At the most recent leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, I insisted months earlier that I would not attend. I did not want to fly from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, for one day. To spend money on a plane ticket, and use up one vacation day from work, was not going to happen. I thoroughly enjoy RJC events, but I was absolutely not attending this meeting. My time is valuable, and short of getting Charles Krauthammer as a speaker, I was skipping this one.
Several days later, an email arrived in my inbox. The featured guest at the next RJC Leadership meeting would be none other than Sir Charles of Krauthammer himself. I shook my fist to the sky, said, “D@mn you Larry Greenfield!” (my dear friend at the RJC in Los Angeles, who keeps letting me know about such spectacular events), and immediately made plans to go to Washington. The event was directly next door to the White House, and with the exception of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, there is nobody that I wanted to meet more than Charles Krauthammer.
The word gets overused, but he is a genius. God has restricted him physically. He is confined to a wheelchair, and therefore rarely leaves Washington, DC. The rare times he has, the events were sold out to capacity. This was another reason I made the trip. As for limitations on his physical mobility, God compensated by simply giving him one of the finest minds on Earth.
The man is one of my intellectual heroes, and I do not have that many. I count the list on one hand.
Rather than offer any more well deserved effusive praise for this intellectual giant, I will let his words speak for themselves. With that, below is the wit, warmth, and wisdom of Solomon, or as he is known on Earth, Charles Krauthammer.
“I have gone in a quarter of a century from covering Walter Mondale to appearing on Fox News. My defense for my past is that I was young once.”
“I am a licensed psychiatrist. I have been a psychiatrist in remission for 25 years.”
“The world of psychiatry and the world of Washington both involve dealing with people that have delusions of grandeur. Washington is more dangerous because the people with delusions of grandeur have access to nuclear weapons.”
“Either God is a republican, or God has a good sense of humor. The democrats have nominated their weakest candidate. The republicans, by complete accident, have nominated their strongest candidate.”
“The republicans got lucky. First, Mike Huckabee had to defeat Mitt Romney in Iowa. Then John McCain won New Hampshire. Then Fred Thompson siphoned off just enough support in South Carolina to allow McCain to defeat Huckabee. In addition, heavy snowstorms affected the part of the state that was strongest for Huckabee. In addition, the Giuliani strategy benefited McCain. Rudy Giuliani was his main competition. With John McCain, the republicans nominated the one guy who can win. None of the others could have won. Only McCain can.”
“Winning three straight elections is difficult. Only Ronald Reagan in the modern era won a third term, in the form of George Herbert Walker Bush.”
Mr. Krauthammer’s analysis of Barack Obama was equally brilliant.
“Obama may not believe the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, but Wright is correct when he says that Obama is just a politician.”
“It is interesting regarding the timing of Obama’s denunciation of Wright. He had 20 years to be offended, but only objected when he himself was attacked as a pandering politician by his former pastor. Insulting the United States of America is one thing. Insulting Obama himself really offends him.”
“Obama is not unpatriotic. He is a leftist academic, not a radical. He loves America, but he is an academic.”
“Obama has never expressed a gut position on Israel.”
“Pastor Wright said that ‘Zionism, not Judaism, is a gutter religion.’ This is quite the bizarre statement.”
“At the ABC debate, George Stephanopolis asked a clear question. ‘Is an attack on Israel an attack on the USA, requiring retaliation in line with the NATO Alliance?’ (Stephanopolis was not stating that Israel was a member of NATO. The question remains valid.) Hillary Clinton remarked that obliterating Iran would be the response.”
“‘Obliterating’ Iran was a ‘moderate’ way to put it (the crowd laughed hysterically), and an effective way to put it.”
“If we can make Persian History a memory, Iran might think twice.”
“Obama calls an attack on Israel ‘unacceptable.’ Now that is tough talk.”
