More Rahm Stuff--Ketubah, and a Joke My Mother Tells Better Than I Can

First two names on New Republic's Obama's power list are David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel who supported Hillary till June 4, the AIPAC convention, then jumped, and obviously suffered no consequences. Some guys have all the fun. TNR points out that Axelrod signed Emanuel's ketubah, the Jewish wedding document (when he intermarried and she converted). I.e., they're tight, nothing's going wrong here, boychick. First 3 of 6 on the list are Jewish. You'd think that maybe Mr. Obama could sign up David Frum as a speechwriter? That would be nice.

My friend Rupa Shah sent me this piece from Wayne Madsen's website (for subscribers only): Madsen says that Obama may face a security issue with Emanuel since "informed U.S. intelligence sources [say] that prospective Barack Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has an active FBI counter-intelligence file maintained on him... Questions about Emanuel's links to the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, were allegedly so great that President Bill Clinton was forced to dismiss Emanuel from the White House staff in 1998."

I never go in for the Mossad stuff because the dual loyalty stuff is so much in plain sight that looking for the secret connection is a little pointless. There's an old Jewish joke about a rich kid who's carried up to a Catskills hotel on a pillow by a servant--my mother will say I'm telling this wrong--and a yenta says, "Oh my, the poor boy can't walk." The rich kid's mother overhears it and says, "Thank god he doesn't have to." That's like Emanuel being a Mossad agent. Why would he have to? 

Update: I think I should have been more emphatic. I think this is nuts, without substantiation.

Comments

[LeaNder]

astutely observed. As it would be interesting to hear Mom Weiss' modification of the joke. ;)

[Glenn Condell]

'I never go in for the Mossad stuff because the dual loyalty stuff is so much in plain sight that looking for the secret connection is a little pointless.'

That's like saying 'I never go in for that CIA involvement in foreign government stuff, because the IMF/Washington consensus stuff is so much in plain sight that looking for the secret connection is a little pointless.' Or like saying in the 50s 'I never go in for that Communist spies in foreign government stuff, because the Reds' international proselytising is so much in plain sight that looking for the secret connection is a little pointless.'

Or maybe 'I never go in for that concentration camp stuff, because the Nazi's anti-semitism is in such plain sight, that looking for...' you get the picture.

The palpable but apparently benign public face of a mission does not preclude the existence of a less obvious but essential corollary effort, under the radar. So far from being mutually exclusive, there must be ample opportunity for them to be complementary, each giving succour to and providing cover for the other. If you think that that part of the effort which can be identified immediately is the whole enchilada, you are being naive. And useful.

Nothing to see here, let's move on...

[D.]

If Madsen's info is correct and Clinton was forced to dump Emanuel, a man whom the current administration is being forced to accept, what does that say about the direction things are going?

[JOHN DICKERSON]

The pictures of Rahm whispering in Barack's ear remind me of all those photos of Rove whispering in Bush's ear.

[Roy Belmont]

That's like Emanuel being a Mossad agent. Why would he have to?
-
Because he's short, and Jewish, and wanted to be James Bond.

[Roy Belmont]

And his father.

[dana]

Question: does anyone know what Rahm actually believes in? I mean other than power brokering for the democrats, and holding a candle for israel (right or wrong) has he mentioned - or spoke much of any specific ideas, among those usually associated with democrats?

Funny but i did not see anything mentioned anywhere about his convictions....

Also I thought he stayed neutral in the Hillary-Obama race, though it would hardly surprise me to hear he supported - unofficially - Hillary. She was, after all, the establishment candidate, and he was always nothing if not establishment.

[dana]

Question: does anyone know what Rahm actually believes in? I mean other than power brokering for the democrats, and holding a candle for israel (right or wrong) has he mentioned - or spoke much of any specific ideas, among those usually associated with democrats?

Funny but i did not see anything mentioned anywhere about his convictions....

Also I thought he stayed neutral in the Hillary-Obama race, though it would hardly surprise me to hear he supported - unofficially - Hillary. She was, after all, the establishment candidate, and he was always nothing if not establishment.

[JOHN DICKERSON]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/06/campaign.computers.hacked/

From CNN Senior Producer Kevin Bohn and CNN Correspondent Brian Todd

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Computers at the headquarters of the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns were hacked during the campaign by a foreign entity looking for future policy information, a source with knowledge of the incidents confirms to CNN.

