Added links are mine – Oui
My Dad and Chuck Schumer by Danny Goldberg
My father, Victor Goldberg was in 195th Field Artillery Battalion during World War Two, landing on Utah Beach nine days after D-Day. Like other members of his unit he was given Battle stars for being in five bloody battles against the Nazis in Normandy. Later he was among those American troops who liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.
For the last several years before he passed away my Dad and I would watch the political TV shows every Sunday and talk about the issues of the week. He would have been deeply saddened by the announcement this past week of opposition to the Iran deal by Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Nita Lowey, two ostensibly liberal Jewish Democrats whom he had supported and voted for. He was an FDR liberal. He loved Israel and he had a bias in favor of Jewish politicians because he felt a kinship with them. At the same time, from personal experience he knew the horrors of war. He believed in war only as a last resort and he would have loved President Obama’s speech at American University laying out the rationale for the deal.
Schumer and other renegade Democrats opposing their president have talking points filled with nuclear jargon. But no matter how they spin it, they are claiming that Democratic foreign policy leaders who they support on every other subject are wrong — and that Dick Cheney, and the Republican presidential candidates are right.
The most likely explanation for Schumer’s behavior is that as someone whose public and private identity has been so supportive of Israel he has been influenced by the implacable opposition to the deal by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
[Continue reading article @Huffington Post]
Netanyahu will lobby American Jews on deal, calling on alleged loyalty to Jewish state
The big news over the weekend re the Iran deal is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be making a special appeal to American Jews to kill the deal. His webcast is sponsored by rightwing groups, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations. He is sure to say that there is one Jewish state in the world, that it is our — American Jews’ — homeland, and that it faces an existential threat in the form of the Iran deal.
It’s a straight-up play to American Jewish loyalty to the state of Israel: the issue Chuck Schumer said was so uncomfortable for him, back when he indicated he’d be supporting the deal because it was in the American interest if not a “Jewish interest.”
The story behind the Empire State’s power broker | Observer – May 2015 |
During a period of economic strength, he partnered with Republicans to successfully knock down the walls between investment banks and commercial banks. In 2007, he pushed for less regulation of the financial industry to make New York City more competitive globally. Around the same time, he crafted an amendment that barred the Securities and Exchange Commission from overseeing credit-rating agencies, like Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service.
Mr. Schumer shares donors with many Republican elites. He and George W. Bush, for example, each counted Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and CitiGroup as top funders. Two of the major investment banks that collapsed in 2008 financial crash, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, also showered money on both men. Mitt Romney backers, such as Paul Singer and John Paulson, also support Mr. Schumer’s campaigns.
“He’s very useful to the business community,” explained Kathryn Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit representing the city’s business elite. “I think he’s helped New York dodge many bullets.”
But Mr. Schumer dodged a bullet himself. Despite having helped usher in a permissive regulatory environment that many critics believe encouraged Wall Street misdeeds and economic collapse, he remains popular; he enjoys a “rock solid” 54 percent approval rating, according to a recent Marist poll.
Senator Charles E. Schumer top 20 contributors to Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC. Summary and cash on hand $13,409,983.
Right-wing thrash from Israel not satisfied with statement Chuck Schumer
As an editorial in Investor’s Business Daily declared (emphasis added):
“Sorry, senator, not good enough. And those who support you because of your past support for Israel will know it’s not good enough.” If he truly believes this is a bad deal – bad for America, and Israel and the Western world, and he knows he has influence, why would he not use it?