“Obama is a rookie. He gave a non-answer to a new question. His answer was ignorance and prudence. Dilpomacy with Iran on the nuclear issue is nonsense and totally useless. We had three useless UN resolutions, then the EU 3 of Britain, France and Germany offered nothing. Obama is prepared to fly to Tehran, and tell them what? Is he naive or cynical? Unacceptable? That will scare the hell out of the Mullahs. Negotiation is an excuse to do nothing. He does not accept the premise that Iran is trying to go nuclear. Aggressive diplomacy? That has meant nothing, and been tried for the last six years”
“Candidates spend time preparing for every possible questions in debates, and Obama was simply confronted with an unexpected and new question. He chose what he thought was a safe, inoffensive answer, which is his general strategy.”
“President Bush has the legal authority to attack Iran. However, having the moral authority is tough with a 28% approval rating.”
“If we attack the Strait of Hormuz, oil will skyrocket to $200 to $300 per barrel, and Hezbollah will attack from Lebanon. In October of 2006 (When the NIE report came out and was manipulated to hurt the case for an attack), President Bush was resigned to no attack.”
“Some say Israel should attack Iran. Israel might not have the physical capacity to do it. This is not like attacking the Osirak reactor in 1981 or Damascus in 2007. Iran is further away from Israel. Refueling might be an issue. In September of 2007, Israel hit Syria through Turkey. Turkey allowed Israel to hit Syria. They might not be willing to do so again. Iran is not a one day operation. It might take a couple of weeks.”
“The Mullahs will be overthrown. Half the population is under 25. They hate the Mullahs. The USA must simply have a ‘nuclear umbrella’ over Israel.”
“Israel at 60 is one of the great historical acts of all time. Israel is now in a stable situation from terror. In 2002, there were 59 homicide bombings. In 2007, there was one.”
“President George W. Bush is the best on Israel since President Truman.”
“The Gaza withdrawal was a good thing, but Israel should have declared an immediate policy of deterrence. One rocket attack should have yielded 100 in response.”
“Why does Israel supply the Palestinians with electricity and food? Prime Minister Ehud Ohlmert botched the war in 2006, and Bibi (former and hopefully the next Prime Minister of Israel) would not tolerate such nonsense.”
“We must stay and succeed in Iraq. We have our General. The war is the most important issue for the United States and Israel.”
“Antisemites are pathological. We’ve gone from having no Holocaust at all to saying it was induced by the Zionists. Try understanding that one.”
“There is a certain psychosis in liberal Jews backing Obama, yet saying that they love Israel.”
“In April of 2002, President Bush gave Ariel Sharon free reign, not 48 hours. Yet liberal Jews see President Bush as the antichrist.”
Mr. Krauthammer was at his very best when he discussed the meetings at Annapolis, Maryland. Many stauch backers of President Bush wondered if the man who supported Israel fiercely for 6 1/2 years was beginning to waver. Was he so desperate for a peace agreement the way his predecessor was that he was willing to pressure Israel?
No, he was not. Annapolis meant nothing, and I personally was never worried. I kept telling my friends to calm down, that Annapolis was just feel good symbolism. President Bush every once in awhile needs to offer the mildest of criticism towards Israel to make it look like he is neutral. He has been a friend of Israel, and will remain so. One only needs to see Palestinians burning him in effigy with the passion of modern liberals to realize that he had not changed his views.
I was thrilled when Mr. Krauthammer offered the same assessment I have offered since Annapolis. For a brief moment I felt like I was on his intellectual level. That disappeared when he expressed those sentiments in a much more eloquent manner.
“Do not worry about Annapolis. Annapolis is meaningless. It is a great photo opportunity, not a sellout. It looks great, and accomplishes nothing. It was completely useless. By diplomatic standards it was a total and complete success.”
The crowd howled with laughter.
“Jews support Obama over McCain by about 80%-20%. Liberal Jews see voting in their own self interest to be a violation of a moral principle. This is insane.”
As thrilling as his remarks were, meeting him was more of a thrill.
I asked him before his speech if I could give him a gift. He said, “not right now, afterwards is fine.”
It quickly occurred to me that if everybody placed gifts in his lap, it would make steering his wheelchair more difficult! He was appreciative, but wanted anyone offering gifts to wait until after his speech, when it would be easier for him to navigate from the lobby to his car. He did so after his speech with several gifts sitting in his lap, including mine.
