guns has it exactly backwards. David Kennedy, an expert on urban gun violence at City University of New York, has found that lax gun laws unequivocally contribute heavily to violence in cities: “The more we have learned about how concentrated gun offending is – this is, for all practical purposes, entirely a problem of seasoned criminal offenders – gang activity and drug market activity and robbery, homicide, all that sort of thing – the more evident it’s become that there are these very commonsense ways of intervening with them to quite dramatically sometimes reduce their violence. And the commonsense package on this has always been to work both sides. You do something about how to get guns and you do something about how they use guns.”

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Neocons Promote Iranian Propaganda In Anti-Hagel Campaign

The neocon smear machine failed to prevent Chuck Hagel’s nomination as the next Secretary of Defense as President Obama announced on Monday that the former GOP senator is his choice to succeed Leon Panetta at the Pentagon. Fresh off their defeat, it seems like the neocons are getting desperate in their efforts to derail Hagel’s bid.

The Iranians today responded to the Hagel nomination and used it to take a backhanded slap at the United States: “We hope there will be practical changes in American foreign policy and that Washington becomes respectful of the rights of nations,” the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said.

“Hagel nomination cheers Iran, worries Israel” a CBS headline to the story read, and with that, the neocons gleefully promoted Iran’s participation:

CBS: ‘Hagel Nomination Cheers Iran, Worries Israel’: CBS reports: bit.ly/WsZLIn

— weeklystandard (@weeklystandard) January 8, 2013

Hagel nomination cheers Iran, worries Israel cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-5… via @cbsnews

— Keep America Safe (@KeepAmericaSafe) January 8, 2013

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was previously Hagel’s best friend in the Senate but now has concerns about his nomination, tweeted out the the story as well, which AEI’s Danielle Pletka retweeted.

And if that CBS headline sounds a bit misleading, it is. The one worried Israeli the story quoted was a right-wing Likud Party member. In another piece on what Israelis think of the Hagel pick, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said of the Nebraska Republican: “I have met him many times, and he certainly regards Israel as a true and natural U.S. ally.”

The first question we have is: who cares what Iran thinks about Chuck Hagel? But it’s sad the neocons have become so desperate in their anti-Hagel smear campaign that they’re now promoting anti-American propaganda from Iran’s foreign ministry to make their case.

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