I knew it was just a matter of time before Cory Booker unveiled his conservative roots. He's the master at pretending to give a damn about ordinary folks while serving some really bizarre masters. Booker's legendary tweeting skills won't overcome this, but I suppose he can keep deluding himself.
Today's master-of-the-day are the neocon warmongers on both sides of the aisle, who would prefer not to give peace a chance and head straight for the missiles.
TNR reports on his cynical servitude to a couple of conservative rabbis:
It may seem to Booker et al. that dynamiting sanctions is the smart political play, given the strength of AIPAC and other neoconservative groups. Or it could be that he really believes this stuff: Booker has long been strongly pro-Israel, and has key rabbinical allies with similar views. Or perhaps he hasn't grasped the danger yet. As Peter Beinart has pointed out, the anti-war left has never been very good at teaching politicians to head off conflicts in the making, as opposed to punishing them for it after the fact.
Joan Walsh outlines reasons why he will never win the White House:
This isn’t the first time that Booker has set himself up as somehow wiser than the president. You’ll recall that back in 2012, as an Obama surrogate, he nonetheless said that the campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s Bain capital career were “nauseating” and urged Democrats to “stop attacking private equity.” He was forced by campaign officials to backtrack with what looked like a hostage video. But he was widely – and correctly – seen as trying to curry favor with wussy Wall Street donors who had their feelings hurt by Obama calling them “fat cats” and questioning Romney’s Bain work, even after the president bailed them out.
This time Booker is thwarting not only the president but the will of the war-weary American public. He and other ambitious Democrats like New York’s Kristin Gillibrand, and Colorado’s Michael Bennett (chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee) who also, disappointingly, support the sanctions bill, might think their stance is smart in terms of both politics and fundraising, but politically, at least, they’re wrong.
The miscalculation here is mind-boggling. There is absolutely no support whatsoever among the public to wage war with Iran. That's the province of neocons, oil barons, and religious zealots who believe obliterating Iran is one step toward the End Times. There aren't as many of those as there are people who support the idea of actually negotiating a peaceful solution with Iran that opens the door to a less fearful and dangerous world.
Cory Booker and his fellow Democrats who think war should happen before diplomacy automatically disqualify themselves from any higher national office than the one they now hold. If they want to keep holding what they have now, they definitely need to reconsider the torpedo strategy they've undertaken.
