mediamattersaction.org/blog/201003120004

...The triumphant Biden trip was triumphant no more. Suddenly the Vice President looked like he was set up, like a sucker (or "freier," to use the Israeli term for the easily duped).

Biden was furious. According to Yedioth Achronoth, he told the Israelis: "What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace."

All this led to an unprecedented US condemnation of Israel's behavior. Speaking of his immediate reaction to Israel's plan to expand settlements, Biden later said, "I, at the request of President Obama, condemned it immediately and unequivocally." Speaking at the White House, Robert Gibbs also condemned the Israeli plans...

It gets better.

...The good news is that not all crises are bad; some are the necessary prelude to recovery.

Biden put it like this in a speech before students at Tel Aviv University. After restating his condemnation of the settlements (which was cheered by the students), he said:

"...sometimes only a friend can deliver the hardest truth...."

And that truth is that the United States, at long last, must "hold both sides accountable for any statements or any actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks...."

He then stated unambiguously that America intends to reconcile "the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the '67 lines...and Israel's goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders...."

The amazing thing is that this goal is closer today than it was before Biden's trip.

That is because, for the first time in memory, the United States flat-out condemned Israel's embrace of the settlement enterprise. The administration's condemnation was issued without regard to the viability of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition or the uproar that would be instigated by the lobby and its allies in Congress.

Biden also stated, to an Israeli audience, that the Palestinian state must be viable, contiguous, and would encompass the territories won during the '67 war. And he indicated unprecedented support for Palestinian aspirations, on an equal par with Israel's security.

Groundbreaking words...

The enormity of Israeli stupidity this past week during Biden's visit was an awesome display of the senseless, imbecility Zionists are famous for.

but can Biden deliver the congress?? which is where all this good stuff gets lost.

Would be interested as to what Biden might "deliver" vis a vis "the congress." The "good stuff?" It seems the "good stuff" is merely a reiteration of the obvious - that the Israelis will do whatever they believe is best for Israel. Not a difficult concept.

Michael wrote:

but can Biden deliver the congress?? which is where all this good stuff gets lost.

As always, Michael concisely poses a good question that gets to the nub of of most people's doubts of resolving the I/P issue.

No doubt the bought whores in the US Congress will be stumbling all over themselves sucking up to the Israeli Lobby in a few weeks, with some vociferously championing the Zionist thugocracy in the Levant. Nonetheless, Congress has long ceased being the effectual check and balance against the encroachment of executive powers envisioned in the US constitution, and will one day not far off be limited to merely domestic issues.

As for its principal raison d'etre, fiscal powers and oversight, SecDef Gate's has already successfully dictated to Congressmen what they will fund or not. Corporate leaders and Congressmen are no longer the top dogs calling the shots in the so called military/industrial complex. Its the bottom rail that's on top now, the evolving 'national security state' Eisenhower warned the fools their weaning greed and corruptions would create. And that evolving 'state' is not preferential to Israel.

Congress is only capable of delaying the inevitable. It cannot prevent it. Hillary rightly perceived the diminishment of Congressional powers and bailed out of the Senate into the S/S slot for precisely those reasons. Unless a politician is anointed by the power elite (like Obama was), not party elite (which didn't get him elected), a 'national security state' role and profile is now the only guaranteed path to the presidency.

Hillary will likely have to abide a Biden presidency, but if she continues to play her cards right she stands a good chance of becoming president. Getting tough with Israel and her merciless haranguing Netanyahu for 45 minutes on the hot-line, with nary a word uttered in edgewise for his defense, stands her in good measure with the chieftains in the expanding NSC.

Ah, yes, the 'ster is on display with his resentment of America's support for the Jewish State of Israel. We await his explanation of precisely how the President intends to transform the "expanding NSC" into his dreamed of "national security state." Could it be that the President doesn't see things like the 'ster? Could it be that the 'ster is struggling with practical matters re assigned bullshit quotients?

Robster

hope you are right about congress, as you know I don't hold much hope for this situation, but listening to Netanyahu pour gasoline on a fire is a bit much....its like he's trying goad the world into a negative response. Most intelligent people know that there is no existential threat to Israel.

Israel has an existential enemy. Itself. In spades.

Purposely humiliating the Obama regime because it dares to continue pursuing a two/state I/P solution is incredibly stupid. This behavior of publicly stiffing its benefactor and patron, that one 'great power' that's the principal reason for its founding and continuing existence has enraged the thugocracy's friends in the US, even in Congress. The US simply has no choice regarding that I/P solution, which in the end this US regime or another will force one way or the other. The Israelis had best start waking up fast and smelling the coffee before its too late.

The same geo/political/strategic/economic drivers causing the above are driving the long term establishment of strategic relations with Iraq, normalized relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and finishing up loose ends in Afghanistan. Its America's enemies who desire the US to be embroiled in endless conflict with Islam, fail, or runaway. The fact that Iraq is stabilizing and reconstructing is pure horror to those who have predicted the downfall of the US in the desert sands of Mesopotamia.

