Glenn, I don’t want to assume I “know” what you are trying to say (and then attack you for it, which seems a favorite tactic of some posters here…). As far as I can tell, you aren’t taking a position on who is in the “right” in this conflict. Rather, you are simply pointing out that a) there ARE 2 sides, both with legitimate concerns and grievances, and b) the US Media and political establishment have historically overwhelmingly presented the picture as very one-sided. All you attempt to do is clarify that the sample of data that the media presents tends to be skewed, and to try to “level the playing field” to some extent.

What I find interesting and disturbing is the amount of projection by some of the posters here, especially when the I-P conflict is at issue. It’s exactly what you see when you give people the Rorschach- a set of ambiguous ink-blots. What is “seen” is due to cognitive assumptions and processing by the testee- there is no inherent content in the blots themselves. Thus, folks “see” anti-semetism, terrorism-lovers,, self-hating jews, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

There was a joke about the test- a psychologist shows a patient the first inkblot and asks “what do you see”? He responds “sex”. Second inkblot- “sex”. Third- “really weird sex”, and so on. Finally, the psychologist says “you seem to perceive a lot of sexuality here”. The patient responds:

“Don’t blame me- you’re the one showing me the dirty pictures!”

Stuffing Johnny Chrome and Space Alien up each other's butts. Sort of a psycho-Moebus strip-wingnut kinetic sculpture thing. Try it- always puts a smile on my face!

If the RW said "we don't want abortions- we'lll fund rational sex education and access to contraception", abortions would drop dramaticallly! Instead they do the opposite. Morons, claiming a halo of moral superiority for their stupidity. Please join the dinosaurs ASAP...

to try to reason with these folks. Some percentage of them reallly are crazy in a clinical sense- they utterly reject data that contradicts their belief system. There is a subset of these folks who believe the economy is in trouble because we didn't de-regulate and cut taxes ENOUGH. Needless to say, this group sees it as their holy duty to be obstructionist- since we can't crucify them, I'll settle for making them filibuster till they keel over...

There are probably some congresscritters on the R side who know better, but also know that they have NO chance of re-election unless they toe the party line. I would note the the "deathbed conversions" of folks like Chuck Grassley- when you decide not to run again, you are free to say what you actually think!!!

My read on Obama is that he really thought that the Rs would see the facts and reach across the aisle. I truly think he should roll the dice and play to win- put forth the package he thinks will WORK, dare the Repubs to vote against it, and crucify them in the media when they do. Instead, i fear he will attempt to achieve a "concensus" which will produce a POS comprimise package, then be blamed by the Rbots when it fails.

To rephrase an old joke- "What's the difference between a Republican and a terrorist? Answer- you can negotiate with a terrorist...."

Terkoy:

• “Bush sent tons of money to Africa for AIDS relief

but never gets credit for it.”

Agreed. Proving that you and preznit idjut have something in common. Like the proverbial blind squirrel, both of you find the nut once in a (LONG) while…is there a blue moon tonite?

OK, Winsmith, I'll take a shot. As my old football coach used to say:

“Gentlemen, I’m going to explain this so simply, even YOU can understand it”

Glenn has never said that Israel is the ONLY reason we are involved in the ME, that Israel was behind the invasion of Iraq, etc., etc. What he has said- which is true- is that the US involvement in the I-P conflict has been, and is accurately seen by the rest of the ME, as very one-sided. This is in ADDITION to our long-standing policy of meddling in the ME (remember overthrowing the democratic government of Iran to install the Shah? Shades of trying to manipulate the Gaza elections…)

Because of these actions, the US is seen in the ME as meddling to support our own interests, supporting brutal dictatorships against their own people, while self-righteously holding ourselves up as THE bastion of democracy and human rights. A rational policy in the ME would be actions that lead to us being seen as fair, such as admitting there are 2 sides to the conflict. Whether Obama will take us there remains to be seen…

On a personal note, I have seen your posts in other discussions on Salon and have been struck by your reasoning and critical analysis. It is unfortunate that the “I” word seems to bring out a rigid, non-critical side of you.

Peace Out