Israel Matzav

Another Democrat supported by terrorists

Here's an ad from Spike Maynard (R), who is seeking to unseat Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WVa).

Let's go to the videotape.



Politico's Ben Smith objects to the ad.

This ad, in concert with an earlier one from an outside group that stressed Nick Rahall's role in Arab Americans for Obama, suggests a campaign against Rep. Nick Rahall on straightforward ethnic lines. (Rahall is of Lebanese Christian descent.)

Of all the possible lines of attack on the West Virginia member, Huffington Post notes, this one is otherwise a bit random. Rahall gave the money back in 2003, and the NRCC has also taken money from the same source.

Maynard's campaign responds.

Nick Rahall has a pattern of supporting and associating without-of-the-mainstream elements on the Mideast peace issue. If you look at Rahall's record, the Alamoudi donation is merely the most flagrant instance of this pattern.

Whether it be accepting money from radical sources, visiting Yasser Arafat on multiple occasions, speaking to the Saddam-controlled Iraqi parliament in opposition to the Iraq War, voting against Israel's right to defend itself, or voting against military assistance to America's allies in the region, Nick Rahall's record is outside the mainstream of American opinion on the Mideast issue. I don't think any neutral observer would consider Rahall's record "mainstream," and West Virginians have the right to debate that record.

And Smith retorts.

Middle East peace, this year as always, a major voting issue in West Virginia.

Did you sense a 'sarc' tag after that last line? I sure did, and I want to respond to that sarc tag.

Middle East peace may not be a concern to all Americans (although President Obama would have us believe that it's a 'vital national interest' for the United States), but candidates taking money from terrorists ought to be a concern for all Americans. Even if the Americans in question are not Jewish. And that's without even getting into the question that Middle East peace may be of concern to the voters of West Virginia even if (as I suspect was the motivating factor behind Smith's comment) most of those voters are not Jewish. Yes, there are Christians in the United States who are very concerned about Israel.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:13 PM