The US House of Representatives has just recently demonstrated its incredible capacity for shoving 9 yards of cock up its own ass, by passing a worthless resolution out of a House committee condemning the Turks over the Armenian genocide. All the 'principles' in the Obama presidency have condemned the action (Gates scathingly) putting US/Turkish relations in jeopardy, killed the Turkish/Armenian Protocols normalizing relations between the two counties and insured Turkey's fierce opposition to Iranian sanctions. A truly brilliant move that points directly to the corrosive influence of foreign interests, lobbies and surprise...surprise - Israeli media reports the:

'Jewish lobby behind U.S. Armenia genocide vote'
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154423.html

Its this kind of corruption or what others define as treason that's makes fools of Congressmen and undermines and weakens legitimate Congressional powers in the affairs of diplomacy and foreign policy. The Israeli purpose wasn't to punish Turkey as the article asserts, but to create greater burdens and conflicts between America's allies hoping such would hamper and put paid to US efforts regarding the I/P issue. All that has been achieved is a lot of noise, widening the divide between Israel and Turkey, inflaming resentments against Israel and its front groups in the US, and led to Congressional humiliation backing down from an enraged executive branch that more or less told them to go @#$% themselves.

The only dangerous development is that last of the above outcomes, since many in the US 'national security state' are convinced Congressional oversight of diplomacy and foreign policy have become anachronistic prerogatives and grave threats to the republic. Some of the foreign policy papers I have read concerning solutions to this perceived problem would confirm the worst fears & nightmares of US constitutionalists.

"Its America's enemies who desire the US to be embroiled in endless conflict with Islam, fail, or runaway." (Robster) - No, it has been American imperialists that have brought the US into conflict with Islam. No American troops in the Middle East = no Muslims in the Middle East shooting Americans, and no Americans shooting Muslims there. We recognize, of course, that there are Americans odd birds such as Robster who support the imperialists while also supporting traitorous Muslim/Americans such as CAIR operatives.

Meanwhile, the Israelis will continue to build homes, schools, etc. on land they claim as their own, much to the chagrin of Arabs who claim the same lands. But the Muslims don't wish to talk to the Israelis about it, preferring instead to whine about Israel. Americans see the Arab Palestine leadership for what it is - folks who really wish to destroy Israel, not coexist in a separate state.

less some of your metaphors, I basically agree,

what I think we are dealing with although it appears to be stupidity is more accurately described as habitual naiveté.

Congress is misreading its own populous, which if the Americans I met on my recent trip across the South is any indication is upset with themselves for being sucked in by congress/media BS. Being angry at yourself is different than being angry at politicians.

Heard people actually say, maybe socialism isn't so bad after all, seems to work in a few places and compared to how ripped off they are feeling towards corporatism. The mood of disgust was stunning.

don't know how deep it runs or how long it will last or whether it will affect politics in the long run...........but if congress bets on the status quo on this and some other issues, you could see some big turnovers on both sides of the house.

Though the Republican and Democrat parties are tying low around an average 25% approval rating in national polls of registered and likely voters, those same voters identify as Independents 37%, Democrats 32% and Republican 24%.

Now Congress as an institution has always historically ranked somewhere between shit and syphilis in the estimation of Americans. Hell, at the dawn of the republic the Continental Army would have marched on Congress had it not been for Gen Washington's disapproval. Currently, Congress sits at a low 19% national approval rating.

Now the real miracle story is Obama ranks them all at an average 49% despite all the economic crises, wars and blunders he inherited from the previous several administrations, though of course the Bushite legacy would have been enough to destroy any following President. Considering his challenges and fumbles I am surprised his popularity isn't lower.

Anecdotal evidence is not as reliable as statistical evidences even when such is true or verifiable. This is doubly true in the US where no where else in the universe is talk so cheap.

And socialism has been a raging success in the US for decades. We just call it by other names like regulatory agencies, educational grants, medicaid, medicare, social security, private and corporate welfare, etc. Recently some guy in a funny suit was running around selling a book the size of an encyclopedia explaining all the free goodies a US citizen could get from Uncle Sugar.

And of all the political factions I think the most preposterous are the paleo conservatives who are fighting a battle lost long before any of them were born. And the most interesting paradox is listening to an American bray about liberty, private property, limited government, fiscal responsibility and on and on, but tell him/her we are going to eliminate medicare and watch the fool go ballistic, defending tooth and nail a program that's anathema to their espoused beliefs and principals.

Republicans are making a ton of hay out of a few off-cycle elections and pundits are comparing the upcoming 2010 midterms to 1994 and 1939, when repubs swept up majorities in both chambers of Congress. Now there will be a correction reflecting the true state of party demographics in the House and a few seats in the Senate in November, because all politics are truly local in the midterms as opposed to the quadrennial or national election, when the national parties are slugging it out for the White House.

So big claims are being made for November and I don't believe any of them. First of all Obama is not Clinton and the American people today are an alien race compared to the Americans of the depression era. Finally, in the midterms barely a quarter or less of the American people who are eligible actually vote. In other words, the next election is an entirely partisan affair in which independents mostly don't participate.

Republicans have got to change the numbers. If they enter into the fall elections with the above statistical averages they will fail miserably in achieving their exalted electoral task of taking over the Congress. Personally, beyond retaking traditional bailiwicks I don't believe the repubs can do it and will fall far short of expectations.