After his speech, I had my picture taken with him, and patiently waited my turn to speak to him. I allowed others to cut in front of me because I wanted more time, which comes to those who wait for the crowd to disperse. He was not pressed for time, allowing me to be gracious about it. He was being treated like a rock star, which I more than understood. Then I finally spoke to him.
I asked him if he had been knighted yet, and if he was now known as “Sir Charles of Krauthammer.”
He warmly responded, “I haven’t yet. I haven’t found a nation that has been willing to do it. That would be nice though.”
I then asked him a more serious question.
“Mr. Krauthammer, on a more serious note, given all the recent European leaders that are very friendly to Israel, such as Sarkozy (Nicolas, President of France), Berlusconi (Silvio, Prime Minister of Italy), and Harper (Stephen, Prime Minister of Canada), isn’t now the best time for Israel to attack Iran? Isn’t this a brief window of time with world leaders that would be ok with such a strike?”
Mr. Krauthammer empathized but reiterated an earlier point of his.
“It would be great, but I just don’t know if Israel has the physical capacity to do it.”
Lastly, I gave him my gift.
“Mr. Krauthammer, I am a republican blogger. Every day I take verbal brickbats to the Daily Kossacks and others (He thanked me for that). You are the model of how I want my column to be. I like that you raise the level of discourse while keeping your convictions. Forgive me, but my gift to you is more an attempt at shameless self promotion than a gift (he laughed). I hope you like some of my better columns (I gave him an envelope with some of those columns and a very nice note), and I hope they are up to your standards. If they are, I would be honored to interview you one day.”
He genuinely thanked me, and did not commit to a timetable for an interview. I certainly was not going to press the issue. In fact, I was concerned that even giving him the columns might be too aggressive. Nevertheless, I was not too concerned to refrain. I hope he found me polite about it.
When I went to shake his hand, he offered me a closed fist, which is what he did with everybody. I gently clasped his hand, and made sure not to accidentally hurt him. When he wheeled away with his gifts sitting in his lap, he seemed genuinely happy about receiving such a warm reception from the people at the conference.
Of course, this was to be expected. The Republican Jewish Coalition would offer extreme warmth to one of the greatest Jewish republicans in this country. In addition, he is a proud Neocon. Of course we love the guy.
To get to meet an intellectual titan was a thrill that even his words might describe. Well, maybe his could, but mine cannot.
He is a hero of mine, and I wish him well always.
I just hope that the Queen of England or some other dignitary finally takes my advice through osmosis and knights this man already.
I am absolutely not going to the next DC meeting. I don’t want to go. Short of getting Nicholas Sarkozy or Silvio Berlusconi, I am definitively and positively not going. Given what high caliber people go to these meetings, the RJC will most likely make me eat my words again.
After all, I was absolutely not attending this past meeting.
Then again, as a proud member of the (Republican) Zionist Crusader Alliance (For World Domination), it was a privilege to meet our unofficial leader, the honorable Sir Charles of Krauthammer.
eric
Whenever Charles speaks on Special Report the whole family knows that I want absolute quiet.
Everything comes to a screeching halt.
“Mr. Krauthammer, on a more serious note, given all the recent European leaders that are very friendly to Israel, such as Sarkozy (Nicolas, President of France), Berlusconi (Silvio, Prime Minister of Italy), and Harper (Stephen, Prime Minister of Canada), isn’t now the best time for Israel to attack Iran? Isn’t this a brief window of time with world leaders that would be ok with such a strike?”
My God you conservatives can be frightening sometimes. Do you ever not think about slaughtering thousands of people? What sort of endles horrific rages do you have in heads?
JMJ
Yea, but we’re not frightening all the time.
I have no doubt that Israel would of been justified in attacking Iran just about anytime lately if not the last 60 years.
One guess as to why it hasnt happened recently is because ( remember , I said “guess”) seeing as how we are their strongest allie they may want to hold off untill we are not as preoccupied with Iraq and Afghanistan as we are now.
