Obama, Shaheen, Sununu, Which Doesn't Fit ?

That seems a bit of a reach (0.00 / 0)

The Presidential nominee is a much bigger target, and the statewide news media is not as scurrilous as the national talk jockeys. (What a change since the days of William Loeb!)

Kerry was called a liar who faked his war injuries. If Shaheen were the Presidential nominee I'm sure it would be ugly.

I'm not dismissing the role of racism in the media treatment of Obama - or the role of sexism in its treatment of Clinton. But this particular contrast doesn't seem telling to me.

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by: elwood @ Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 07:31:19 AM CDT

Isn't it really crazy (0.00 / 0)

that both candidates in this very un-diverse have Lebanese last names, even if one is by dint of marriage?

Some newspaper in Lebanon (the real Lebanon, not the Upper Valley) ought to do a human interest story on it.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 12:46:20 PM CDT

In October 2002 (0.00 / 0)

I facilitated a Shaheen/Sununu forum at our Temple in Concord...NBC News thought it telling enough to use the shot of the two at lecterns, with the Tree of Life behind them(Eytz Hayim, as lead for the Nightly News, the Friday night before the 2002 election. Two Arab surnames in an election had not taken place before...same thing for the rematch.  

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 14:38:00 PM CDT

Shaheen vs. Sununu -- Israel and Terrorism (0.00 / 0)

One key difference:  Jeanne Shaheen has been a firm advocate of a Middle East peace process that respects Israel's security, and understands that the terrorist threat it faces is far more real than that confronted by the U.S.

John E. Sununu has the worst record on Israel in the entire U.S. Congress.  Bar none.  He was one of only three Senators to vote agains the Road Map for Peace, and used his Foreign Relations Committee position to hold up a bill that would have denied aid to Hamas-led entities.

If Sununu starts lecturing us on terrorism, we should shove his record right back in his face.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 21:16:23 PM CDT

I agree basically (0.00 / 0)

except the Road Map was a map off a cliff, a Bush League attempt to get disentangled from Sharon's snares...

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 21:31:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Road Map (0.00 / 0)

I have no problem with the concept of the Road Map, but it needed an active and engaged President to drive the plan.  (Not one who gives back rubs to other foreign leaders, mocks his polluting credentials, and offers up nothing more original than a bad nickname or two.)  Sharon wasn't the roadblock.

Still, the fact the Sununu was one of only three senators to vote against a peace initiatve sponsored by the US, EU, and UN speaks volumes about his values.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 21:38:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

no A in Sununu n/t (0.00 / 0)

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 05:58:10 AM CDT

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The Sununus have never been friends of Israel. (0.00 / 0)

In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism, despite the fact that Israel (not the occupied territories, Israel proper) has millions of Arab citizens who are better educated and in much better economic conditions than non-aristocratic Arabs in any other middle east nation.

In 1986, the Governors of forty-nine States signed a proclamation condemning that resolution.  John H. Sununu was the only one who refused.

In 1991, by the way, Sununu's boss, George H. W. Bush, was instrumental in the repeal of the 1975 resolution.  The repeal was sponsored by, among many others, the Soviet Union, which had voted for the 1975 resolution.  It seems they were quicker to see reality than the Sununus...

--
@DougLindner

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 14:49:37 PM CDT

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Yesterday's TOTN/Political Junkie on Political humor & ripostes (0.00 / 0)

emailed from Susan in Media,PA. -"when former Chief of Staff John Sununu was asked why 'people take an instant dislike to him', he answered, "It saves time". (may be apochryphal)
This was a really funny show in spots. 37:00/47:05.5

http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/...

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 19:05:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't know (0.00 / 0)

The Road Map for Peace has been a disaster and one of its outcomes is getting the Palestinian government to become a "Hamas-led entity." I don't know what US policy is on this: whether we like a more democratic Palestine more than we dislike Hamas or vice versa.

I don't know what it means to have the "worst record on Israel." What's good or bad for Israel, in the first place, probably shouldn't be a major concern for a U.S. Senator any more than what's good or bad for any other place; and second, it's way too qualitative. Kadima has a different view about what's good or bad for Israel than, say, Meretz, but no one would say that one or another Israeli political party has the worst record on Israel.

Israel, and really any state, is the ultimate guarantor of its security. It's inconceivable that there could be a Middle East peace process that doesn't respect Israel's security, because Israel wouldn't participate in it.

I have to kind of read between the lines to get a sense of differences between Shaheen and Sununu on policy toward Israel, but I don't think this is a good avenue to attack Sununu on...

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 02:55:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It is and it isn't (0.00 / 0)

I agree with Alex that the Road Map off a cliff made things worse. Terrorism is liberation philosophy to one side, brutality to the other. My cousin emigrated to Israel in 1970 and was for 30 years a member of Peace Now. After years of  war, and bombings,looking under the seat on the bus, she came to support the fence. I was aghast, but I realize that both sides need to compromise and stop killing each other's children. I lay major blame at the feet of the hard line Arab States as well as hard liners in Israel. Remembering that this tiny state, relatively the size of New Jersey, was founded with the memory of 6 million burned and gassed. Many of them  were refugees themselves, stateless people who had nothing to lose in fighting for their survival. Israel was something they could fight for, and renew their spirit by protecting.

Bush's strategy of backing off, being 'asleep at the switch',  as Jane Mayer writes in her new book about 9/11, essentially neutralized any good influence we can bring, and siding with the hardliners in Israel only exacerbated a bad situation.
Both sides have the taste of blood on their tongues.
Its the moderates who hold the key. Bush wasted his Presidency as far as this goes.

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:57:27 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

In Response (4.00 / 2)

To your specific points:

* Obviously, Israel is the ultimate guarantor of its own security, and different Israeli parties hold disparate views on what this means.  I'm hardly endorsing the Likud position.  But Sununu's record is so bad and so isolated that it violates tenets cutting across ALL of these perspectives. . . . This is how I define the "worst record on Israel":

   - Sununu used his position as a member of The Senate Foreign Relations Committee to "hold up The Senate version of a bill imposing strict limits on U.S. aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority" in 2006

   - Sununu was one of only five congressmen who voted not to criticize the UN for passing a virulently anti-Israel resolution

   - Sununu was one of only five congressmen to vote against a bill to investigate the case of three Israeli soldiers (including one U.S. citizen serving in the Israeli army) who have been missing-in-action since 1982

* My comments on the reasons for the Road Map's failure are above.  Worth noting that the 2004 resolution that Sununu voted against (with only two other senators) -- S. Res. 393 -- explicitly backed "efforts to continue working with others in the international community, to build the capacity and will of Palestinian institutions to fight terrorism, dismantle terrorist organizations, and prevent the areas from which Israel has withdrawn from posing a threat to the security of Israel."   The resolution was sponsored by the then-Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate - Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle, respectively.

* Regarding the political implications of this:  Obviously, this doesn't rise to the level of, say, Iraq and the economy.  My assertion above was that Sununu's enabling of Hamas might make an effective rebuttal if he starts lecturing Democrats about terrorism.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:06:19 AM CDT

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