The source said the computers were hacked mid-summer by either a foreign government or organization.

Another source, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation, says federal investigators approached both campaigns with information the U.S. government had about the hacking, and the campaigns then hired private companies to mitigate the problem.

U.S. authorities, according to one of the sources, believe they know who the foreign entity responsible for the hacking is, but refused to identify it in any way, including what country.......

WAYNE MASDEN Note: If it were Russia or China, it would have been revealed. That leaves one other "sensitive" hostile intelligence nation and we all know its identity.

[Mike]

You should read this Phil. Written by Rabbi Michael Lerner on Rahm:

http://www.intent.com/blog/2008/11/07/rahm-emanuel-no-reason-hope-or-celebration

Rahm Emanuel is no Reason for Hope or Celebration
--

Emanuel, for those who don't recall, was the Congressman who traveled the country in 2006 finding "suitable" candidates in "swing districts" to run against Republican incumbents, and in many instances he succeeded. But his theory of how to succeed was destructive: he sought the most conservative possible candidates in each district, insisting that local Democratic Party organizations reject more liberal candidates who, he feared, might not win.

There were many among the House Democrats who deplored this tactic. The main issue on the mind of the electorate was the war in Iraq, and public opinion had moved so far in opposition to that war that the Democratic leadership in the House was pushed to proclaim that it would cut off funding for the war if Democrats won control of Congress. Well, the outcome was that Democrats did win control, but since the candidates that Emanuel picked were more conservative and militarist than the mainstream of the Party, they were not reliable allies when it came to voting against war funding. Instead of cutting fund for the war, Nancy Pelosi's House increased the funding, explaining that they had to appear "responsible" in order to solidify their control of Congress in 2008..

---

[liberal white boy]

LWB Intercepts AIPAC "To Do" List For Rahm Apartheid-Israel Emanuel

http://homo-sapien-underground.blogspot.com/2008/11/lwb-intercepts-aipac-to-do-list-for.html

[Eva Smagacz]

This suspected Mossad connection had nothing to do by any chance with his stint in Israeli Army where he spend time doing...... manual labour??

Is serving in Israeli Army instead of American Army open to all battle weary combatants who don't want a fifth stint in Iraq?

[Abe Bird]

I love rumors and slanders. Thanks for providing it!

[LeaNder]

If you think that that part of the effort which can be identified immediately is the whole enchilada, you are being naive. And useful.

Obviously. But you are confronting century old institutions and their evolution. Hierarchical orders and control. From the continuity of Nazi forces and the Federal Republic of Germany's forces, I surely share your basic suspicion.

The question is: If Israeli and US interests are equal, would there be any necessity for secrecy? Wouldn't people high up in the administrative hierarchy be the best information source for members of the Israeli administration? There surely must be space for confidential talks. Were do you draw the line?

What exactly happened: Is Woodward right? was it all the CIA's and its eager frontman's fault?

********************************************

Or maybe 'I never go in for that concentration camp stuff, because the Nazi's anti-semitism is in such plain sight, that looking for...' you get the picture.

The concentration camps were in fact in "plain sight", that's exactly what bothers me. The extinction camps weren't. But given the easy to observe concentration camps all over Germany plus the acts and regulations on the ground it would have been easy to ask the right questions.

And the "mentality" feeding into "the 1.000 year project" had been very much in plain sight for decades too.

Martin Niemoeller:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no communist.

When they locked up the Social Democrats, I said nothing; I was, of course, no Social Democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no trade unionist.

When they came for me, there was no one left who could protest.

[CHA]

Helena Cobban has posted a good essay on the dual-loyalty implications of the Emanuel hiring. In general, the left side of the blogosphere has been amazingly quiet about this. They seem to be much more interested in his "pugnacious style."

[anon]

When they (finally) came for me, I at last realized I should submit more fully as I was born guilty. I regretted that I had given them a pass on morality principles, in the name of morality. I never realized 2 wrongs don't don't make a right. Nor that the middle folk served the upper folk at the expense of the lower folk. I thought the middle
folk were the lower lower folk, not looking at reality.