Just in case Iran has some secretive coalition or allies of their own that may want to lend a hand.
And I can think of a few right now off the top of my head that would gladly join the effort against Israel
Sometimes smileys pop up, and I dont know why.
Oh well, makes me look nice.
The smiley would be the html reaction to a semi-colon. ;)
I do not see justification for assaulting the people of Iran. It lowers you to no better than terrorists.
JMJ
Not the people as a whole Jersey. But their military and nuke sites should be taken out.
Dont change it around.
And leave my colon out of this.
Like in Iraq? After all, I wasn’t talking about your whole colon, just your semi-colon!
JMJ
You really oughta get a couple things straight.
First of all you give the premise that any attack on Iran would be similar and parallel to the methods and results in Iraq.
And please, I dont want to argue the validity and right we had to go into iraq over and over again.
As it stands right now iran is a state sponsor of terrorism.
It has made repeated threats aginst us and Israel.
Iran is supplying arms and bodies to attack our soldiers in Iraq.
It is by all means the main body that supports Hamas that has made adundantly clear it wants to eliminate Israel and as it stands will not ackonowledge its right to exist.
Iran is not being transparent in its nuculear ambitions.
Ands has been directly responsable for the deaths of thousands of Israelis through the use if terrorism.
Talking to any terrorist organization in the hopes of a peaceful resolution has
N E V E R worked, E V E R.
As far as that asinine statement;
“It lowers you to no better than terrorists.”
You are truly delusional if you think that a murderous gang that indiscriminatly and with malice kills onnocent children and women. While giving no warning what so ever
Cont..
while not even wearing a uniform or any kind of distinguishing garb is anything like ours or Israels armed forces.
I understand how someone of your mindset would and could compare the two, and I have a word for it. But I cant use it here.
Look, I’ll grant this, Israel would never try to pull an Iraq. Just being Israel is tough enough. When Israel strikes it does so pretty quickly, quietly, and cleanly. So I do get that. On the other hand, “the times they are a’changing.” The last major Israeli military operation (in Lebanon) was far from a screaming success. It was more of a deserved flop at the box office, so to speak. If Iran is developing purely domestic nuclear utilities, and they are because they have no refining capacity and already see past their peak oil, and Israel bombs it, Israel will come off like the same sort of mad hashashins they rightly decry.
Just something to consider. After all, even if you are from the school of “shoot first and ask questions later,” you could certainly concede to the school of “consider first before you shoot or ask.”
JMJ
No, not at all.
How many times does Israel neded to hear that they dont deserve to exist and should be wiped off the map, the holocaust never happened and iranian funded Hamas killing its citizens ?
Its not shoot first. they have been shot at already. And as in the same thing with Iraq, Iran does not have the blessings of the international community or NATO to produce a nuke. So when they are questioned about it they should come clean.
Saddam played hide and go seek and look what it got him.
Even Momar Khadafi got it and came clean.
Its about knocking down the hornets nest that is in plain view before it gets bigger.
Israel wiil come off as justified. Period.
I rarely do this.
But any further conversation on this subject is ridiculous and past common sense and does not deserve the energy it takes to hit one more key.
Micky, Iran has no vested interest in Israel beyond it’s political fruits. It makes less sense for Iran to attack Israel than the reverse, and neither make much sense. Zealously permenent hawkish rhetoric and fear-mongering play well for some, but they can be dangerous and rather stupid, if you ask me, lat alone rationales for actual war.
JMJ
You agree that in the war on drugs it makes sense to go after the source and the dealers, right ? And not lock up the users who are not really the source of the problem, right ?
Iran is the source, it is the sponsor.
Why screw around with the nickel dime hustlers. Just go for the big man.
If a bunch of gangsters were tossing threats at you and bombing your house how long would you stand for it ?
Who pays for the Katushas?
You can sit on your porch and do target practice on punks or go after the guy supplying the bombs to the punks.
Iran has undoubtedly been the agressor by many proxy means.
