Stance on Israel sets Rohrabacher apart

OC Register ^ | 2/8/04 | Dena Bunis

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON

[sinkspur]

Rohrbacher will win because he's not a foaming-at-the-mouth lunatic, as Dornan is.

I like some of Dornan's views, but he does not have the temperament to represent rational people in Congress.

[DoughtyOne]

On first blush, I understand where you are coming from on Dornan. The problem is, there are many issues that get short shrift because Bob is no longer in Congress. He was and probably still is a firebrand. At times I believe there is call to have one around on the right. The left isn't bashfull about loading up Congress with firebrands. The press listens to them respectfully no matter what they say, then classifies Dornan as a kook because he voices his opinion in the same manner they do. I like Bob. I'd like to have him back in Congress.

[BushMeister]

Bob, either retire, or knock off a Democrat. Like we need to lose Rohrabacher in congress just 'cause B-1 is bored on the golf course...

[thoughtomator]

Yes you can, says Rohrabacher, who views himself as an honest broker and peacemaker. He says he considers himself a Zionist – defined, he says, as someone whose "goal is to have an Israel that is a Jewish state that exists basically in the pre-'67 borders that is living in peace with its neighbors."

First, there's nothing about Zionism that says Jews should only live in the part of the land of Israel controlled by the Israeli government in 1966. Second, his goal is identical to Yasser Arafat's ideal situation, the moment before he launches the final offensive to cleanse the Middle East of Jews forever.

Though after seeing the GOP become the party of Medicare and government expansion, I won't be all that surprised to see more stuff like this.

[sinkspur]

Well, I don't get to vote in California, and I'd vote for him against a Democrat. But not against Rohrabacher.

Why doesn't he take on Sanchez again? Can he not beat her?

[absalom01]

Well, there is that, but the guy is both right on the issues, and entertaining. He isn't really crazy you know -- when I've seen him at local events, he's perfectly civil and rational as long as there are no microphones around. Too bad he hasn't figured out how to dial it back a few clicks, but still keep people interested.

[Holden Magroin]

I abhor Rohrabacher's moral relativism (e.g., saying there's no difference between Israel's accidental killing of Palestinian civilians and the Palestinian's targeting of Israeli civilians), but he is one of only a handful of congressional Republicans willing to stand up to Bush's relentless expansion of the federal government.

[NormsRevenge]

FRom the OC Register Letters page re: the recently well-publicized spat between Dana and B1-Bob ..

There were quite a few threads the last couple of weeks about this race.

Letters - Questioning Rohrabacher's record

RELATED STORIES

• It's time to flush Dornan's potty politics
• Attacks are misleading, abusive, mean-spirited

Rep. Rohrabacher is no conservative

Nowhere does your columnist Steven Greenhut's piece, "It's time to flush Dornan's potty politics" [Commentary, Feb. 1], quote Bob Dornan, or even indict him for specific actions. Instead we get the passive phraseology, "there was a suggestion" or the indirect, "Dornan operatives are circulating scurrilous charges." Where is the potty politics?

Greenhut is dismayed that Dornan would "target a fellow conservative" and try to unseat him in an election. U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher voted for the expansion of Medicare (the estimated price tag for which has already risen 30 percent over 10 years). Rohrabacher also voted for the do-not-call registry. Please, big government, take care of my every need. Rohrabacher is a senior member of a Republican-led Congress that is spending my money at breathtaking rates. This is "conservative"?

Rohrabacher is lionized because he has "actually met with many Arabs" and once hiked across the Khyber Pass. If anything should be flushed it's the twisted article Greenhut wrote.

William F. Pollak III

Tustin

 

What about immigrants?

Steven Greenhut used a whole column to defend Dana Rohrabacher.

I am curious about something. I am pretty sure that Greenhut knows about Rohrabacher's initiative about illegal immigrant health-care limitations.

The congressman is trying to require that the hospitals strictly provide to undocumented people the necessary health services to stabilize them, and then to report them to the Homeland Security Department for a quick deportation.

Undocumented people who work for miserable wages, pay their taxes without access to the Social Security benefits, take care of our children and clean our houses would hesitate to seek medical services in emergency situations. Is this not morally wrong?

