Israel Matzav

Hell hath no fury like the curse of a woman scorned

Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards had a difficult week this past week. On Monday Variety.com quoted Edwards as saying that the greatest short-term threat to the world is the possibility that Israel might bomb Iran's nuclear reactor:

The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word -- Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close.

I note that the post date on the blog post quoted above was January 19; I have no idea why it suddenly became an issue this past week to the extent that YNet has its post date as February 19.

Vulgar left-wing blog Wonkette was all over the story on Tuesday, the same day that Wolf Blitzer allegedly repeated it on CNN:

What happened? According to Bart, Edwards was asked to name the greatest threat to world peace at the moment. Instead of the simple answer, wars, Edwards had to be a smarty jones and say the increasing likelihood of an Israeli attack on Iran was the primary current threat. You know, because then Washington would start bombing somebody, and Syria/Lebanon would get involved, and Russia would start threatening everybody, and it would be a nuclear war, etc.

But stating anything so obvious requires taking your lips off Israel’s ass for a few seconds, and that’s fatal for any American politician with presidential ambitions. This isn’t because Jews get upset or Israel’s feelings will get hurt or anything. It’s because of batshit insane evangelical American Jesus Freaks who have to love and protect Israel so Jesus will come back and destroy it.

Al-AP reports that the Edwards campaign claims that the Variety story was 'erroneous' and rushed to correct it and remind everyone of Edwards' statements at the Herzliya Conference:

"Senator Edwards did not say nor does he believe that the greatest short-term threat to world peace is the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. Senator Edwards said, as he has in the past, that Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon is one of the greatest short-term threats to world peace," Prince explained.

I don't know where Edwards stands on Israel anymore, and I don't think anyone else does either. But it seems clear that either Edwards has inherited the curse of John Kerry: They call him Flipper! Or Edwards has been hit with the Curse of Amanda Marcotte. As we all know, Hell hath no fury like the curse of a woman scorned.

Update 12:14 AM

In a post that was cross-posted at both Israpundit and Soccer Dad, Soccer Dad votes for the Flipper syndrome, pointing out that Edwards has appointed longtime Congressional Israel basher David Bonior as his campaign manager.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:38 PM