If Israel slapped the crap out of em right now it would make all the sense in the world.
But the blind left can only relate to the emotional response that war is bad.
JMJ:
“Zealously permenent hawkish rhetoric and fear-mongering play well for some, ”
“Zealously”
That would be Amadingdong and the religiously fanatics that back him.
That is the where the zealots are at !
“Hawkish”
That would be Iran finacing the arms and manpower behind all the attcks on Israel.
And supplying the weapons and manpower to deliver bombs and IEDs and the revolutionary Iranian guard to iraq to kill Americans.
“Rhetoric”
“The holocaust is a myth and it never happened.”
“Israel is part of the great Satan and should be wiped off the face of the map”
Get it right bub.
Like I said , this is no longer worth the energy it takes to hit even one more key.
But I will put all the energy in the world to doing my best to make you and your position look stupid.
Because it is.
Iran does not care about a “vested” interest in Israel.
Their concern with Israel is purely hate and idealism based on religious asperations.
Get it right.
Iran and her proxies hate us…I’m not even insinuating we ought to go bomb them…though, it would be wise to call a spade a spade here…Every effort must be made to help the Iranian people overthrow the Mullahs before it’s too late…when we will unfortunately have to take action…something not too far into the distance since the Europeans and the IAEA have been taken to the cleaners and beyond…President Bush has been more than patient with these Western clowns and their nonsensical, worthless diplomatic nuances…A Warmonger would have never given these pathetic groups all this time…Perhaps it would be better if the President was as hawkish as his critics so unfairly claim.
By the way, it has been made very clear by both Iran and Hezbollah that they are bent on the destruction of our nation…That’s no joke…Our media has at times both ignored this reality as well as whitewashed it when in the throes of surprisingly reporting it…a lot of amoral relativism going on there…
Unconditional meetings would mark appeasement….Gates is trying to figure out how to make inroads, Obama is at best naive…The people around him (apologists) scare me…Iran doesn’t want apologies from us…it’s our demise and that of the West they seek…as well as Shiite rule…
I do not believe Iran is nearly the “Axis of Evil” player as laid out but Bushco. After all, they have lost all credibility with me and most other people. After Bush’s sleazy use of Israeli’s anniversary to bash Barack Obama and compare him to Chmaberlain and an old pro-Nazi senator from the 1930’s, I am convinced that not a one of you even knows what you are comparing here.
You guys don’t even know what appeasement is. I laughed my face off last night when Chris Matthews ate that dumb punk Kevin James alive. Every time you cons use terms like “appeasement” it just proves how ignorant you are of the subject.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/15/matthews-rips-right-wing-talkie-kevin-james-because-he-doesnt-know-neville-chamberlain/
JMJ
JMJ:
” do not believe Iran is nearly the “Axis of Evil” player as laid out but Bushco. ”
Fine, dont believe it.
What does it have to do with the way Bush lays it out ?
These Iranian schmucks have been at it long before Bush was even around ?
Sleazy ? LOL
Israels anniversary was about the most appropriate and fitting setting I could think of to bring this up. What other country has had to suffer at the hands of these monsters more than Israel , Huh ?
He’s not only bashing Obama , hes also bashing that narcissistic little moron Carter and that delusional stepford mom Pelosi for their little excursions also.
And really Jersey, do you actually think it makes a difference if you think we know what appeasment means ?
It means what Bush is implying , and thats all that matters.
If you google the meaning it plainly says” to conciede to the will of an aggresor”
You laughed your face off ?
Yea, you should of seen Charles Krauthhammer tear into Mort Kondracky and set him straight on the record.
Now that was funny !
You’re too much.
Who cares what you are convinced of ?
You cant give one plausable scenario as to what you think would happen one way or the other. But history (which you are such a big fan of} all of a sudden has no relevanvce in this ?
Tell me !
Since when has sitting down with Venezuela, N. Korea, Iran, Syria, or any of the others worked ?
You are the one here who has lost all credibility.
Because you use this as nothing more than an opportunity to do your Bush slamming again.
