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No, I'm not convinced there is a longterm plan here. I think Dubya is being swayed by his father's advice, and his father has always sided with the Arabs, as did James Baker. Don't trust Bush Sr. when it comes to Israel, and hope and pray Dubya doesn't go the way of this father on this issue.

I don't know why conservatives bother. Because it is morally right to support Israel I guess. They sure never get any credit for it. We saw the same thing with Nixon and Reagan. Americans died in Lebanon trying to bring some peace to the area and all Democrats and Jewish liberals did was bash Reagan about it. Nixon rushed aid when Israel was in trouble and he's always referred to as an antisemite by Jewish liberals.This gets old.

No, I'm not convinced there is a longterm plan here. I think Dubya is being swayed by his father's advice, and his father has always sided with the Arabs, as did James Baker. Don't trust Bush Sr. when it comes to Israel, and hope and pray Dubya doesn't go the way of this father on this issue.

I keep hearing references to Bush Senior's animosity to Israel. I remember Barbra Steisand saying in 1992 she would move to England if Bush were re-elected. At the time I was stunned by Streisand's seeming hysteria. She made it seem as if Bush's re-election would bring Cossacks streaming out of the Malibu hills. I couldn't understand why she was so emotional, given that in attacking Saddam Hussein Bush Senior did a bigger favor for Israel than any president since Harry Truman.

That's why I don't understand why Jews were so mad at Bush. Was it Bush's trying to tie loan guarantees to freezing new construction in the occupied terriories? Baker's remark that the jews don't vote for us anyway? Something else?