The criticism of the fact that a small minority of Jews seem to dictate what is seen as "Jewish policy" is extremely valid. How frauds like Joe Lieberman are considered "Jewish opinion," when vast majorities of American Jews oppose the war, vote democratic, etc., is a great key to how our broken media shapes narrative.

Why isn't Russ Feingold's opposition to the war "Jewish" opinion?

Barbara Boxer? Chuck Schumer? Carl Levin? Barney Frank? Soon to be senator Al Franken?

What I think Glenn misses is that those on the left who criticize wingnut radicals who defend Israel and happen to be Jewish differently than wingnut radicals who are not Jewish, is where there are legitimate slippages into historical anti-Semitism, conscious or not.

The notion of covert Jewish power working to manipulate America into a war for Israel is complete and utter bullshit.

If you took every Jewish Neo-Con out of the equation, the Bush/Cheney/Rice/Rumsfield foolishness would still have taken place.

This was a war of stupidity based on arrogance, infallibility and notions of manifest destiny writ global.

To ascribe it to "Jewish influence" is where things get ugly on the left.

Glenn is correct to observe that wingnuts use Anti-Semitism as a shield from legitimate criticism.

But he is incorrect to downplay the very real presence on the left of Jewish conspiracy theories, vis a vis the great "Leo Strauss" (this century's Marx-is-a-Jew, I suppose) on down.

Brian Williams is central casting -- WASPY, with nice hair and teeth. He's a "Journalist" in the same way that Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger are politicians. They look the part.

It's only natural that a man whose entire career is pretending to be a sober, serious journalist by play-acting the part would gravitate to the political party that most rewards acting/theater in its leaders.

No wonder Williams loves Peggy Noonan. She's playing "everywoman housewife" dressup with as much fradulence as Brian William's objectivity.

I love when wingnut Christians claim they follow the laws of God.

Hows about the VERY FIRST COMMANDMENT -- Thou Shalt Covet No Other Gods But One.

Then these nutbags turn around and pray to Jesus Christ.

Asswipes, the ENTIRE POINT of the First Commandment was to prevent humans from claiming to be God.

Santorum's dog sex fantasies remain a topic of hilarity, though.

Glenn, the breakdown in communication here is that what you think of as TV news is not what they think of as TV news.

You think of TV news as having a moral and ethincal responsibility to the public good to function oppositionally to the government in a search for truth.

They, and by they I mean actors like Brian Williams, see TV "news" as a show. It's entertainment. It's ratings. It's Mary Tyler Moore meets reality TV. It's WKRP meets TMZ.

Of course I agree with you. I think news has an obligation to the public trust.

I'm just saying that when you say "news" and they say "news," you're talking about fact-based public trust, and they're talking about "Thatttts Entertainnnnment!!"

Government Generals dressed up as "experts"? It's all part of the show.

To them, it's like complaining the FBI agents on 24 aren't real FBI agents.

Who cares? They look the part.

As a strong supporter of Israel and a liberal, I don't see why, despite the usual repugnant right wing use of terminology and outright lying, asking Obama's stance on Israel isn't germane?

At least they're not smearing flag pins and pastor issues.

Obama, just like John McCain, deserves to be grilled on his stance on foreign governments like Israel.

I've noted many times on this board that many elements of the left does contain an ugly anti-Semitic undercurrent -- that Israel doesn't deserve the right to exist, that all Neocons are part of a grand Jewish conspiracy to bankrupt America to help Israel, etc.

That sort of nonsense rears itself on the left all the time. It's far and away the ugliest embedded racist strain we have.

Republicans hate Mexicans, gays, Muslims, blacks, women who dare to think, single mothers, and pretty much every other non-white non-Christian group.

But some liberal democrats have ugly anti-Jewish conspiracy theory impulses that are just as gross as the Lou Dobbs venom towards Latino immigrants.

I'm not excusing the wingnut nonsense, but they're probing a real issue -- anti-Semitism on the left.

Obama's clearly not anti-Semitic, and the fact they'll try to smear him as such speaks to their intellectual dishonesty and fraudulence, but it doesn't deny the germ of truth -- this is a real issue on our side.