I swear, Bush could say the sun is bright today and just because he is who he is you would try to argue that its not the sun,but rather that its the moon.
Ignorant ?
Please.
You know nothing but what makes that little head of yours feel good
“Since when has sitting down with Venezuela, N. Korea, Iran, Syria, or any of the others worked?”
Since when has anyone tried? How would you even know?
JMJ
We’ve tried N.Korea. But they want it there way they’ll have toi settle for uni latteral talks which by the way have produced nothing.
Carter tried in Venezuela and Iran during his reign and just recently with Hamas only to make our point clear that its a stupid idea.
Pelosi , that moron went to Syria and talked, amd what ?
We have offer dialogue before. And that dialogue was for them to knock it off, then we will talk.
The conditions for talks have been set. That in and of itself is as fars we should go for now , and is dialogue.
Ya know , why dont you just use some common sense for a change.
Any negotiation whether its criminal or political requires that you drop your weapons or show you have none before talking can start.
DUH?
These a$$holes dont want to talk and have made this absolutly clear with out a doubt.
But the insanity on the left ( look up the word) is that they think what has failed repeatedly in the past will work now.
You claim to be such a street worthy guy and all of something like that , but its clear from your perspective that you dont understand the mentallity of someone who just wants you dead. Once they’ve tried it and continue to say they wont stop you have to kick the guys a$$.
You seem to think that sitting down with your potential murderer is somehow going to change his mind you dont belong with the big boys. And you should really not run the streets.
Unless its more like Sesame Street.
Now, if you and your buddies could actually come up with a plausable plan that would put you back into the arena of credibility.
But so far its just an opportunity to bash Bush.
Even Obama is doing that stupid crap today as he said he would debate Bush and McCain on this issue. He is trying to attach McCain to Bush when he does this , and he is misleading his followers ( so much for leadership) by not reminding them that BUSH WONT BE HERE IN 8 MONTHS ! And is not running for president.
What Bush said yesterday was freaking brilliant !
Look at how the whole election arena got all lit up today. And thats a good thing.
Because for too long now these two clowns on the left have been hiding behind the economy and healthcare amd its about time we see how they would handle our enemies.
And then theres this latest speech/rebuttal to Bushs statement yesterday.
It was the most absolute delusionional distortion of the facts and outright lies I have yet to hear come out of Obamas mouth.
Once again he went and used McCains “100 year” statement again and said that just yesterday McCain said we would have troops out bt 2013.
What he failed to mention is that McCain has only clarified his 100 year statement about a hundered times now saying we will have a “precense” in Iraq for a 100 years and used S.Korea, Gemany and Japan as examples.
He used Reagans example of no shots fired in the cold war after bitching about the cost of the Iraq war. In this case he also failed to mention that the cold war was not cheap AT ALL !
He flat out lied when he claimed that he never said he would never negotiate with terrorists.
Well what the hell do you call sitting down and chatting with the leaders of Iran? The largest state sponsorship of terror in the world ?
Like McCain asked: What were they goung to talk about ? This kinda crap just insults the intelligence of Americans to highest degree.
Sorry if I’m ranting , but I just got done listening to this pile of crap that came out of Obamas mouth and I’m freaking beside myself.
He’s the one who brought this subject into the light when he said he would bomb Pakistan and sit down with Iran. And now hes got the nerve to get pissy and see it as an attack on him.
When after all, hes been hiding behind health care and the economy for a few weeks right now its about time this subject came up.
On the N. Korea thing.
I meant to say “bi lateral” talks, not “uni lateral”
“Do you ever not think about slaughtering thousands of people?” — JMJ
Leftists are resposible for tens of millions of dead, nearly all the dead in the last century. And in this century the Islamists are raising their evil heads. And all you can do is criticize us for resisting the agents of death, necessitating killing some in self defense??!! There is no moral equivalent!!!
UPDATE to my comment #20…
The cesspool that the Left calls home…
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=CCF20437-D2D9-49E4-A5C4-A5592F804FC3
…and these moral degenerates have the nerve to criticize anyone else for their conduct??!!