What would happen if thousands of people with diseases that can be handled easily if caught in time, like tuberculosis or hepatitis, avoided seeking medical care at emergency rooms? Diseases could spread to loved ones, friends, neighbors and fellow workers if seeking medical aid could mean deportation. I am talking even about people like you or me and Rohrabacher or Greenhut. Viruses and bacteria won't differentiate between an undocumented person and a person with legal status.

And Greenhut can be sure that I have nothing to do with the Bob Dornan campaign. I would like to know Greenhut's opinion about this initiative.

Jorge Delgado

Irvine

 

Dornan's got my vote

I was not impressed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's rebuttal ["Attacks are misleading, abusive, mean-spirited," Commentary, Feb. 1]. Yvonne Wachter accurately pointed out the suspicious dealings, trips and interactions Rohrabacher had with Arab leaders in Orange County and abroad, which the congressman did not dispute ["Don't ignore Rohrabacher's link to extremists," Commentary, Jan. 25].

Rohrabacher supports America's liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq. The question is, what are the tangible results of this endeavor for Orange County? Is he balanced on Mideast policy? Did he visit Israel and talk to Israeli leaders about security and progression of the "road map" to peace? He says nothing about it in his rebuttal.

I used to like Rohrabacher, about 10 years ago, when he was truly a conservative congressman with an honest approach to the issues. But he changed. Bob Dornan is here. Let's support him instead.

Victor Mezhinsky

Brea

[DoughtyOne]

In truth, the demographics in Dornan's old area have changed so much that Sanchez and her sister are both now entrenched. Good luck.

I have liked Dana for many years. His comments that Israel is in some ways just as bad as the Palestinians reveals an expansive gulf in his understanding of middle-eastern facts.

Fact: Palestinian suicide bombers attack innocents by choice, inflicting as much death and mahem as possible upon them.

Fact: Israeli helicopter gunships attack known terrorist operatives, sometimes taking out family members and others, who if not complicit in the dasterdly deeds, are victims of their close proximity to terrorist operatives or camps.

What Dana fails to realize, is that if there were no more suicide bombings, Israel would make no more incursions into Palestinian territory. That cannot possibly be stated in the reverse. The suicide bombers will NEVER stop until Israel has been destroyed, and as many Jews as possible along with it.

Israel has opened it's borders to employ Palestinians, increasing their wealth and standard of living. What single thing have the Palestinians done to favor Israel?

Dana is an absolute fool on this issue.

[dennisw]

So Dornan likes Israel? Now I'm glad I have always liked B1 Bob!

[dennisw]

In truth, the demographics in Dornan's old area have changed so much that Sanchez and her sister are both now entrenched. Good luck..........


Correct. Dornan was robbed the first time by Loretta Sanchez but since then the district has gone so far Mexican, that Bob Dornan would lose an honest elction today.

[Digger]

I have followed these two over the may years & B-1 is/has/will be the more genuine conservative. He has carried the water for many spinless pubbies& then they rebuke him. Having said that he has neutralized himself by taking on a fellow conservative. Go after Sanchez, Bob. Dana has transitioned into a (R) supporter & no matter the issues he will support. Now B-1 would never do such. That's why the republican heirachy want him gone.

[gcruse]

Bob, either retire, or knock off a Democrat.

Well said.

[ryanjb2]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it Conservative to oppose foreign aid (even to Isreal) and entangling alliances (even with Isreal)? Or is interfering in ethnic and religious conflicts half way around the world suddenly a Constitutional endevour?

Don't get me wrong, I hope Isreal crushes the Palestinians. And I equally disaprove of foreign aid given to Arafat and Egypt. At least if we only gave money to Isreal we would be consistant.

[NormsRevenge]

I reckun it's just part of a Judeo-Christian thing.. and leave it at that.

re "foreign aid" .. I agree.. it has become a given to almost anyone these days, with blind eye for most and their conduct.

[monkeyshine]

Well, when they do it, they use up political capital - and they also short circuit the national debate and, by getting their way through judicial decree, actually stop a favorable national concensus from forming.

I wonder how he feels about the allies bombing Iraq and Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of innocent, unarmed civilians were killed in those conflicts. Does that mean the USA is the same as Hamas?

Maybe Rohrbacher should get booted.

[monkeyshine]

Sorry, wrong quote above

people who shoot unarmed people are wrong. And it's immoral

[Finalapproach29er]

a champion of all our allies ....

---

Technically, Israel is not allied with the US. No formal agreement exists. Turkey is.